fireforming 30-30 to 375 Win

[lar45]

I've got a 375 Win barrel for the Contender and also a Win BB M94 that I wanted to start loading for, but only had about 6 pieces of 375Win brass. I checked the price of 375 brass on Midway and it was .68 ea. I found an auction on Gunbroker for 1000 Fed 30-30 cases for $200, so I picked it up instead.
I blew out a few 30-30s the other day and then went to see if there was a youtube video about it and saw two that were failures, so… I put together a short video using 7gns of Unique and some compressed grits. I did 53 federal cases and lost 2 to nicks in the mouth. I did another 55 Rem cases from stuff I already had and lost 4 to nicks in the mouth.

I tried expanding some with a series of expander buttons and lost many, didn’t count, They also turned out shorter than the ones that were firedformed with grits.

Please excuse the messy bench.

https://youtu.be/vwV0WYn52Ik

[45-70 Chevroner]

They will work great for boolits, just don't load 375 pressures in them.

[garandsrus]

I have formed a couple hundred 30-30 to 375 Win. Most were done with 6gr Red Dot and a case full of Cream of Wheat with no compression. They formed very nicely. I also have a tapered expander that will expand a 30-30 to 375 Win with one pass through the expander. The first firing irons out the little bit of shoulder crease left in the case.

How are you getting nicks in the case mouth? From the compression? I never had any.

[lar45]

I'm guessing that the nicks are from a crease or bend in the case mouths, maybe from getting stepped on? I used the punch to round out the mouths when I loaded them, so I'm not sure. My expanded ones came out shorter than the fireformed ones.

[Wayne Smith]

Expanded ones are made by pushing down on the case, fireformed ones are made by pulling out/up on the case?

[Thin Man]

I feel your pain. Several years ago I brought home a Win 94BB in 375 caliber, back when WW brass was available. Bought 100 pieces and thought little about it until the market had dried up. Then the search was on. What I learned during this time was that full snort J-word loads require original 375 brass because it is thicker (and more pressure resistant) than re-builds from the thinner 30/30 brass and even the 38-55 cases (same thickness as 30/30). Over these drought years I occasionally got lucky with small finds of used brass, and even the very limited escapes of new WW brass. In today's market GunBroker has new WW brass running around $1 each, plus postage, then Starline at $.66 plus shipping (and can be bought in quantities of 50 pieces per order). It all comes down to your plans for either reduced loads with boolits or full pressure loads with J-bullets. For the milder loads the blown-out 30/30 brass will work, as will 38-55. If you are going top level for pressure the best deal I see available today is Starline new cases in 375 Win. advertised as 250 pieces for $146.50 delivered (comes out to $.59 each). For the peace of mind, I waited for "real" brass (thicker, pressure resistant) and also still load 38-55 brass with boolits. Also, your 94BB will cycle the shorter (2.080") 38-55 loaded rounds through the action very nicely, even though they are longer than 375 loaded rounds. Hope this helps.

[lar45]

Here's a pic of the nicks on the case mouths.
I did use a punch to round out the mouths before firing. Any ideas on what to do different?
RP cases on the bottom left, the bottom right two are FC
http://www.lsstuff.com/pics/fireform/375casemouth-01.jpg

[rking22]

I would only convert cases without damaged mouth to 375, those folds are beyond the limit of the ability of brass to bend without cracking. Also ,I would smooth the mouth witb an iside and outside debur to eliminate stress risers from factory crimps.I would expect 1, maybe 2 of the cases you show to crack when blown out. They would last as 3030 for a few firings at leaste. The 2 on the riggt should blow out ok. Just, speculating you know.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Starline does make .375 Winchester, though pricey compared to fire-formed 30-30. I would anneal before and maybe after fire-forming. After fire-form and anneal I trim to uniform length, usually shortest case sets case length.

[Bookworm]

Have you tried annealing the necks prior the fireforming?

[Texas by God]

AND the cereal gets the bore clean[emoji16]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[LIMPINGJ]

If you worry about using readily available 38-55 brass for 375 loads read this from Buffalo Bore.
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=175

[Nrut]

Here's a pic of the nicks on the case mouths.
I did use a punch to round out the mouths before firing. Any ideas on what to do different?
RP cases on the bottom left, the bottom right two are FC
http://www.lsstuff.com/pics/fireform/375casemouth-01.jpg

I have made at least 300 30/30 to 38-55 by using .5cc (not grs.) of Bullseye, fill 1/2 way up the neck and top with some lube..
Blew out the neck straight and very few cracked necks..
These days I just stuff a small piece of paper towel instead of lube when fire forming .270 to .35 Whelen or 9.3X62..

[Norske]

The above may well be the best method mentioned. A gun writer named John Barsness made 6.5 Creedmor brass with 11 grains of Unique and a cleaning patch stuffed in the mouth of 250 Savage cases, then firing through the 6.5 in his rural garage. Seems the Creedmor case is very similar to an RCBS improved 250.

[Drew P]

Just wondering how much is saved by this process vs buying correct brass? Primers and powder aren’t free. Time certainly is, since we are all in the hobby willingly losing large amounts of our lives lol. I’ve converted all my 300Bo brass and it’s quite a bit of work in the end.
I agree that annealing would probably reduce a lot of the failures.

[garandsrus]

This is an easier conversion than 300 BO since there is no case trimming involved.

At one point a couple years ago, 375 Win brass was selling for about $3 per case. 38-55 wasn’t readily available either. Lots of once fired 30-30 could be found.

Fire forming works great, and probably costs a 5-6 cents per case, so pretty cheap if you already have the brass. As I mentioned before, you can use a tapered expander and convert the brass on the press in one pass for no cost, if you have or make the expander.

[lar45]

My fed 30-30 brass was .20 ea, primers are .03 when bought in bulk, powder was $28 per pound and 7000 gns per pound with 7gns of powder per load is .028, grits is $2 and barely used any. So .26 vs .68

[lightman]

A friend fireforms his with 10 grains of Bullseye and a case packed full of Crean-o-Wheat. He has very few failures. 30-30 cases are thin and I suspect those cracks are what you think, a previous ding or dent.

[lar45]

I tried a few more today without packing the grits in, just filled the case and pushed a wad down on top, and I had several that did not blow the neck out all the way. Maybe the Cream of Wheat packs in tighter?

[dbarry1]

Nice video. Thank for the tip Glenn.