Hardest/most elaborate case conversion you did?

[15meter]

Mine was 223 into 7.62x38r for the little Russian revolver that came into the country a couple of years back.

Actually did it before I bought the revolver.

Wanted to make sure that I would have a steady supply of brass. I didn't want to buy the gun and find out that brass went obsolete the day after they sold the last revolver that was imported.

What's yours?

[country gent]

Mine was a widcatt I did a 300wsm necked down and shortened with a 35* shoulder to give the same water capacity as a 6.6 284 in a shorter fatter cartridge. Looks like a 6ppc on steroids when done. I did 500 cases for it. I fired one case with 142 grn berger vlds at 2800 fps 25 times and it was still going strong. Put 11 out of 20 rds in a 1 1/2" spotting disc at 600 yds testing it. Very low SDs and extreme spreads. Bot the way I did it, it was 10 steps to a finished case.

[Trophy Tom]

17 bumble Bee
Take a 218 bee.
Form 1 push the shoulder back
Trim brass
Ream inside neck
Form 2 to size to 17 cal
Trim again to length
Full length size
And load


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[texassako]

10.35x47r Italian, but I do make it a bit harder on myself by using old berdan 8mm Lebel military brass and convert it to 209 primers. Basically I expand to .35, .38, .40, run into FL sizer, convert to 209 primers on the lathe, fire form, trim.

[EDG]

Form .303 to 6.5X53R Dutch Mannlicher.
Form .444 Marlin to .303
Form .405 Win to .303
Form .303 to 6.5 Jap
Form 7.62 and .308 W. to 6.5 Jap

[upnorthwis]

.45-90 WCF to .43 Mauser
.348 Win to 8MM Lebel

[NoZombies]

30-06 family into 360 BPE 2 1/4"

[GRUMPA]

308 to 35Rem

Just read my thread on it:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?276255-308-to-35-Rem-done-my-way&highlight=

[Nueces]

I've done nothing very radical. My most interesting effort was making 33 Winchester from 45-70. Knew I might have to turn case necks (and have the lathe to do it), but found rounds chambered without that step. Quite satisfying to get that 1904 Winchester 86 back in harness.

[stubshaft]

44 mag. necked to .17 cal.

[17nut]

I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627

[Mytmousemalibu]

The toughest one I've done yet is 32ga. brass shotshells into .41 Swiss CF also known as 10.8x38R for the Swiss Vetterli. Quite a few steps involved. It would be easier with 8mm Lebel or .348 Winchester but that brass is expensive and as difficult or worse to obtain as 32ga shotshell.

[sharps4590]

348 WCF first to 11.15 X 60R then to 10.5 X 47R. Second was 9.3 X 74R to 9 X 71 Peterlongo

17, it would appear you need to be looking at something like the Burnside....:-o

[15meter]

I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627

I think I need to make one of these up just so can casually leave it laying on the table at the gun club ��

[dimaprok]

223 to 221 fireball. Anneal 223 brass below neck, used lee FL die without expander to size it down. There was so much force involved that my bench would tilt! Lost probably 30% of the brass but thats ok it was free range pickup LC brass. than machine .220 mandrel on mini lathe and used live center to push brass on to it and then turn neck, once i establishes proper wall thickness i used same setting. Than i used Lyman E-Zee Trim to grab the rim and pull off the mandrel, than necks were trimmed and resized with RCBS FL die with neck expander than fine trimmed on LE Wilson trimmer, chamfered and debbured.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

[Smoke4320]

I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627
Caliber: American potato masher 45

[vzerone]

30-06 to 240 Weatherby Magnum.

[cainttype]

30-06 to 240 Weatherby Magnum.

This conversion is really not that difficult with the proper dies.
CH4D can supply the belt forming die which will create the basic 240 Weatherby belted-head on an ‘06 casing (or anything similar) in a single pass with a good, heavy press... The necking down operations can be simplified by using the 25-06 casing, although the 30-06 and 270 are certainly “doable”.

[Cavallino]

44 mag. necked to .17 cal.

Hi Stubshaft, tell us more about this cartridge and any photos.

I have managed to get 44 magnum to .224 with 40 degree shoulder, a copy of .224 Stark chambered in a MK3 Lee Enfield.

[Gew]

That 45-38 special just needs to be fire formed.

[Alan in Vermont]

Going back into the early 80s there was a shop here in Milton, VT there was a provider of reloaded and obsolete caliber ammunition. I was privileged to know the owner, Ira Farnsworth (RIP). He was an active benchrest competitor, gunsmith & overall good person.

I worked in his shop for quite a few years, when the serious shooters stopped by it provided a whole 'nother level of shooting education both in shooting matters and converting available cartridge cases into usable cases for cartridges no longer being made.

It was rare that Ira ever had to throw in the towel on a cartridge conversion. One that I saw stump him was an order for .333 Jeffrey ammunition. There was nothing available that would be quite "right" in one manner or another. I don't remember how many hours we did put into that project but it stretched into months with making test runs, sending them to the customer and finding something wrong. I didn't know all the details that must have been discussed with the customer but it was right around that time that BELL came out with another Jeffrey case(.400, maybe .450 Jeffrey?) that WAS the correct feedstock for the .333 and I think he ended up buying that to convert.

[maxreloader]

303 Savage to 44 Evans long is fun.

The only one to make me say uncle so far was the 280 Ross... I passed on the rifle after looking into it. Still regret it.

[17nut]

How about 8x58RD from belted magnum cases?

211077

From left:
Unmodified 7mm RM
300WM sized down to the belt
7mm RM with belt removed on the lathe
7mm RM sized all the way down
300WM trimmed to length and neck inside reamed.

211078

[15meter]

303 Savage to 44 Evans long is fun.

The only one to make me say uncle so far was the 280 Ross... I passed on the rifle after looking into it. Still regret it.

May I ask why? A buddy called me up this week and told if he ever talked about buying a 280 Ross to immediately talk him out of it. I went and looked it up. Didn't seem any harder than the 350 Rigby Magnums I made for him.

Just curious if I missed something.

[17nut]

Mine was 223 into 7.62x38r for the little Russian revolver that came into the country a couple of years back.

Actually did it before I bought the revolver.

Wanted to make sure that I would have a steady supply of brass. I didn't want to buy the gun and find out that brass went obsolete the day after they sold the last revolver that was imported.

What's yours?

Tried that today just because.
Not that bad at all ;-)

211137
211138

[15meter]

Tried that today just because.
Not that bad at all ;-)

211137
211138

Watch you case length, my first tries I didn't and had some that were too short to make it into the barrel but longer than the cylinder. When fired they flared over the end of the cylinder. Made it a real bear to eject. They need to be either long enough to do the gas seal thing or short enough not to extend past the cylinder. Either seemed to work equally well.

[17nut]

No worries i dont have a Russian Nagant revolver ;-)
I just had to try and i thing 30M1 carbine dies would really aid in correct case work.
I used 32-20 dies as that is what i have in that case size and they work fairly well for my short 7.5mm Norwegian Nagant.

[rmark]

The problem with 280 Ross was the 1910 model straight pull Ross rifle in which the bolt could be assembled incorrectly and not lock when closed, sending the bolt out the rear of the receiver when fired. Your bolt velocity should not exceed your bullet velocity. Military 1910 rifles later had a rivet installed to prevent this. I had a 1905 in 303 British I shot back in high school (almost 40 years ago) and a beautiful 1910 280 commercial sporter I didn't - if I had it now I'd be tempted.

[marlinman]

.22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer for a VERY modified Ruger No. 1.

[maxreloader]

280 Ross was bolt combined with lack of access to parent case at the time. (way before the interwebs)

[KenT7021]

I just fired a 280 Ross this week with cases formed from 375 Ruger brass.300 H&H and 300 Win Mag brass also work.You're on your own for loading data.Don't reform the 375 Ruger brass in the 280 Ross dies.You'll crack the die.I used a different die for initial forming and cracked it.If I form more cases I'll get a form die set.
It is possible to visually check that the bolt on a 280 Ross is locked.

[17nut]

The problem with 280 Ross was the 1910 model straight pull Ross rifle in which the bolt could be assembled incorrectly and not lock when closed, sending the bolt out the rear of the receiver when fired. Your bolt velocity should not exceed your bullet velocity. Military 1910 rifles later had a rivet installed to prevent this. I had a 1905 in 303 British I shot back in high school (almost 40 years ago) and a beautiful 1910 280 commercial sporter I didn't - if I had it now I'd be tempted.

