making 300 blackout brass from 223 brass

[257]

when i tryed making this brass 1 polished 2 cut off 3 ran thru 223 small base die 4 run thru 300 bl out dies. then when i check them in a wilson case gage thhry are .005 to .010 long they stick out on the base end. i'm useing rem. cases. my die is turned all the way down so it tuches the top of the ram when it all the way up any ideas on what i'm doing wrong.

[john hayslip]

Redding has a form/ trim die that none of the dealers had when I got mine- ordered it from them direct at retail and they paid postage. I then run them through the Lee blackout dies I have - no problem. I have and use a 30-06 Wilson case gauge and it is accurate. The acid test -- put a brass in the chamber and see if the bolt will close, if it does something is really loco. I can't imagine the Wilson being wrong and would really suspect suspect the dies as not setting the shoulder back far enough and should be sent back to maker. If you want a couple of mine hit me with a PM and a snail mail address and I'll send you a couple to compare with yours. Rereading your question I'm assuming the Wilson is a 300 Blackout one.

[GRUMPA]

Only way to fix that issue is to remove .012 from the shellholder so the die goes down further.

[lmfd20]

Disregard. Read again.

[wlc]

I've tried making a few just to have a few to shoot before my order of brass gets here. My two cents is that for the time and trouble it is to make, it is cheaper to buy premade converted brass from Grumpa.

[257]

i took .015 off of shell holder i can now get the ajusment so it fits the wilson case gage. but now the id is to small when i run it in to the neck is to small when i pull the ram back the expander won't pull back out (stuck) and pulls the rod out of the die. i am useing rem brass could it be the brass is to thick to begin with

[GRUMPA]

You sound like your using the LEE dies or the Hornady type that have that smooth de-capping rod. Only 2 ways to solve that, tighten the KRAP out of it, and lube the neck before you form it. When I used to use that type I had to really tighten the heck out of it till I used something else. For the shorter runs try and lube the inside of the neck, and for heavens sakes lube the outside of the case. Any problems just PM me, if we can't do it through PM I'll give you my # and I'll see if I can walk you thru it.

[Johnny_Cyclone]

I remove the decaping rod from the die.
Lube the out side of the cartridge case
Form all my brass
Reinstall the decapping rod
Lube the case neck and size again.

That's just my 2¢ take on it

[257]

has any one tryed to knurling the rod in the lathe?my dies are lee . was also thinking of tack welding the rod to the nut.

[HATCH]

has any one tryed to knurling the rod in the lathe?my dies are lee . was also thinking of tack welding the rod to the nut.

Why not drill and tap the nut for a set screw.

[A pause for the COZ]

Ok here is what I do with all my mil spec 223 and by extension 300 Black out brass.
Before any brass get entered into the rotation. I stick the butt end into the case gage.
If it fits It gets used if it does not fit, it gets recycled.
The ones that dont fit usually have damage to the base from machine gun firing.
No amount of sizing is going to unflatten the base once it has been mashed.
Since doing this I have had zero fail to chamber events.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/100_8777_zpsd3839fa3.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/100_8778_zps010ce801.jpg

[41 mag fan]

Haven't had a bit of problems forming my 300blk out brass. What i do is chop saw them, then run them thru my LNL. I use my lube die, that deprimes, then thru my 300 AAc die, with the decapping pin out. The use my WFT to final trim
Only problem I've had is my lube die has stripped out threads and am waiting for RCBS to send me a new one.
But i've ran close to 20k of cases thru it over the course of a year.

[km101]

has any one tryed to knurling the rod in the lathe?my dies are lee . was also thinking of tack welding the rod to the nut.


Hornady sent me a couple of replacement decapping rods last week. The rods themselves seemed to be knurled or had a series of rings cut into them. This eliminates the slipping of the rod during resizing. But I have always been able to tighten the collet enough to prevent this with the old style rods. Just get a longer wrench! LOL

[GRUMPA]

There is another way of solving this issue, takes some time (not much) and basic skills. A person can remove the de-capping rod from a LEE sizer for the 300 Blackout and take a 30cal from a RCBS die. Simply drill and tap the right threads into the collet nut (tightened down of course) and tap threads and install the RCBS de-capping rod and use it that way.

Have I done this? Yes

A lot of folks have LEE dies in 300 Blackout with the same issue, I tell them the same thing and some have done it with no issues. The others? I don't hear back from so I have to take that as no news is good news.

[Jailer]

I've processed about 3k of brass through my Lee dies without any issue at all. They've all chambered and run perfectly in my AR and my bolt gun.

Of course it was all my once fired brass so I didn't have to worry about MG brass damage or anything like that.

[257]

hi i took the rod and held it in a collet in my lathe took a minaure knurling tool and roughed it up a little then put it back together and tightened the **** out of it seems to work i lubed them inside and out a lot .one more qestion how long do you cut them off to before forming so i would have mimal triming at the end thanks for all the help guys

[nhrifle]

I make 300 BLK brass for myself with Lee dies and I have had no problem thus far. I have formed several thousand cases so far, and the best brass to use in my opinion is either LC or Winchester. Heard stories of soft brass from Federal, so I don't reform them. Foreign surplus brass seems to be a bit thicker no matter the head stamp. PMC has also given me problems with being too thick.

Here's what I do. Clean cases thoroughly and use a brass brush chucked in a drill to polish the inside of the case neck. This eliminates most of the problems with the expander button. I now form the brass with the expander removed from the sizing die. Next the cases are rough trimmed (cut slightly long) with a small pipe cutter. Resize and expand with the expander installed in the sizing die. Final trim, chamfer, and debur. Anneal case necks. Ready to prime and load.

[GRUMPA]

hi i took the rod and held it in a collet in my lathe took a minaure knurling tool and roughed it up a little then put it back together and tightened the **** out of it seems to work i lubed them inside and out a lot .one more qestion how long do you cut them off to before forming so i would have mimal triming at the end thanks for all the help guys


At least the expander plug issue has been fixed, for now at least. I trim mine first, then I tumble them in Stainless media which for the volume I do the cases themselves look like over sized 30 carbine and the pins don't get stuck in the case, it also de-burrs the case mouth and removes the sharp edges that I created when I cut them to length.

With the volume I do I had a custom trimmer/de-burr head made for my RCBS de-burr tool so it not only de-burrs but also trims to length at the same time.

There's 2 different lengths when you cut, if you cut before forming the case will get longer during the neck forming by about .008 and if you cut after just cut it to the high of the tolerance.

Here's a link to my sales page, just look at the dimensions on the first post.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=150466

[casca]

is anyone doing any annealing or is this optional ?
casca

[GRUMPA]

I only anneal when folks want them annealed, and that's about 90%.

[lmfd20]

I have the early lee dies and had one issue with the expander rod pulling out. I cranked down on it a lil more than I usually would and have had no more problems.