270 converted to 308?

[bobamike]

hey guys,
I just found out this weekend that I could make 308 brass from 30-06 brass and I also had a bunch of 270 brass that I have picked up from the range and have so far sized the brass to the 308 dies,but I have not finished the conversions yet,as I found that I will need to get a neck turning tool.but I want to know if 270 brass is ok to make into 308 winchester also? and if there are any other rounds I can convert into 308?
thanks guys.

[lotech]

It's possible, but a lot of work, and work of questionable value. Powder capacity will likely be different, maybe to a significant degree, from standard .308 brass. Range pick-up brass only compounds the problem. You can do the conversion with many other cases as well. In a dire situation, such measures might be justified, but the finished product will be second rate at best.

[Mr Humble]

Why would you bother ? 308 brass is cheap and available.

[bobamike]

first off I am cheap,I prefer to save money any and every chance I can,plus I enjoy doing things myself,but the big picture is,if killery is elected she will take our rights to guns and you can expect her first attack to be raising the cost to shoot,so the more you know and the more you know how to do the better off you will be.I get alot of free range brass in the calibers I shoot,but if I can turn brass that I dont shoot into something I can use for free,heck yeah!!!!

[country gent]

While 308 can be formed from the 30-06 family of cartridges and some of the shorter 308 family ( 243-260 7-08) its ussually more work than buying new unpriimed brass. Using range pick ups may leave you with brass off a questionable history also. Coverting 270 or 30-06 to 308 may require neck turning and will require a heavy trimming to get to the correct length. You may also want to consider annealing the new brass. The big plus to doing this is if you know your chambers neck dia ( loaded round dia at the neck) you can fit the cases to your chamber possibly. Necks turned so that there is only .001 clearence on a loaded round when chambered. Sometimes the thicker necks doing this cause issues of their own. It can be done and has been done I can remeber some high power shooters doing it for the fitted necks.

[bobamike]

I had roughly 150-200 rounds of 30-06,270 that I have been collecting from a local range for a while now,mainly to take and sell as scrap or trade if i find someone who loads them,but all out of the blue at the range this past weekend it was like a smack to the fore head,I can possibly resize these shells to 308! and I went on you tube and found A VIDEO ON 30-06 TO 308,BUT NOTHING ON 270,so I went home and resized all the 270 and 30-06 to 308,and when case checking realized the neck turn down issue,I have since looked up prices on the neck tun tool,and plan to get one.I used my 2 inch chop saw to trim the excess neck down to proper size and deburred and chamfered the necks,all i need to do now is turn the necks down,I just want to know if there are any issues I am un aware of at this point .I plan to load these rounds on the light side to see how the do.but I am also wanting to know what other rounds I can transform into 308.I currently make my own 300 blk rounds from 5.56 and I enjoy the process in doing that too!

[brstevns]

Like you I am low on money. Small SS income. I have for years formed 308 win brass from 06, 270,280 rem. even a few 35 whelen and 25-06 brass. You will need to remove a little brass from the neck. I also found I do best using a forming and trim die, like the RCBS Trim dies. ( can be found for cheap on flea-bay if you keep your eyes pealed. )
Check powder compasity by filling a case of factory brass with water, weigh it and then weigh it empty to see how much water it holds. Do the same with your formed brass and adjust powder charge accordingly.
Hope this was of help

[bouncer50]

I am on ss so i use what cheapest. I use 270 brass to make 30-06 7.7 Jap 7.5 French 8mm Mauser 7 mm Mauser my friend make 257 Roberts from 270 brass. I never made any 308 yet. 270 brass once fired is common and cheaper then 30-06. I like using R.P brass Funny part i do not have a 270 but it make great brass for other calibers. Yep i have more time then money.

[EDG]

Just trade for .308 brass and let someone make 7.7 Jap, 7.65 Mauser, 8X57 Mauser and 7X57 Mauser out of the the .270 cases

You will find that both .270 and .25-06 are loaded to the highest pressures for that size case head so the brass has to be first quality.

[Mr Humble]

So by the time you buy all the special tooling to make this....... LOL

$18.00/100 !!!!! With reasonable cast boolit loads it will last forever!

100 + pieces of 308 brass (7.62 x 51) Once Fired Brass, Cleaned and Polished. This is once fired brass with mixed head stamps from indoor and law enforcement ranges. This brass has been cleaned and polished without using any ammonia base products, then it is inspected to remove any damaged cases. This brass is great for reloading, jewelry making and other crafts. It ships in a small USPS flat rate box.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4719992...-0URoC_9nw_wcB

[brstevns]

Half the fun in reloading is doing it yourself.

[bobamike]

its all good,I mean if you rather spend the money on brass or go one step further and learn how to do things outside the box and be better prepared for whatever gun laws that are coming that makes it better in the end.as far as buying equipment to make these new rounds,I pretty much have all the tools,just need the neck turn down tool.again I prefer to have all the necessary tools to do work on my guns and bullets in the event laws are passed or prices get out of hand on ammo,then I will be one of the lucky ones that can continue shooting and enjoy the sport for way less than those that didnt prepare and learn these skills.

[NoAngel]

I went through a phase a while back with the same affliction. Every '06 based case i found at the range got turned into .308
.243 is the easiest. One pass and typically you don't even need to trim as they end up a few thousandths short which is on no detriment to blasting ammo.
25'06, 270, 30'06. I even found a few 280's and 35 whelens.