So the fact that the bolt can be put together wrong makes it way harder to make rass for it????????

[EDG]

That is ammo for a Hall rifle.




I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627

[sideplate mike]

297/.250 from .22 hornet
Had to make sizing dies for 2stage forming of cut down hornet brass with trimmed rims.
Loaded with trail boss powder and .25 cal boolits. They went bang in my English rook rifle.

[15meter]

297/.250 from .22 hornet
Had to make sizing dies for 2stage forming of cut down hornet brass with trimmed rims.
Loaded with trail boss powder and .25 cal boolits. They went bang in my English rook rifle.

Photos of cartridge/rifle?

[toot]

a 9m/m luger to a 9m/m pin fire.

[toot]

6.5 JAP out of a 220 SWIFT.

[toot]

a 7.35 ITALIAN out of a 308.

[toot]

41 SWISS out of 348 or 8 m/m LEBEL brass.

[toot]

8 m/m LEBEL out of 348 brass.

[toot]

7.62+ 54 RUSSIAN out of 45/70 brass.

[Nueces]

Take a breath, Toot, you deserve a rest!

[toot]

Nueces, roger that!. and the beat goes on. when you are in the 70+++ age bracket you gotta step back and take a break. there are many more such as shooting a 32/20 SMITH & WESSON in the RUSSIAN revolver. I got started with GEORGE C NONTES book of HOME CARTRIDGE CONVERSIONS. DON'T KNOW IF IT IS STILL AROUND OR NOT?

[Nueces]

I have the same book and am about the same age. Book is long out of print, but available on the used market, starting, appropriately enough, in the $70 range.

[toot]

NUECES, WOW! glad I got it 40+ years ago when it was in the $1.95 price range. couldn't handle it on my SOCIAL SECURITY now. I still get many pleasurable hours flipping through it. he made it so simple to do a cartridge conversion with so little tools. GEORGE is long gone now, but he was a great teacher and man.

[17nut]

How about 455 Webley out of 45-70?

211407
211409

[texassako]

Ugh, I am going to revise mine to making reloadable .41 extra long rimfire out of .38 Special. Now I know why the reloadable .41 RF shorts for sale are from bar stock and expensive. I think I have the steps down now, I hope.

[NoZombies]

.22 Ladybug from .22 hornet is another fun one...

[midnight]

219 don wasp from 30-30

Bob

[ticket machine]

Most time consuming to me is .45-70 to 8x52R Siamese Mauser. Also do some easy ones, 8mm Mauser to 9.5x57 M-S, 9.3x57, 8x56 M-S; .303 British to 6.5x53R; .284 Win to .375/.284. Most case splits come from .30-40 Krag to .25 Krag Improved.

[curioushooter]

Converting 223 to 7.62x38r was definitely the most difficult. Converting 8mm Lebel to 44 Swiss centerfire was easy, and 30-30 to 357 Herrett in the middle.

[corerftech]

32 long colt from 30 carbine.
Before I killed my first 32 Long RF to 32 s&w out of both success and failure.

Swagged the case in multiple dies ( couldn't reform case head)
Built a mandrel to lathe turn.
Turned case head.
Cases were literally paper thin.
Succeeded in making two but really only one.
Never test fired it, still have it on my desk. Took hours and hours and lost maybe 8-9 in process.
Lathe turning a case wall at the mouth to thin it to .004 is a serious challenge.
It was not optimal by any means, terrible parent case. But I was out of options. Till I read here chev Williams thread on 32 colt and when I did I figured out 22-3000/25-20SS is he perfect case to cut down. But.... I kill every 32 RF/LC I find into 32 s&w, h&r and be done with it.

[John Boy]

Elaborate step process: Converting 22 Hornet's to 25 Stevens

[mpkunz]

.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.

[Chev. William]

Elaborate step process: Converting 22 Hornet's to 25 Stevens

Quick but High effort way:
use a RCBS "RC" Press or a stronger one.
Buy a Lee Precision .25ACP Carbide ring Sizing die.
Remove the depriming pin and collet form the die.
Machine a Long 3/16" Pin punch body to allow it enter the top of the sizing die and have the tip extend at least 2" below the die body mouth.

Before other actions: expand the mouth, neck and shoulder of the .22 Hornet case to about .248"-.250" inside diameter.

Set up in press with an RCBS "Small Primer Pocket Swaging Punch", Stripper cup and a 3/16 ID fender washer on the ram and the sizing die
Set the Sizing die in the press so its Mouth is about .015" above fenderwasher when the ram is at top of its stroke.

Put lubed .22 hornet case on Primer punch tip. Note it should seat on the fender washer.

In one smooth rapid move force the Case into the sizing die mouth fully until the rim is at the mouth of the die; but not IN the Mouth.
NOTE: if you pause in this move the case will "Bellows deform".
And, Yes, the Base IS swaged down in this action!
Note that I use my Standing and two arms full body weight to do the Swaging motion in one move.

Use the pin punch and a hammer To tap the case back out of the die. It will have a 'roll' of displaced brass just above the rim.

Chuck case in Lathe and use a tool to turn the 'roll' of brass off the case and reduce the thickness of the rim from ~.070" down to ~.048"-.050".
This will leave the rim at about .349"-.350" diameter. It may be reduced in diameter if desired to about .340" or slightly less.

Trim the resulting parent case form about 1.380" down to the .25 Stevens length of 1.125".

Drill and deburr the Flash Hole to .078" Diameter to clear a Lee depriming pin.

The case is now in condition to be processed for loading, don't forget to deburr/champfer the mouth and slightly bell it for bullet insertion ease.

If you wish to do an easier process, use two or three additional Lee Carbide Ring sizing dies that have been "opened to intermediate diameters such as .300", .290", .286", .280", etc.; as this will reduce the swaging force needed at each stage of diameter reduction.
Note that by doing the swaging in multiple stages I can use one arm while sititng to perform the swaging motion.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

Added20180319:
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz316/chevwilliam/250ALxx%20Family%20Cartridge%20project/c8fe7e32-b369-477c-956d-726b177c4396_zpszp8ajiqx.jpg
Left to Right: .25ACP @.905" OAL; .25ALR @1.293" OAL; .25 Magnum Auto. @.1.366" OAL; .25ALS @ 1.407" OAL. All With .250" sized Hornady #2510 60 grain Jacketed Soft Flat Point Bullet.
Note: .25ACP Case Length = .612"; .25ALR Case Length = .960"; .25 Magnum Auto. Case Length = 1.055"; .25ALS Case Length = 1.125".
Note: .25ACP rim diameter is .304", 5.7x28mm parent rim diameter is .307"
Chev. William

[rbuck351]

22Cooper from 5.7x28. Not sure it's worth the effort.

[AllanD]

I've made great use of my RCBS Case forming kit to make 6mm Rem from30-06 case, but in practical terms since the first step is to 7x57, then 257 Roberts, going all the way from 30-06 is generally too much to bother with, and starting with either 257 Roberts or any other ?x57 case is more practical, As-is simply breaking down and buying 6mm REM Brass.

It is a comforting feeling to KNOW I can make them if I "Need" to, but in general I can find other ways to occupy my time.

Such as making 358Norma cases for my brother from virgin NEW 300Win Mag cases

NOTE making them from 338Win mag does not work the necks come out too short, but to prove a point I've made them from 375H&H and once from a single 460Weatherby case (I still feel a bit guilty over the wastefulness of that, but)

Then I scored a BAG of 100 of factory Virgin 358Norma cases!

[Broomstraw]

Mine would have to be some Lake City 5.56 to 7.62x25 Tokarev brass. Fairly straightforward....deprime with Lee decapping die. Run the lubed case in the 7.62x25 die. Trim to a little over OAL Case length with HF Saw. Then final trim with case trimmer. Debur and then ream neck with Size N drill bit. Debur again. Load and shoot. Firing "fire forms" case to your Tokarev chamber. Second loading works well for me. With 7.62x25 brass available as cheap as it is, no reason to do this. I had read about the process and thought I would try it. Made about a 100. Case volume is lower than factory brass because brass is so thick.

[Good Cheer]

Not difficult, just multiple steps.

