Expanding brass?

[Martin Luber]

I want to take 22-250 up tp 6.5mm.

So how? I haven't tried punching through but think it should be annealed first.

Or chamber it with x gr bullseye and pop it?

Thanks

[country gent]

either way will work. I have used a tapered expander to go from 30-35 cal with fine results. ( 357 herret cases). A tapered expander ball from just under 224 to .262 well polished with a light coat of die wax in the case mouth should do the job. Shouldnt take a lot of force to do.

Fire forming them will do it also and any changes in shoulder angle but will cost a primer and powder charge. And a dirty rifle.

Annealing may help try a couple and see how they look then check wall thickness for concentrically. Going bigger they should get slightly thinner but you want to make sure they are even all around. Annealing may help with this.

It shouldnt be a real big job to do and should go well.

Also chamfer and deburr mouths before sizing up to remove sharp edges and any burrs as this will ease and make the operation go easier.

[BigAlofPa.]

I resize 270 into 30.06 for light loads. Slow and easy with imperial sizing wax.

[Mk42gunner]

I'd try the tapered expander first, with out annealing. Maybe I over-annealed, but just about every time I have tried to anneal brass before expanding or necking down, I have dealt with collapsed shoulders.

I also don't like wasting primers and powder to blow necks out, I would much rather expand the neck and at least get some basic plinking done with the fire forming loads, (if needed).

Robert

[John Boy]

I want to take 22-250 up tp 6.5mm.
Martin, the process you want to do is called reforming, not to expand
Expand is opening the case mouth and widening the ID of the case

[Martin Luber]

Well, just punching through with the tapered expander and normal resizing did it just fine.
Thanks all

[EDG]

Grind your 6.5 expander to a taper so it will start in the smaller case mouth.
Then polish it or buy the overpriced item made by Redding.
You would be better off to start with .250 Savage but they are harder to find.

[abunaitoo]

Get a Lee depriming die and get different sizers.
I made a set to open up the 8mm Lebel to 41 Swiss .
Have to go slow and in many steps.
Annealing helps, but I've found it's best to just anneal the top of the neck, not the whole neck.
In another thread, I asked if anyone has tried hydraulic case forming.

[uscra112]

Get a Lee depriming die and get different sizers.
I made a set to open up the 8mm Lebel to 41 Swiss .
Have to go slow and in many steps.
Annealing helps, but I've found it's best to just anneal the top of the neck, not the whole neck.


All of the above. Especially the bit about annealing only half of the neck. If you get down into the shoulder you will have shoulders collapsing.

I've been expanding .17 WSM (rimfire) all the way to .257 to make .25 Stevens rimfire for some of my old crocks. This brass is unnecessarily hard and brittle. They don't care since it only gets fired once. Anneal, then two partial expansions, anneal again, the two more.

Yes, I can anneal it without setting off the primer. Tricky, and slow, but it can be done.

[rockrat]

I made some 6.5cr from 22-250 by just using a tapered expander, then I annealed. Worked just fine. Used some bullets jammed into the rifling to help hold the case against the bolt face and went plinking to get some scope settings. No problems

[toot]

I have used 270 & 30/06 to make into 8M/M MAUSER. no problem.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I've expanded 308 to 358, the Lee 358 die set has a tapered expander. Also have reformed 308 to 243, 300 Savage, and 8mm-08 Improved, 30-06 to 8x57 and 300 Savage, 444 to 8x57 Rimmed, 357 to 256, 221 Fireball to a rimless 256 - go slow, use good lube, inside and out, I use Hornady Unique. Annealing, neck reaming depends on changes, rifle chamber dimensions. Long ago - 30-06 military in genuine army surplus stores sold for 6 cents a pound, a few collapsed cases were fine for a 14 year-old with limited funds.

[tankgunner59]

With a light coat of Imperial sizing wax I have expanded 270 Win. brass to 30-06 Sprg. by just running it through the 30-06 full length sizing die. If you anneal, lube well and raise the ram slowly it should work. I think I'm gonna give it a try to cause I have plenty of 22-250 brass and much less 6.5 CM brass. Thanks for the post and push.