madsenshooter
10-25-2013, 04:44 PM
For some time now I've had a couple Japanese type 38's that have been rechambered to 6.5x257 Roberts. I only had 20rds of Remington 7x57 that I sized down, and the mouths of them are full of little 100gr J-words that don't shoot bad. I've also had for sometime a NOE mold, wasn't a group buy, Swede's 269 163gr. Nice throat filling bullet that drops out of the mold with .270 bands. I finally got around to casting some, needed some empty cases. I decided I'd scrounge around and see if I could size down some LC69 30-06 cases that I have a lot of, using odds and ends of dies that I have. Without too much fussing I found a combination that worked. Wasn't the simplest way to go about it, but it got the job done.
8532585326
L-R:
Unsized 30-06, next same trimmed to 2.23", next ran into a 7.5Swiss die with the expander ball removed to start the neck down (a .308 would work here, but mine has a burr on the shoulder). Next is a trip into a 7-08 die to further reduce the neck and set the shoulder back. Next was a trip into a 6.5x57 die, which doesn't touch the shoulder or fully resize the neck, but I set the shoulder with the 7-08 die. After some adjusting I got it so that when finished the bolt would close hard. Annealing the case made it easier to close. After annealing, final trimming back to 2.23", and sizing in the rifle, I run the case into a Lyman M die, then finally, there's a bullet seated out into the rifling. Check is a bit below the neck/shoulder junction. I could seat it harder into the rifling, but prefer to load so that I don't lose the bullet should I have to unload.
I need more bullet sizing dies, a .268" and a .270", I only have one rifle that'll work with the .266" die that I have. The necks of the LC69 cases won't have to be turned for the .266" bullet, glad of that. If the job would have required anymore effort, I'd have bought PRVI 7x57. Sized only in the 6.5x57 die, the camming action of the bolt easily pushes the shoulder back on PRVI's annealed cases.
I have one of RCBS's large presses, these cases were sized down in very small increments. Push in to a certain tightness, pull the case out, back in to that pressure, repeat until the ram is fully up. Too much pressure going in to the 7.5 Swiss or 7-08 die can cause the shoulder to expand. A little is ok, the 6.5x57 die will push it back in. Going faster just makes wrinkles on the neck and shoulder that are likely to crack when fired. Shoulders don't like to become necks. I only lost the first one I tried to form to that problem. A 7x57 die would have made things a little easier
8532585326
L-R:
Unsized 30-06, next same trimmed to 2.23", next ran into a 7.5Swiss die with the expander ball removed to start the neck down (a .308 would work here, but mine has a burr on the shoulder). Next is a trip into a 7-08 die to further reduce the neck and set the shoulder back. Next was a trip into a 6.5x57 die, which doesn't touch the shoulder or fully resize the neck, but I set the shoulder with the 7-08 die. After some adjusting I got it so that when finished the bolt would close hard. Annealing the case made it easier to close. After annealing, final trimming back to 2.23", and sizing in the rifle, I run the case into a Lyman M die, then finally, there's a bullet seated out into the rifling. Check is a bit below the neck/shoulder junction. I could seat it harder into the rifling, but prefer to load so that I don't lose the bullet should I have to unload.
I need more bullet sizing dies, a .268" and a .270", I only have one rifle that'll work with the .266" die that I have. The necks of the LC69 cases won't have to be turned for the .266" bullet, glad of that. If the job would have required anymore effort, I'd have bought PRVI 7x57. Sized only in the 6.5x57 die, the camming action of the bolt easily pushes the shoulder back on PRVI's annealed cases.
I have one of RCBS's large presses, these cases were sized down in very small increments. Push in to a certain tightness, pull the case out, back in to that pressure, repeat until the ram is fully up. Too much pressure going in to the 7.5 Swiss or 7-08 die can cause the shoulder to expand. A little is ok, the 6.5x57 die will push it back in. Going faster just makes wrinkles on the neck and shoulder that are likely to crack when fired. Shoulders don't like to become necks. I only lost the first one I tried to form to that problem. A 7x57 die would have made things a little easier