216932

[Good Cheer]

Making .38 Long Cox from 45-70 is actually more involved than turning 30-06 into 22-250.
216933

[sass2924]

Not me but Warner Tool is making a 375 based on a 50bmg. I talked to him and it take 16 steps for the finished case. Too much work for me.

[Littlewolf]

hardest re-form i've done is 30-06 crimp mouth blanks into 257roberts. i use a 12 step proccess to achieve shootable brass. first is trim off most of the neck in the forster trimmer adapted to a drill. then with 6, 7/8" machine bushings (local hardware store) between the press and lock nut of th FL die with expander and no decap pin then when all pcs of the batch have been through this stage take one bushing out do it again. once all the bushings have been removed put the decap pin back in, deprime then its off to the forster trimmer for final length and then to the othe forster rigged in neck turning.
by the by do take the time to look for dents developing in the shoulder/neck at each stage of the forming.
i form in 77rnd batches and using this bushing method i still have 70 of the original 77 that can now be fire formed to the chamber. single push forming like some people do renders 95% failure rate for me, just my 5 cents worth

[15meter]

For physical effort, converting 300 Weatherby magnums to 300 H&H takes the most muscle. In the die an eighth of an inch--or less with both hands, back out, turn case a eighth turn, try again about every third try, more imperial wax and keep going. Anneal when all done.

I use a Rockchucker bolted to a half inch thick, six inch wide by 18 inch long steel plate morticed into the bench top with a matching steel backing plate underneath. The bench is anchored to 4x6 posts on each end that go four feet into the ground. There have been times I thought that may not have been beefy enough.

[Chev. William]

Wow!
My "Bench" is a 8'x2'x1" thick table top made from two layers of 1/2" marine Plywood glued and screwed together and supported on two Tubular formed folding Table Leg assemblies.
My Press is "C Clamped" to the Table edge near one support leg attachment.
The Original 'RCBS JR-3' Press use the same top of stroke and then screw the die in and repeat to Form my first sets of .22 Hornet to .25 Stevens cases; until the JR-3 Ram to lever pivot pin sheared. I was using both hands and standing to get most of my Body Mass onto the straight grip JR-3 Handle and my table top was Flexing down under the forces involved.

I purchased A used 'RCBS RC' press and then fitted it with a New handle (about 4" longer and with a Ball Shaped grip) from an "Ammomaster II".
The Single stage .22 Hornet to .25 Stevens process Effort became less and my yield went up while the Table top[ Flexing went down.

Changing to Multiple swaging steps Greatly improve my yield further; and now, with multiple step swaging and 5.7x28mm Starting cases. it is a relatively easy 'one arm while sitting' effort that is yielding almost 100 percent successful formed cases.

My current process Starts with Once Fired 5.7x28mm brass that I decap and then expand the neck and shoulder with a .250" diameter Expander.
I then change the Shell holder out for a RCBS Small Primer Pocket Swaging Kit Punch, Stripper Cup, and a 3/16" ID Fender Washer spacer and my first stage swaging die and run the cases into it until the top of the rim touches the mouth of the die.
To remove the case from the die I use a Modified Long 3/16 Pin Punch and a 20 oz Hammer.
I repeat the above with each succeeding swaging die until the case body is down final size.

This leaves me with cases that are about 1.230" to 1.260" long depending upon the production age of the cases with older ones yielding longer formed length.
The flash holes are also swaged smaller so need to be drilled out and deburred after drilling. I use a 5/64"(.078") drill bit; and a long body center drill to deburr the hole at both ends.

My Final Preparation Steps are to trim to the desired length and champfer the inside edge case mouth, then 'bell' the mouth slightly to ease bullet seating later.

Chev. William

[15meter]

May I ask why? A buddy called me up this week and told if he ever talked about buying a 280 Ross to immediately talk him out of it. I went and looked it up. Didn't seem any harder than the 350 Rigby Magnums I made for him.

Just curious if I missed something.

And three years later he went a bought a Ross in 280, so I'm back on the hunt for any and all info on forming the 280 Ross.

[DDriller]

.338 Spectre from 6.8spc. Had to cut down case, inside neck ream, and outside neck ream. Fun little cartridge to make and shoot. Was a lot easier to form from a 10mm magnum case, just run through sizing die.

[Fitz]

45 raptor out of 308 brass just slow and easy annealing in-between

[Shanghai Jack]

I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627

Might work if you had a false muzzle and loaded it like a schuetzen front stuffer.

[frkelly74]

No one mentioned the 7.62X25 from a 223 rem case so I will. It actually caused me pain to shoot them in high grass and loosing one. I sure miss hearing from Grumpa.

[ndnchf]

Converting .56-50 centerfire to rimfire. But now that I have the process down, it's not as hard as it was at first.

[444ttd]

geez!!! you guys make me feel small and unimportant!!!!!


i do the '06 cases to 7x57, 8x57, 9.3x57 and 7.65x53 cases.

i also did...
8x57 to 9.3x57.
221 rem fireball to 20 vartarg
22-250 to 6.5 creedmoor
30-30 to 35/30-30
30-30 to 7x30 waters

others done, but don't have:(:(
30-40 krag to 35 krag
30-40 krag to 9.3 krag
30-40 krag to 7 krag
30-40 krag to 6.5 krag
30-40 krag to 25 krag
6.5 creedmoor to 35 creedmoor
6.5 creedmoor to 9.3 creedmoor
6.5 creedmoor to 8 creedmoor
6.5 creedmoor to 7 creedmoor
'06 to 313 to 318-06 (type 99 arisaka 30-06, i still have to do this)

[Mk42gunner]

Almost three and a half years, and no one has mentioned the .224 Triple Necked Terror? Ah the things we do when bored and have a well stocked loading bench.

I have made one .22-250 from .30-06, without forming dies; just to say I have done it.

The 6mmx.300 WSM wasn't hard, start with .270 WSM brass to eliminate one step. for forming dies, I cut down a cheap from ebay set of .243 Win dies to size the neck. When the 6mmWSSM dies came out, I bought a sizing die from Redding and left it sitting very high in the press.

.25-20 from .32-20 isn't hard, but it is tedious.

Most of the others I have done aren't really that hard to do, it is mostly figuring out which die to use for any intermediate steps.

Robert

[15meter]

For physical effort, converting 300 Weatherby magnums to 300 H&H takes the most muscle. In the die an eighth of an inch--or less with both hands, back out, turn case a eighth turn, try again about every third try, more imperial wax and keep going. Anneal when all done.

I use a Rockchucker bolted to a half inch thick, six inch wide by 18 inch long steel plate morticed into the bench top with a matching steel backing plate underneath. The bench is anchored to 4x6 posts on each end that go four feet into the ground. There have been times I thought that may not have been beefy enough.

I have a new winner in the "Charles Atlas School of body building and reloading, the 280 Ross.

Having been suckered into believing that you could form 375 Ruger into 280 Ross, I bought 100 pieces of 375 Ruger BASIC brass. With basic brass you are trying to bring down the neck from a straight cylinder ~.525 diameter down to .287. And get the body to taper all the way to the base.

Started with F/L size in 470 N.E.

Then F/L size in 450 N.E.

Then F/L size in 450/400 N.E.

Then tried a variety of other fat silly dies to bring it down further with no success.

Then moved on to the 280 Ross F/L sizer.

The immovable object has thus far been winning.

Have to do some more cogitating on how to shrink the neck and get a silly amount of body taper into this brass.

Or just get some 300 H&H brass, tried two of them, worked wonderfully after the above machinations. Just need to trim to length and see if they will chamber.

[marlin1895]

my case conversion was 38-56 from 45-70. first sized in a 40-65 then a 38-56 die & then you trim to 2.10

[Jim22]

I my case it was a wildcat cartridge I sorta designed. I built a .400 belted Whelen on a Mauser 98 action. I was aware of the headspace problems with the .400 Whelen on a .30-06 case so I designed mine to use .240 Weatherby brass - ergo a belted case. The brass, even then, was expensive. It was long enough ago that I had to decide whether to make it a .411 or a .416. I chose the .411. Boolits were scarce for both. I used Barnes copper tubing 400 grain boolits. The goal was to have a rifle that fired 400 gr boolits at the same speed as a .458 Win Mag fired 500's. Got pretty close, too. The Weatherby brass has significantly less capacity than .30-06 brass. I lost a lot of .240 brass before I figured out how to expand the mouths without either cracking them or pushing the shoulder back. That double radius shoulder would collapse pretty easily. I used that rifle to take the biggest body moose I have ever taken. Wound up with 500 lbs of boned meat.

