GRUMPA
01-21-2015, 08:38 PM
Figured since No_1 created this section for this sort of thing I guess I'll give a HOW-TO thread.
First thing I do is clean all the brass with my stainless steel media and get it good and cleaned. After that I run them through 2 different dies, the first is a 308 sizer die, the second is a small base die. Here's a picture of that operation done and the primer pocket gets swaged as well. I make my own lube for all my conversions, doubles as my swage lube. It's nothing more than Anhydrous Lanolin and Vaseline that's a 50/50 mix.
128218
Then I set up what I need, my L.E.Wilson case gauge, and my Rock Chucker press. Now at this point I'll point out something for the beginners, Always use a tapered expander plug when you do this, I have a picture of it which will be further along in the post. Sometimes in order to make these (or any other conversion for that matter) to spec. some material is going to be removed from the base of the die or the shell holder. There's more than a couple of shell holders I've taken material off and had them break from removing to much material. Here's a picture of my indicator I use along with the gauge.
128219
The "ZERO" is the high of the tolerance, this shows .003 below the high which is right about where it needs to be.
At times I would remove material from the shell holder, in some cases. Seems quality control lacks lately and I've been removing material from the base of the die. I had a die set come in and I ended up removing .030 from the base of the die to make it work.
Now here's a picture of the die I use to form these.
128220
When I form these I don't just put the case in the shell holder and run it up in the die to make these. I don't care if it's military brass or commercial they act the same. When I do the initial sizing I lower the ram just low enough so the expander isn't run through the neck. When I do that I spin the case about 90deg to 180deg and run it through the sizer again. Brass has this nasty habit of "Spring Back" and the brass will want to spring back a bit, spinning the cases when you lowered the ram and spinning it and sizing it yet again will take a majority of it out. When I do that I rarely get a variance of more than +-.001 on any of the conversions I do.
The finish length of the 358Win is 2.015-.02 and so far I've always had them in spec after forming.
After I form them I clean them again in the stainless steel media and let dry. After that I anneal them, I rarely anneal any conversion first.
128224
I did 500pcs today and got 3 split necks, I get those from time to time but don't give it a thought. Those I dump in a bucket and make those 45ACP shot loads from 308 brass. But you can see from the pictures the transformation that takes place converting 308 brass into 358Win brass.
First thing I do is clean all the brass with my stainless steel media and get it good and cleaned. After that I run them through 2 different dies, the first is a 308 sizer die, the second is a small base die. Here's a picture of that operation done and the primer pocket gets swaged as well. I make my own lube for all my conversions, doubles as my swage lube. It's nothing more than Anhydrous Lanolin and Vaseline that's a 50/50 mix.
128218
Then I set up what I need, my L.E.Wilson case gauge, and my Rock Chucker press. Now at this point I'll point out something for the beginners, Always use a tapered expander plug when you do this, I have a picture of it which will be further along in the post. Sometimes in order to make these (or any other conversion for that matter) to spec. some material is going to be removed from the base of the die or the shell holder. There's more than a couple of shell holders I've taken material off and had them break from removing to much material. Here's a picture of my indicator I use along with the gauge.
128219
The "ZERO" is the high of the tolerance, this shows .003 below the high which is right about where it needs to be.
At times I would remove material from the shell holder, in some cases. Seems quality control lacks lately and I've been removing material from the base of the die. I had a die set come in and I ended up removing .030 from the base of the die to make it work.
Now here's a picture of the die I use to form these.
128220
When I form these I don't just put the case in the shell holder and run it up in the die to make these. I don't care if it's military brass or commercial they act the same. When I do the initial sizing I lower the ram just low enough so the expander isn't run through the neck. When I do that I spin the case about 90deg to 180deg and run it through the sizer again. Brass has this nasty habit of "Spring Back" and the brass will want to spring back a bit, spinning the cases when you lowered the ram and spinning it and sizing it yet again will take a majority of it out. When I do that I rarely get a variance of more than +-.001 on any of the conversions I do.
The finish length of the 358Win is 2.015-.02 and so far I've always had them in spec after forming.
After I form them I clean them again in the stainless steel media and let dry. After that I anneal them, I rarely anneal any conversion first.
128224
I did 500pcs today and got 3 split necks, I get those from time to time but don't give it a thought. Those I dump in a bucket and make those 45ACP shot loads from 308 brass. But you can see from the pictures the transformation that takes place converting 308 brass into 358Win brass.