from dont need to do use

[Littlewolf]

ive got 30-06 I don't need but I do load 22-250 308 257 Roberts and 243 I understand the part that I will need to trim brass from neck thickness. what I don't understand is who besides rcbs makes and sells reforming dies and why rcbs makes you buy forming dies one piece at a time instead of by the set. they know what pieces are needed for caliber to caliber, why not?

anybody know a less complicated way to get forming dies

[Mk42gunner]

Orphan reloading dies from the gunshow bargain boxes can sometimes make decent forming dies.

Honestly, if the brass you want is even somewhat available I would sell the excess '06 and buy what I needed.

Robert

[GRUMPA]

I don't have but 1 form die set and it's for the 22Rem Jet. All the other forming I do is with altered sizing dies which work just fine. Some conversions require a sizing die from this set and that set, like the 257Roberts conversion. Well I take that back, I made intermediate form dies for the 221 Fireball and 222Rem conversions but it's more to form the shoulder angle.

I find if you have the LEWilson case/chamber gauge and an indicator that's all a person needs so they can be in control of the shoulder gauge dimension.

[Nueces]

Redding makes case forming sets: http://www.redding-reloading.com/online-catalog/39-popular-case-forming-dies

I have enjoyed using their 33 Winchester dies.

[FrankG]

Huntington Die Specialties .

[Bulseyetom]

I shot benchrest competitively for a few years and one of the cases was a 22ppc shortened 0.125. To make brass you had to push the shoulder back and part of the shoulder became the neck. The rifle was capable of 5 shots into .150 consistently if the driver read the wind but let me tell you every once in awhile the brass just didn't form right and would open groups to .5 in a heartbeat. Now I realize we are splitting hairs but I vowed never to have another rifle that the shoulder became the neck after forming. My advice is buy the proper brass if you want the rifle to shoot to it's potential. Tom

[EDG]

If you check the prices of a complete set of new forming dies you will forget that idea. Prices for new forming die sets are astronomical. You can study the dimensions that you want to make and the dimensions of intermediate dies and put together what you need from readily available dies.

1. Make 243 from 308 brass and forget the 30-06. Form using a 7-08 FL die , then .260 Rem FL die, then the .243 FL.
Turn the necks and anneal.
Reamers and reamer dies are so expensive I would buy new brass if I could not turn the necks.

2. .257 Roberts from 30-06 - Use a 7X57 trim die, then a .257 Roberts trim die. Then a .257 FL die. Then turn the necks if necessary. Then anneal. These die sets show up from time to time and they are usually very expensive and highly sought after.
3. I would not bother forming .308 from anything. Just buy the brass it is everywhere. There are people that would trade you like new once fired .308 brass for your .30-06 brass.
4. You can make 22-250 but the forming dies are expensive and it is a lot of work. Buy the brass if you can.
I have a set of the dies less one.
They are 250 Savage form 1, 250 Savage form 2, 250 Savage trim die, 250 Savage Reamer die, .256 Reamer.
You still need a . 22-250 trim die to finish forming. Then use a 22-250 FL die set to reload.
I bought my forming die set at an auction for an excellent price but it was only about the 5th set I saw over about 5 or 6 years of watching.





ive got 30-06 I don't need but I do load 22-250 308 257 Roberts and 243 I understand the part that I will need to trim brass from neck thickness. what I don't understand is who besides rcbs makes and sells reforming dies and why rcbs makes you buy forming dies one piece at a time instead of by the set. they know what pieces are needed for caliber to caliber, why not?

anybody know a less complicated way to get forming dies

[Tackleberry41]

Its RCBS, they are very proud of their stuff. Some of it I question even the use. They sell 7.62x25 forming dies, they are not cheap. Yet all your really doing is forming a slight shoulder, something a standard die will very easily. RCBS gets $80+ for a neck reamer, a reamer from a tool place is $20, just the wrong size. And still need the die at $99 ea. I just use the short one used with a neck turning tool. Not sure who buys those reamers.

Not sure what some of their dies are made of, moon rocks or something. 577/450 martini dies are over $400 and you still need to buy the shell holder. Can't imagine they make 4x better ammo than the Lee dies to justify their cost. Nor would I spend more for dies, than 2 rifles. I just use the lee sizing die for forming brass, not sure why I would need the RCBS forming specific dies.

[CastingFool]

It's easy to make .308 W out of 30-06 brass, or even .270 W brass. just make sure your cases are well lubricated and use your std. .308 die to resize the case. Then trim to length. Check the resulting neck thickness, as if it is too thick, it may cause an overpressure in your rifle. Or you can just pm, and I have some 7.62x51 brass I'm willing to trade one for one for your 30-06 brass. I would like to know headstamp and how many times they were fired.