[brstevns]

7mm Rem mag, 300 win mag etc to 43 Spanish for a Remington Rolling Block

[dogmower]

making 577 snider and 577/450 Martini Henri from 24 gauge brass shotshells. actually, the 577 snider is easy, the 577/450 is another story....

[nvbirdman]

30-30 to 25-35.
Takes some patience, but I hardly ever lose a case nowdays.

[quail4jake]

.45-70 to .38-56 but no .40-65 in between, just annealing and lubing going easy. I think I'll try the .40-65 intermediate, that seems to make good sense!

[dtknowles]

No one mentioned the 7.62X25 from a 223 rem case so I will. It actually caused me pain to shoot them in high grass and loosing one. I sure miss hearing from Grumpa.

Did that one myself just to know I could do it. I have plenty of 7.62x25 now, I don't like losing even the factory stuff.

My hardest forming job was 20mm cannon brass to 26.5mm flare pistol brass. Spun formed on a lathe.

[uscra112]

Did I post this already? .22-3000 Lovell, (.25-20 Single Shot) from .223/5.56 .

[Good Cheer]

45-70 necked down to use Lyman #375296, 45 degree shoulder with 9/16" long neck.

http://i.imgur.com/TZkklmp.jpg (https://imgur.com/TZkklmp)

[15meter]

45-70 necked down to use Lyman #375296, 45 degree shoulder with 9/16" long neck.

http://i.imgur.com/TZkklmp.jpg (https://imgur.com/TZkklmp)

Looks like a fun round.

Even like the name, kind of like the name of the road leading into Shanghai from the airport: English translation on the road sign was Long Dong Boulevard.

[toot]

24 GAUGE CBC shot shell brass is easier to do, in making them.

[toot]

post #84, I meant for making 41 SWISS CASES.

[toot]

post# 29, reminds of WARREN PAGES, I believe, PAGES SOUPER POOPER? I might be confused about the case?

[toot]

Nueces, thank for that reply, I not only run out of breath but I think brass also? maybe? yes pushing 80, I get Easley excited, swept up in the moment. LOL! and there are a lot more that I will post later.

[toot]

17 nut, I have a 455 WEBLEY, can you please tell what it takes to MFG, them out of 45/70's? thanking you.

[toot]

post # 84, I was confused. I meant, CBC BRASS, 24 gauge to 577/ 450, brass. sorry. CRS, has kicked in.

[cainttype]

I my case it was a wildcat cartridge I sorta designed. I built a .400 belted Whelen on a Mauser 98 action. I was aware of the headspace problems with the .400 Whelen on a .30-06 case so I designed mine to use .240 Weatherby brass - ergo a belted case. The brass, even then, was expensive. It was long enough ago that I had to decide whether to make it a .411 or a .416. I chose the .411….

I did the same thing, but used 308.
I wanted the shorter action, and the reduced case capacity was a good thing… With 41 cal molds easily available in weights from 175 to 350 it was a perfect option for a fan of the caliber with a good selection already on hand.
I chose 2” as the case length, but it could easily be shortened to 1.75”-1.8” and be legal in those States requiring straightwall cartridges with length restrictions.
It was nothing more than miniaturizing Nonte’s 458x2” American concept for less “OOMPH!”, and still be used in a good bolt-action, staggered magazine carbine with nothing more than a barrel change.
A .40”+ cast in the 250-350gr weight range at a sedate 1600-2000 fps is more than adequate for anything I’ll ever need, and will play pure Hell on stubborn aluminum cans that the tiny .224’s zip through with barely a flinch.

Being able to chamber the barrel without custom reamers, and reload the round with commonly available dies (240 Weatherby and a shortened set of 405 Win) made it too attractive as an experiment.

[cainttype]

These were early prototypes…
.375” on left, .412” on right.

[303brt]

30-06 to 9.3x62. I'm not very adventurous.

[17nut]

50BMG to 12 gauge is no slouch either!

[15meter]

50BMG to 12 gauge is no slouch either!

We need pictures and a description!!!!

[Postell]

17 Squirrel using nickel Remington cases. My dad said it couldn't be done.

[beechbum444]

I did the same thing, but used 308.
I wanted the shorter action, and the reduced case capacity was a good thing… With 41 cal molds easily available in weights from 175 to 350 it was a perfect option for a fan of the caliber with a good selection already on hand.
I chose 2” as the case length, but it could easily be shortened to 1.75”-1.8” and be legal in those States requiring straightwall cartridges with length restrictions.
It was nothing more than miniaturizing Nonte’s 458x2” American concept for less “OOMPH!”, and still be used in a good bolt-action, staggered magazine carbine with nothing more than a barrel change.
A .40”+ cast in the 250-350gr weight range at a sedate 1600-2000 fps is more than adequate for anything I’ll ever need, and will play pure Hell on stubborn aluminum cans that the tiny .224’s zip through with barely a flinch.

Being able to chamber the barrel without custom reamers, and reload the round with commonly available dies (240 Weatherby and a shortened set of 405 Win) made it too attractive as an experiment.

Evening, can you provided more info on this cartridge??? I was trying to achieve the same round. What kind of chamber pressure?? What is the COAL?? Is 2000 FPS achievable from a 16 inch barrel? Also.....C4HD makes a die set to form 240 weatherby brass from 30-06 brass forming the belt...Ever try to use this one??

[wyowillys46]

6mm Lee Navy from 30-40 Krag.

Neck to 7mm.
Neck to 6.5mm.
Neck to 6mm.
Anneal.
Turn off the rim.
Turn base diameter to approximately .446 from .457.
Cut a new extractor groove.
Bevel the rim, which is necessary to work with original clips.

[uscra112]

Convert .17 WSM rimfire to .25 Stevens rimfire.

Pull bullets and dump powder.
Trim to 1.20
Anneal mouths (ANNEAL? How do you do that without setting off the primer? My secret!)
Expand:
First step .170" to .190"
Second step .190" to .215"
Anneal again
Third step .215" to .240"
Trim to length 1.125"
Fourth step expand to .257 I.D.

Tedious, for a case that would normally be used only once. Some still split, but I'm getting about 80% good ones per box.
And there's a kit on the Innerwebz that you can use to re-prime the rims.

[15meter]

Convert .17 WSM rimfire to .25 Stevens rimfire.

Pull bullets and dump powder.
Trim to 1.20
Anneal mouths (ANNEAL? How do you do that without setting off the primer? My secret!)
Expand:
First step .170" to .190"
Second step .190" to .215"
Anneal again
Third step .215" to .240"
Trim to length 1.125"
Fourth step expand to .257 I.D.

Tedious, for a case that would normally be used only once. Some still split, but I'm getting about 80% good ones per box.
And there's a kit on the Innerwebz that you can use to re-prime the rims.

WooHoo!

That's why I started this thread!

For CRAZY PEOPLE!

Keep the old and weird shooting.

It would be even better if you used the powder for pyrotechnics....:bigsmyl2:


But please don't take the secret of annealing primed rimfire case to the grave.

That's way too important information to disappear.

[ndnchf]

I was in an LGS yesterday and spotted some .17WSM on the shelf. I bought 2 boxes just to put away for this purpose. I dont have a .25 Steven at present, but its good to be prepared :grin:

[uscra112]

Just be aware that the .17 WSM brass is too tough for any of the common boys' rifles to fire. It needs the hammerblow of a model 44. I have a Model 83 (bolt action) that will fire it. If you can find one in .25 Stevens, it's a NICE little rifle.

Another approach is to convert the rifle to centerfire, and make CF brass by swaging down .22 Hornet. But that's too easy for this thread.

[toot]

WOW!! there are cortically, more of us than you think!! I thought that I was the only one who sat at my bench and crunched / ruined brass. it is nice to know that I have KINDRED SPIRTS, out there?!