I got to thinking about it one day as I was pondering the depths of stupidity humans have devolved to and gave that up. NEVER put it past some fool to find something and trust the headstamp. You could drop a round at the range or who will end up with your hoard when you die?

Also, as has been stated....it was a lot of trimming for what???

[nicholst55]

Just trade for .308 brass and let someone make 7.7 Jap, 7.65 Mauser, 8X57 Mauser and 7X57 Mauser out of the the .270 cases

You will find that both .270 and .25-06 are loaded to the highest pressures for that size case head so the brass has to be first quality.

Don't forget 6.5-06 and .35 Whelen, although I prefer .280 Rem brass for the latter, when I can find it. Actually, I prefer to buy .35 Whelen brass, but that's not always possible. But yes, trade or sell the brass and get what you need. You can get .308/7.62 NATO brass nearly anywhere.

[gwpercle]

first off I am cheap,I prefer to save money any and every chance I can,plus I enjoy doing things myself,but the big picture is,if killery is elected she will take our rights to guns and you can expect her first attack to be raising the cost to shoot,so the more you know and the more you know how to do the better off you will be.I get alot of free range brass in the calibers I shoot,but if I can turn brass that I dont shoot into something I can use for free,heck yeah!!!!

And I thought I was cheap ! You got me beat by a country mile !

I might have you beat in the dumb department.....in the 1960's you could visit GI's at Fort Polk army base, they had visitors barracks and you could stay for free. I would visit a high school buddy on weekends while he was stationed there.
We would go to the firing ranges, deserted on weekends, and I would pick up every 308, 30-06 , 223 and 45 acp I could find...and bring them home ! I had no idea that might have been against the rules, I don't even want to think what would have happen if caught. Now the hand grenade we once found , we kinda figured that was a no-no ! But since it was just a practice grenade....no one missed it.
Different time back then , drive on and off a base and no one looked twice at you , much less searched you.
My Mamma always told me the Good Lord looked after children and fools, guess she was right.
Gary

[Tackleberry41]

If its a hard to find or expensive case, yea convert away. But 308 is everywhere. Its alot of effort. You could probably trade that 270 brass on this forum for 308 and move on.

Yea Im cheap at times, or will do stuff just to see if I can do it. But time is still worth something, and that neck reaming tools costs money. I have a big bag of 270/30-06 etc I got from a guy who worked at a range. I converted some to 8mm mauser. yes it can be done, but dont see me converting a bunch more any time soon. I made 7.62x25 out of 223, yes it can be done, but certainly not worth the effort.

[Bent Ramrod]

Getting the experience and developing the skill is always worthwhile, but eventually economics kicks in. I bought a rifle in 7mm Mauser and, of course, found an immediate shortage of brass for the thing at all my local sources. Wanting to shoot my new acquisition as soon as possible, I converted a bunch of .270 brass (that someone else had converted to .25-06), into 7mm by the use of various neck expanders, loading dies and my trusty case trimmer. I was able to shoot the gun the next day.

Of course, immediately after that, real 7mm brass showed up in profusion, and I was glad enough to get a supply of that and use it. But, it was very nice to be able to make the stuff in a pinch. As the inscription on the Founder's statue in the movie Animal House said, "Knowledge Is Good."

[bobamike]

I do understand both sides here,and I agree with both sides ,but for me,I tend to enjoy doing these type things,plus I feel it makes me more versatile and adaptive to any given situation,but I do take advantage of getting the 308 brass as I find it,which here in my area its not that plentiful and when I go to the range and find it,I get really happy! I mean the round is available to buy all day long yes,but I prefer to load my own stuff and if I can eliminate some cost in materials I will by all means.currently I have anywhere from 400 to 1000 rounds of spent 308 brass and a couple hundred loaded.maybe I am trying to be a horder,but my plan is to have as much as I can get my hands on so if the poop hits the fan I will have plenty,my short coming will be powder and primers,but bullets and brass will not be an issue.I am currently perfecting bullet casting,well not quite that far into it but I have done a few hundred rounds of various calibers mainly pistol .
but anyways I plan to store all the rounds that I can use to make 308,but right now I plan to make up a bunch and try them out,I have been watching some videos on this subject that has me thinking about how these cases could be better than production 308,one point is the thickness of the cases will hold up longer,and there is talk about sizing the neck down to the chamber which would make the bullet more accurate ,that is something I want to experiment with for sure,but then again the tighter tolerance could cause feeding issues,but I wont know unless I try.

[Mr Humble]

AND, of course there will always be the idiot who picks up the cartridge drops it in his 270 and finds out he made a BIG error. The safe rule if you insist on making something of of something different is to ALWAYS go smaller. i.e. 25-06, 6.5-06, 270 etc. from 30-06 NOT 35/375/400 Whelen, 9.3x62 etc. from 30-06. If it can go wrong it will. Once you've seen some moron shoot an 8x57 in an 03A3 30-06, you will get it!

[EDG]

You either use factory head stamp brass or you use military brass with no nomenclature.
There was NO other way to get Whelen brass for decades.
True there are preferred combinations but if you cannot comply with the preferred combinations you can be totally safe by giving up shooting.

AND, of course there will always be the idiot who picks up the cartridge drops it in his 270 and finds out he made a BIG error. The safe rule if you insist on making something of of something different is to ALWAYS go smaller. i.e. 25-06, 6.5-06, 270 etc. from 30-06 NOT 35/375/400 Whelen, 9.3x62 etc. from 30-06. If it can go wrong it will. Once you've seen some moron shoot an 8x57 in an 03A3 30-06, you will get it!