[Gunners Mate]

Not to tough but really time consuming
7mm Rem Mag to 6.5 Rem Mag, this one shoots 1/2 inch all day long, in a Remington 673. My go to Rifle 120 gr Barnes TTSX 59gr of H4831SC, BR2 primer
and
7mm Rem Mag to 350 Rem Mag, this one shoots under an inch all day long, in another Remington 673

[murf205]

Not to tough but really time consuming
7mm Rem Mag to 6.5 Rem Mag, this one shoots 1/2 inch all day long, in a Remington 673. My go to Rifle 120 gr Barnes TTSX 59gr of H4831SC, BR2 primer
and
7mm Rem Mag to 350 Rem Mag, this one shoots under an inch all day long, in another Remington 673

That one gave me fits. I tried to use 300 Win cases and 7mm mag. It might just be my dies, but I could not get but about every other one to set the shoulder back properly no mater how many steps I took. I finally solved the problem by having the 350 rechambered to 358 Norma Mag. Presto, 338 Win brass and I haven't lost a case yet. It is a real thrill in a 7 LB rifle!

[gwpercle]

30-06 to 7 X 57 Mauser ... I had buckets of 30-06 military surplus cases , back then WWII & Korea brass was plentiful , but no 7 X 57 Mauser . I would just buy 7 X 57 today converting it from 30-06 is a pain .
284 Winchester to 7.5 Swiss . The only 7.5 Swiss ammo available was Berdan primed and I couldn't reload them . One of my reloading books said you could resize 284 Win. in a 7.5 Swiss die and have reloadable cases . I went down to local gun shop and he had 40 once fired 284 Win.
You have to remember this was 1960's no interweb or amazon ... if the local gun shop didn't have it ...you did without .
Cast boolits ... no one sold cast ... you bought a 1 or 2 cavity mould and poured them yourself .
Gary

[Rapier]

Growing up in the north woods of ME, NH and VT it was uncommon to see commercial US hunting rifles, way more common to see various military surplus rifles used by trappers and hunters. Those rifles were tough, good enough, and above all, cheap.
I learned to reload while in HS in the early 60s out of economic necessity, creating conversion cartridges from more readily available cartridges, mostly “range finds”, just so I could shoot or hunt.

[Butzbach]

Excellent thread.

[bubbadoyle]

.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.

I see this is several years old but just came across this. My brother and I did this same thing but case length is 1.74”. My problem is after the initial firing the cases become shorter because the case has to slightly expand to chamber. My brother made an expander to expand the case before sizing and trimming but they still lose 6 to 7 thousandths on the first firing. This becomes an issue when it’s headspacing off the case mouth. I’m just curious how you dealt with this or if you had this problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[uscra112]

???? No bottleneck cartridge headspaces on the case mouth.

[15meter]

???? No bottleneck cartridge headspaces on the case mouth.

I think by the time 06 cases are trimmed this short, they are in essence a straight walled wildcat. May be where they are getting the headspacing on the mouth. But that is just a guess on my part.

Quote Originally Posted by mpkunz View Post
.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.



I see this is several years old but just came across this. My brother and I did this same thing but case length is 1.74”. My problem is after the initial firing the cases become shorter because the case has to slightly expand to chamber. My brother made an expander to expand the case before sizing and trimming but they still lose 6 to 7 thousandths on the first firing. This becomes an issue when it’s headspacing off the case mouth. I’m just curious how you dealt with this or if you had this problem.

[bubbadoyle]

I think by the time it 06 cases are trimmed this short, they are in essence a straight walled wildcat. May be where they are getting the headspacing on the mouth. But that is just a guess on my part.

Quote Originally Posted by mpkunz View Post
.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.



I see this is several years old but just came across this. My brother and I did this same thing but case length is 1.74”. My problem is after the initial firing the cases become shorter because the case has to slightly expand to chamber. My brother made an expander to expand the case before sizing and trimming but they still lose 6 to 7 thousandths on the first firing. This becomes an issue when it’s headspacing off the case mouth. I’m just curious how you dealt with this or if you had this problem.

Exactly. This is a straight walled case without a rim so it headspaces on the case mouth. The one I did is very similar to the 450 bushmaster but 44 caliber. I have this in both an ar15 and a bolt gun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Chainsaw.]

Hold onto your hats for this one!!!!
44 Remington Magnum to……………..44 Special….!

Thats what ya do when the mag cases split the mouth.

[rmark]

303 British into 30-40 Krag has been the peak of my creativity.

[SOFMatchstaff]

I've made a bunch of the ones noted, but the 577/450 MH from the CBC cases is the is the most intense. Not really hard , just have to pay attention to the feel.

[15meter]

For physical effort, converting 300 Weatherby magnums to 300 H&H takes the most muscle. In the die an eighth of an inch--or less with both hands, back out, turn case a eighth turn, try again about every third try, more imperial wax and keep going. Anneal when all done.

I use a Rockchucker bolted to a half inch thick, six inch wide by 18 inch long steel plate morticed into the bench top with a matching steel backing plate underneath. The bench is anchored to 4x6 posts on each end that go four feet into the ground. There have been times I thought that may not have been beefy enough.

Have a new winner in the "is it going to bust the press or the bench before forming?" arena.

500 N.E. 3" to the 500-450 #1 Express.

4 foot piece of pipe over the handle on the Rockchucker makes it considerably easier.

Never had to resort to using a pipe before, or I'm getting a whole bunch weaker after retiring.

Did another batch today, actually measured the pipe, it's only 37".

[toot]

EDG, how did you make a .303 into a 6.5 JAP? a .303 has a rim and the JAP is rimless? just courious?

[frkelly74]

EDG, how did you make a .303 into a 6.5 JAP? a .303 has a rim and the JAP is rimless? just courious?


I have some that someone sent me and they have the rims cut down on a lathe and a new extractor groove cut. It would be a last resort type conversion.

I have attempted a similar operation to convert 30/30 to 30 Remington without a lathe and not been successful yet. Grumpa had this down to a science.

[BS2]

Did I post this already? .22-3000 Lovell, (.25-20 Single Shot) from .223/5.56 .

Took me 5 steps to make these ready to size, 3 using the lathe. They came out 1.835" and hold 21 grains of H20, and are .312 straight.

[MarkP]

30-30 to 219 Zipper, 223 to 221 Fireball, 7 mm Rem Mag to 350 Rem Mag. Need to neck ream.

[Baltimoreed]

I met a neat fellow in Swift Current, Saskatchewan named Dale Friesen in the summer of ‘73 or ‘74 as I traveled across Canada. He was a talented self taught gunsmith. Anyway we hit it off and he invited me to go prairie dog hunting. Next day I go by his place and he hands me a .50 cal muzzle loader and drags out a Sharps Carbine. He couldn’t get brass for his rifle so he would turn the heads down on his machine lathe and solder shim brass to make the case. Must have been a .50 something. He said he could get 4-5 bp loads before they went bad then tear them down and rebuild them. He actually killed some prairie dogs that day, I came close. A fun day. If I could do that over I would have spent the summer there and let him teach me a little in exchange for using my van as he didn’t have a vehicle.

[36g]

.30/06 to 8X57 mm star crimped blanks. This was before the dies were commercially available so had a custom star crimp insert made then converted/modified several 8X57 mm dies to do the steps needed. Then set up on a progressive press for commercial quantities.

[15meter]

.30/06 to 8X57 mm star crimped blanks. This was before the dies were commercially available so had a custom star crimp insert made then converted/modified several 8X57 mm dies to do the steps needed. Then set up on a progressive press for commercial quantities.

There's a market for 8mm blanks?

Who woulda thunk?

[36g]

There's a market for 8mm blanks?

Who woulda thunk?

WWi and WWII re-enactors and movie companies...

[elmacgyver0]

I made some 577/450 Martini-Henry cases from copper tubing and 20 gauge shot shell heads.
It worked but never again.

[toot]

50/45. after my first try I got it done, used 8m/m LEBEL.

[toot]

frkelley74, thanks for the reply. I agree that it would be cost prohibitive! you would rely have to have a great amount of patiance to do it.

[rintinglen]

7.65 French from 30 carbine. Drive case though .340 hole made in a piece of 1/2 inch steel. Chuck into drill press and clean up extractor groove and turn rim to .335 with file. Chop to .780". Trim to .775". Neck ream to a depth of .20 with .3125 reamer sharpened to reduce it to ~.311. Size in 32 ACP sizer, remove crimp ring from primer pocket, then load normally. Fire and watch hours of labor go spinning away.

[Good Cheer]

Looks like a fun round.

Even like the name, kind of like the name of the road leading into Shanghai from the airport: English translation on the road sign was Long Dong Boulevard.

I plead guilty to naming with humorous intent. :drinks:

[Rapier]

Most difficult, the 240 Laser, using cut off 243 Winchester dies. Start with a 280 case, make a false shoulder, that requires a tight bolt handle turn, fire form, one shot, with a hot load using 115 grain VLDs. If it does not form right, you must toss the brass and start over again. The shoulder is 40 degree and .100 longer than the Gibbs.
The second is the 30 HARM a 25-20, with the case run through a cut off 25-20 sizer and a 30-20 sizer with a 308 expander, Then a Dan Wesson Super Mag frame gun with a Douglas Premium 10" barrel and a cylinder with the chambers, reamed and bushings inserted with black locktite and chambered. Had to make an extra long barrel nut wrench. This is the gun and cartridges. The 200 gr SAECO pictured on right would do 1,600 fps and shoot sub 1/2" groups, using 4227.
By the time I finished this project, DW had sold to CZ and no more interest in the 30 cal rifle bullet revolver project.

[35 Rem]

The ONLY cartridge I've ever formed was 22 CHeetah Mk II from the Remington Benchrest Basic brass which was just very uniform 308 brass with a small primer pocket.

Since RCBS sold a die set already made up to do the conversion it wasn't too difficult but I did have a problem with cases buckling going into the 3rd form die, which also served as a Ream die once the case was inside. I got it to work by having an odd size outside neck turning pilot made for my Forester Trimmer to thin the necks prior to the 3rd die and it worked like a charm.

Once you use the 3 form dies and sawed off the excess neck then you made a pass through the regular FL die, loaded the case and fire formed.

I got worried that I'd not have enough of the cases as they were already out of production when I got the rifle (1988) so I bought up something like 1,400 of them. Being that 22 CHeetah barrel life is about that same number I've got more than enough for life even if the cases don't last very many loads each. And cases DO have a good life by the way.

[Bent Ramrod]

I wrote up my conversion of .240 Weatherby Magnum cases to .236 Lee Navy a ways back in this section.

Almost as hard and elaborate, and (as it turned out) more costly, was the conversion of .348 Winchester cases to .44-77 Sharps&Remington. I cracked my CH-4D FLS die performing that stunt, and had to get another, at no small cost (about what the full set went for, just a few years ago).

But I took a piece of 1/2” steel plate, bored and threaded an undersize 7/8”x14tpi hole in the center, put the cracked die in the freezer overnight, heated the plate good and hot the next day and burned the chilled die into the hole up to the top of the crack. The die and plate now work fine for the final case forming step in my Harbor Freight hydraulic press and, with all the extra metal around it, that crack is going to stay shut, no matter what gets smunched into there. I won’t have to use the new sizing die for anything but full length sizing.

[Shanghai Jack]

Elaborate step process: Converting 22 Hornet's to 25 Stevens

Can you elaborate

[GONRA]

Quote Originally Posted by vzerone "
30-06 to 240 Weatherby Magnum.
"This conversion is really not that difficult with the proper dies.

Decades ago GONRA wondered if anybody actually / really did this! Guess So!


"CH4D can supply the belt forming die which will create the basic 240 Weatherby belted-head on an ‘06 casing (or anything similar) in a single pass with a good, heavy press... The necking down operations can be simplified by using the 25-06 casing, although the 30-06 and 270 are certainly “doable”."

>>> "Hope you guys wear yer safety glasses! !!!! <<<

Looks/ Eyeballs GREAT - but is the head gonna hold up? ???

[Sanchez]

In order:
8 x 22mm Nambu from .40 S&W.
7.65 x 20mm French Long from 32 S&W Long.

[ndnchf]

Can you elaborate

John Boy passed away recently. However, I too convert .22 Hornet to .25 Stevens, both rimfire and centerfire. I've put together detailed instructions with photos. If interested, PM me with your email. I'll send them in .pdf format.

[AWS]

9.3x72R to 6.5x58R Sauer plus swaging .264 bullets to .260 for it.

left to right 243 Win - 6.5x58R Sauer - 9.3x72R
307009

[357Mag]

All -

I have done a variety of wildcats, but so far have only had 3 chambered; and one that shoots in a factory chambering.

-.35 Remington necked-down to .224" cal, for an incredible anti-groundhog round. Form w/ custom RCBS case forming die set, which included inside neck reamer & " die ". This was my first wildcat, first fired back in 1977. Set up rifle to shoot 55grainers.

- .357AutoMag expanded out to full .358" calibre; to allow use of .358" cal rifle bullets.

- " DEEP 6 ".... which is formed from 7 X 64 Brenneke for a base diam of .466" nominal. The chamber is cut by running a
6mm Remington reamer in " short "; for a wildcat case w/ .466" base diam. Case capacity = 51.2gr H2O

- " .35 Remington neckless " = .35Rem case w/ neck removed, shoulder formed for a .311" case mouth ID. This wildcat is used to shoot .35" cal swaged lead re-bated boat tail spitzers; that are plastic tipped. The boolits are taken from pre-packaged .45" cal muzzle loader saboted rounds. I patch w/ nylon DYMO label maker tape. After firing, the case mouth only needs a slight tamping back to .311" calibre; as the rebated BT on the bullet is .308" OD at its widest point.

I'll try to send some pics, in a bit......


Regards,
357Mag

[dtknowles]

32 extra long from .223 brass.

Tim

[ndnchf]

32 extra long from .223 brass.

Tim

Just FYI, They are much easier to make from 327 magnum brass. I've made a lot of them.

[dtknowles]

Just FYI, They are much easier to make from 327 magnum brass. I've made a lot of them.

Yeah, I make .327 mag. from .223 too. Free brass vs. expensive brass. I have not made many, mostly just for fun.

Tim

[1Hawkeye]

I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627

I did the same thing using a federal .357 mag case and a cast 230 gr round nose. IF you want to have some fun with a gun shop clerk drop that in there hand and tell them you need a box of these.

[chief3]

8mm Siamese . from 45/70 several steps with dies of various calibers

[Wayne Smith]

My most challenging has been my 25 Krag AI. Start with 30-40 Krag, size first 1/4" of the neck down to 7mm and then to 25. Anneal just beyond shoulder and fire form. I wrote up my full process and it is here somewhere.

[3584ELK]

.33 WCF from .45-70 was difficult due to the mid-case step which formed in the sizing process
9.x64 from .375 H&H- had to turn the belt off before sizing, but they worked!

[deces]

5.45mm from .223 with Hornady dies has been impossible for me, I end up crushing every neck during the swage. :confused:

[ulav8r]

30-06 to 25-06. I have led a very sheltered life.

[rbuck351]

Lately I have been making 410 shotgun brass cases from 300 Win mag.

[uscra112]

.25 Stevens Rimfire Long from .17 WSM. Has to be annealed twice, without setting off the primer. Is it worth it for a round you can fire only once?

[15meter]

Lately I have been making 410 shotgun brass cases from 300 Win mag.

That sounds like it needs a write up on how you're doing that.:popcorn:

[15meter]

.25 Stevens Rimfire Long from .17 WSM. Has to be annealed twice, without setting off the primer. Is it worth it for a round you can fire only once?

Assuming the pan of water routine, without the tip over to cool the neck?

Reprime the case(I've read it can be done, not a clue on the viability of such sillyness)?

But most of what we do is viewed as sillyness by non-loaders.

[uscra112]

Rotating cup of ice water, and a few kernels of rice inside. Rotation keeps the heat distributed, minimizing the time of exposure. I have a repriming kit, but haven't got enough spent cases to justify setting up for it yet. And it turns out that reforming Hornet brass using 6mm acorn blanks is a better option anyway.

[rbuck351]

For 410 from 300 win mag I start by turning off the belt and then a heavy anneal about half way to the base. Next I run them through a 45 acp sizer die. I have one that is large enough on top to allow the brass to come out the top without sizing down farther than 45 case size. This takes several steps of partial sizing, relubing, screwing the die down a few turns, resizing until I get the shell holder to touch the sizer die. This takes quite a bit of pressure when it gets to the head of the case. Then I use a series of homemade tapered m type expander mandrels to open the case mouth. I do two steps then re anneal and do two more steps to final size. Finally, because the rim is too thin, I drilled a hole length way through a piece of 3/4" cold roll that is a bit longer than the case that the case will fit through. I cut a 20 degree angle on the end of this piece and drop a case in it and tap the rim forward against the taper. This removes the excess head space. Looks a bit like a 7.62x54 rim when done.

I tried fire forming a few but lost a large % by either splitting the mouth or blowing it clear off. Cream of wheat wouldn't blow them out very well and a load of shot frequently removed the mouth end of the case.

I'm loading 15gr of 2400, a plastic 1/2 oz shot cup and 3/4oz of #9 shot and a thin over shot wad. I'm using a Savage 24 OU and they work well and extract easily. I have only fired a few 3 or 4 times but they look like they will last a long time.

444 Marlin are the easiest but they will only hold 1/2 oz of shot. 303 British are a more trouble to make and only hold 1/2 oz as well.

I'm quite happy with the converted 300 Win cases.

[15meter]

For 410 from 300 win mag I start by turning off the belt and then a heavy anneal about half way to the base. Next I run them through a 45 acp sizer die. I have one that is large enough on top to allow the brass to come out the top without sizing down farther than 45 case size. This takes several steps of partial sizing, relubing, screwing the die down a few turns, resizing until I get the shell holder to touch the sizer die. This takes quite a bit of pressure when it gets to the head of the case. Then I use a series of homemade tapered m type expander mandrels to open the case mouth. I do two steps then re anneal and do two more steps to final size. Finally, because the rim is too thin, I drilled a hole length way through a piece of 3/4" cold roll that is a bit longer than the case that the case will fit through. I cut a 20 degree angle on the end of this piece and drop a case in it and tap the rim forward against the taper. This removes the excess head space. Looks a bit like a 7.62x54 rim when done.

I tried fire forming a few but lost a large % by either splitting the mouth or blowing it clear off. Cream of wheat wouldn't blow them out very well and a load of shot frequently removed the mouth end of the case.

I'm loading 15gr of 2400, a plastic 1/2 oz shot cup and 3/4oz of #9 shot and a thin over shot wad. I'm using a Savage 24 OU and they work well and extract easily. I have only fired a few 3 or 4 times but they look like they will last a long time.

444 Marlin are the easiest but they will only hold 1/2 oz of shot. 303 British are a more trouble to make and only hold 1/2 oz as well.

I'm quite happy with the converted 300 Win cases.

Wow.

I think I'll stick with AA hulls, if I ever get the itch for brass 410 hulls I think I'll start with 444 brass, sounds a whole lot earlier.

Can't imagine doing that to get enough cases to shoot a couple lines of skeet.

[Frank V]

The most difficult case forming I’ve ever done was turning 7mm rem. Mag. Cases into .458 Win. Mag. case. Through a LOT of trial & error a friend & I did it by annealing the case, fire forming it in his .338 Win mag, re annealing it, & fire forming it in my .458 Win. Mag. It worked.

[RichardB]

.17/50 bmg

[15meter]

The most difficult case forming I’ve ever done was turning 7mm rem. Mag. Cases into .458 Win. Mag. case. Through a LOT of trial & error a friend & I did it by annealing the case, fire forming it in his .338 Win mag, re annealing it, & fire forming it in my .458 Win. Mag. It worked.

This was my journey down the 458 lane:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?431146-Fire-forming-458-Win-Mag

Hope this helps.

[Skipper]

There's always the 22/378 :-|

314409

[indian joe]

30-06 to 25-06. I have led a very sheltered life.

me too (sheltered life) 303 Brit to 303 /22 falcon (the full length case) sounds easy -

This is an interesting round - in a late SMLE or a front locking action it snaps at the heels of the 220 swift - shades a 22/250 -----we had a 26 inch barrel , 60 grain match hollow points, that thing was king of the mountains on roos and feral dog way out yonder -

[NObamain2012]

219 Donaldson wasp from 30-30s

[deces]

After subsequent attempts at forming a 5.45mm case from .223 all resulting in failure, I have have finally swaged 5.45 cases out of some old .222 rems I was recently gifted. This should give me the drive I need for the bigger project of building a AIMS-74.

[gnappi]

The biggest PITA was .45 Win mag from IIRC .308? Cutting was no biggie but reaming was. Maybe if I had quality equipment like a lathe it would have been a breeze but on a lyman trimmer? not good :-)

[dtknowles]

The biggest PITA was .45 Win mag from IIRC .308? Cutting was no biggie but reaming was. Maybe if I had quality equipment like a lathe it would have been a breeze but on a lyman trimmer? not good :-)

How do you ream in a Lyman trimmer. I have a turning adaptation for my Lyman trimmer and yes, turning on the trimmer is limited to small amounts or small increments. I always thought reaming was done in a die on the press with something like a tap wrench and a reamer going in through the top of the die.
Tim

[uscra112]

My question also.

[gnappi]

It was in the 80's but it may have been a Forster.

[ndnchf]

Forster makes neck reamers, both standard and custom sizes. I have one, they work well for my purposes. I also have a lyman for trimming.

[firefly1957]

This is an old thread I did not look though if I had commented over the years ....

My most significant forming was Berdan primed .303 cases into 44 Magnum shot cases .
The case was first trimmed to just shorter the length of my of my S&W model 29 cylinder then the case was turned in a mini lathe to thin the rim and make the diameter fit my recessed rim cylinder. I have been told newer guns do not need this done?
Then I drilled the primer pocket to tightly fit a 209 shot shell primer .
The case was then fireformed with 5 grains of red dot under a load of #9 shot with over powder wad of felt and a bit of wax on top one shot in gun at a time. First tries were with corn meal it did not do the job . I had a mess in my bore after fireforming that required a Lewis lead remover to get out .
Once fireformed the cases are sized in a standard reloading die with bullet seater removed so the crimp bump sizes the long case to fit chamber ahead of case stop. The cases are then loaded with a 209 primer for powder I found 7 grains Red Dot worked well , A 7/16" card wad seated on powder . I place a dowel with two wraps of wax paper with it rolled over the end into the case ,removing the dowel leaves the paper tube add shot then press shot with dowel expands the paper to hold more shot fill to near case top , then extra wax paper it folded on the shot . A thinner card wad of 7/16" is then seated on top of wax paper /shot with the dowel. The top wad is glued in place Elmer's is one glue used I have also used nail polish .
The wax paper sleeve is to eliminate leading of rifling and is shredded well giving a uniform pattern . These cases hold about 180 grains (.4 oz.) of shot and at 15 feet the #9 shot will go though a steel coffee can and though both sides in the center portion of the can facing me as the rounded edges are thicker for the shot to go though because of angle.

[charlie b]

I guess you could say the ones I made from scratch. I have a 24ga shotgun and back when I got it there were no Magtech shells being made. This was in the US so I did not have easy access to the loaded rounds that were made in Europe.

I got some brass rod and thin wall tubing of the appropriate size. The tubing was a perfect fit to the chamber (don't remember the size. Turned a case head on the lathe, including a bored hole for the 209 primers. The head had a rim of the proper dia, but the body was such that it was a really tight fit on the tubing. I'd assemble by heating the tubing and cooling the head. Put them together and let cool. The final product was just right (after 10 or so trials to get dimensions right).

Made 10 of them and probably reloaded each 20 times or more.

A few years later Magtech came out with their shells and I tossed all of mine.

[deltaenterprizes]

22 Ladybug from 25ACP!

[archangel2003]

45 Raptor out of 30-06, you just have to trim the case neck thickness down a bit.
I'm going to try 308 brass next.
38 S&W is my favorite, only because I can just trim 38 Special down to the 38 S&W length.
For some reason 38 S&W is 4 times the cost of 38 Special, I just have the wrong head stamp, just like having 30-06 on my 45 Raptor brass.

[pertnear]

I did a 45 on a 38SPL case
That was a lot of work and i have yet to develop a gun for it!
210627

Hmmm.... seems like we need to collaborate on a new pistol. Your ammo & my new pistol design. I still have a few details to work out on my front loading automatic design. :Bright idea:

[pertnear]

My hardest conversion, that never worked out, was converting .30-06 brass to .270 Win. I never could get the case necks to stretch-out long enough. [smilie=b:

[archangel2003]

I always thought the 270 was just based off a 30-06 simply necked down to 27 caliber.

[hoodat]

Yeah, but they'll grow to fit. jd

[15meter]

I always thought the 270 was just based off a 30-06 simply necked down to 27 caliber.

30-06 case length = 2.494
270 case length = 2.540

.046" difference

[TNsailorman]

The .270 is slightly longer than the 30-06. The overall length of the 30-06 is 2.494" but the .270 is 2.540". There are a couple of other differences also. james

[Rockindaddy]

Texassako: Thanks for the great instructions. I also have acquired an Italian Vetterli in 10.35x47R. I dug out a pile of Remington 8mm boxer primed brass. Will use your recipe for making up ammo for the old dog. I have a lot of once fired Syrian 8mm Lebel. I too would drill out the Berdan primers and press a 209 shotgun primer to make blanks for my 1914 French Hotchkiss. Had to seat a wood bullet with blank powder. Had a restriction in the flash hider screwed to the muzzle to make the gun cycle. Was going to use 348 Winchester brass to form up 10.35mm Italian. I like your idea better.

[Good Cheer]

Just because...

317549

[Texas by God]

The .270 was birthed from the 30-03 case, wasn’t it?
I was busy the week they created the .270 Winchester, so I didn’t notice.[emoji1787][emoji1787]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shdwlkr]

.270 is based on 30-03 not 30-06

[hoodat]

There was a time when three of us who hunted together and reloaded together used respectfully a 25-06, 270 Win, and a 30-06. We had a lot of ammo made from a batch of old milsurp 30-06 brass.

We had to be VERRRRY careful about which shells wound up in which rifle. jd

[challenger_i]

Making a rimmed version of the 6.5 TCU from 5.6x50R. 1st trick is finding the parent brass! :)
Anneal, FLS in a Hornady die (decapping/expanding stem removed), trim to 46mm, fire-form in a chamber insert made for 410 scatter gun (hey! I had a special chamber reamer made for this "non-standard caliber: may as well get some use out of it!), neck ream the case while seated in the sizing die (had my gun doctor make a reaming tool to fit the Hornady die: works like a champ!), Fire-form again. Load, go punch paper.
Is TRULY a labor of love, and I am pleased I have 200rnds completed, so as I NEVER have to do THAT, again! :)

[Good Cheer]

Recently found a long ago bunch of formed, annealed, turned .308's that I'd made out of .270 Winchester for precise necks.
Hardly a tough or elaborate conversion job but hey OK it was fun.

[Ben_51004]

Old thread, but good stuff here! I've done .40-65 from .45-70, that one's a no brainer. Slightly more challenging was .221 Fireball from .223 Rem. Pretty easy with C&H forming dies. Currently making .219 Zipper from 30-30 Win. Form #1, Form #2, file trim, FL size, expander die, final trim on Forrester trimmer, then neck turn. That's the most involved conversion I've done, but it's working.

[barryjyoung]

I convert 30-30, .219 Zipper, and a few other cases into two different .219 Donaldson Wasp cases. One of the chambers is longer than the other. This also requires reaming and turning the case neck after three dies to neck it down and push the shoulder back. I also make 6 Dasher from 6BR using a Whidden hydroforming (pain in the butt) die. I suppose I could just fireform, but at the price of components, that is no longer the simple fix it once was.

[15meter]

Stumbled across this old thread while looking for something else, figured I'd drag it back to the top of the pile to see if any body else has case conversion horror stories.

[lightman]

Probably making 357 Herrett cases from 30-30 cases. Not that hard but more than simply resizing and trimming.

[moosehunt]

.404 Jeffery cases from .300 RUM. The necks come out .010 to .015 short, but they work fine. Obviously .375 RUM would be a better starting point, but those are hard to come by.

[steveu]

280 Ross from 300WM without a set of 280 Ross dies.

[Randy Bohannon]

40-50 SBN (Sharps Bottleneck) found a set of RCBS Forming dies on EBay and bought a set of CH4D dies to use 45-70 brass. I’ve been advised that Winchester brass is the ticket for the 40-50 SBN reforming for the Shiloh rifles.
I bought 20 pieces of 40-50 SBN from a company called Ammunition Artifacts it’s Starline brass. Trim length is 1.775” so I bought a jewelers saw and use the RCBS forming die and a washer to trim near final length then final length on my Forster trimmer. This is a much overlooked cartridge, the smallish cartridge lends itself to smokeless powder quite nicely and the form die isn’t really needed as the CH4D dies will form the brass even without annealing but annealing is required for B/P.
I’m hoping Shiloh starts my rifle this year I ordered it 25 months ago. It will be the only Military Carbine chambered for the venerable 40-50 SBN that Shiloh has done.

[RJTyler]

1) 30-30 Winchester to 30 Remington

2) 300 Winchester Magnum to .410 shotshell

[15meter]

1) 30-30 Winchester to 30 Remington

2) 300 Winchester Magnum to .410 shotshell

Details on the 300 Win Mag to .410 shot shells would be cool :popcorn:

[RJTyler]

Allow me to preface this explanation by stating that my machining skills are very basic however I am blessed with a hobby size lathe which eases the conversion somewhat. I read about this conversion, perhaps here within Cast Boolits somewhere but when and where escapes me at this point. I had 17 300 Win Mag cases in my brass stash and no rifle to use them in so I thought I would see if I could figure out how to do it.

1) I measured the base of several fired .410 cases at about .480 from my chamber (Savage 24 22/410). I placed the 300 case into the 3 jaw chuck (base out, neck in) and clamped it with about an inch or so protruding. The case ran reasonably true when secured in this fashion. I then used a 1/8" parting tool to trim from the front of the belt to the rim down to around .480". Fast forward to the end of the conversion process, it turned out that .480 was still quite a bit too large to allow chambering and I ended up reducing the diameter to no more than .473 and if I ever do this process again, I will just use the depth of the extractor cut as the appropriate depth. I also then taper cut from the front of the reduced diameter, towards the mouth, because the next step in the process was going to be to reduce the rest of the case diameter down to around .473 or whatever would chamber.

2) I turned a "reducing die" out of a piece of 1 1/4" round stock about 1/2" thick. I drilled, inside turned, and then polished to an inside diameter of about .478". I was shooting for .475" but this is where it ended up. Turns out that it doesn't really matter that much as long as the end result is small enough to chamber properly.

3) I used a 20 ton hydraulic press to push the case from step 1) into the step 2) die until the rim touched the die. I eased the pressure and rotated the die/case 180 degrees every 1/2" or so to minimize the fact that it is impossible with this crude setup to push the case perfectly straight into the die. I tapped the case out of the die using a small hammer and brass rod. The cases popped out with ease. Lucas Red n Tacky was the case lube because it was handy.

4) The resulting sized cases were mildly distorted and thus would not chamber so I went searching for a way to true them up. This evolved into running the cases full length into a 35 Whelen sizing die (depriming stem was removed) using my RCBS press. Multiple short strokes and liberal application of case lube were necessary. The resulting case will then chamber properly in the .410 chamber. While I was at the 35 Whelen die I decided to open the necks up to .358 prior to fire forming.

5) I annealed the neck and shoulder of the case hoping that it would help avoid splitting during the fire forming process. I still ended up with a couple of cases with splits. Fire forming consisted of 7 grains of Red Dot (Lyman Ideal Handbook No. 39, page 130.) covered by a tamped newspaper wad, rice filled to the neck, and then another wad of newspaper. This load seems to form the cases reasonably well. I trimmed the split cases back to remove the splits and they are perfectly usable cases, just a bit shorter.

6) The full length cases should easily accommodate 3/4 oz of shot. I decided to try the Lyman suggested load of 7 grains of Red Dot with a hand punched .375 x .135 card wad over the powder, sufficient tamped newspaper to fill space, 1/2 oz of #8 shot, and a thin card overshot wad sealed with hot melt glue. At 20 yards (full choke) nothing small would escape the pattern. At 25 yards a small critter may find a thin spot.

I will run these over the Chrony when I get a chance, but they feel mild compared to a factory loaded 2 1/2" cartridges.

If I ever run across some unusable magnum brass I may try this again. The resulting cases are serviceable and actually fit the chamber very well. It was a good learning experience. Fussing around with the reloading components will no doubt continue the learning experience.

Best,

Ross

[K43]

219 DW long from 30-30 has been easy using a Redding forming die set, RCBS trim die, and Redding die set.
Making 7.62x25 and 7.63/30 Mauser from 223 however, was a pain. Too many steps to get slightly undersized cases that look like guppies after firing. Too me, it wasn't worth the time and effort.