Swaging cartridge heads down.

[uscra112]

I've made quite a lot of .25-20 single shot brass, (the parent for .22-3000 Lovell) by swaging down .223 brass. It takes a heck of a reduction to the head size, and I don't swage the rim - I stop short of that, because .25-20SS is a rimmed case.

My technique uses a .30-30 die I had, which has the right diameter NECK. I made a punch, which needed a pilot in the primer hole to keep it from shrinking, and then went to work on my small hydraulic bench press. The body of the punch is about .30-30 shape, so it keeps itself pretty well aligned as it goes home. A shoulder on the punch sets the depth. The business end of the punch is slightly concave. This keeps the rim from trying to fold back into a dish shape. (My first punch failed to do this.) The pin in the primer pocket is actually an inserted piece, pressed into a bore in the face of the punch. This made cutting the concave face a whole lot easier.

For my project, the cases have to be driven out of the die. I did that using another punch in an adjacent arbor press.

Slow work, but I've made about 500 cases so far. The die leaves a fillet right by the rim, which has to be machined off in the lathe, but after sectioning a few of these, I'm very happy with the amount of brass still there.

So, if you can find an ordinary sizing die with the right size neck, and you can make the requisite punch, and have an adequate press, you have your tooling.

Pick a die for a cartridge with a nice shallow taper between the shoulder and the neck - a steep one will require much more pressure.

If you want to reduce the rim, then your punch can be long enough to drive the case right through, and the driving-out step is eliminated.

Remember that a sizing die's neck will be smaller than the nominal neck size for the case, when choosing your die.

I have also messed with using commercial drill bushings for this task. It used to be that you could buy these easily at any mill supply house, but with the advent of CNC machinery, nobody uses them much anymore. They are now special order, but they can still be had.

[TAWILDCATT]

why not buy GRAFs 6.5 jap cases at $39 per 100.Privi Partizian brass.I do,I do have 35 rem made in jap and it is good fit.

[Safeshot]

Graf & Sons (www.grafs.com/) has 6.5 mm Japanese Rifle Brass for $39.99 per hundred (primed or un-primed). They pay the shipping - You pay $4.50 for handling and insurance. Hope this helps, Safeshot

[bruce drake]

You guys remember the other thread that was started about being frugal....

I figure if I can reform several hundred 308 Winchester cases over my lifetime, I will have saved enough to pay for the Swage Dies I bought off another collector on another forum.

I have the collector machinist's contact information if anyone wants to talk to him for their own set of dies. He's a full-time farmer and does machine work on the side (like Buckshot) so it took him a while to make them. I get home from Iraq next week and I intend to try them out before December rolls around. I'll provide a report on the 308Win to 6.5 JAP swage dies when I've completed the test.

[Doug Bowser]

I guess I am lazy. I would buy 6.5 Jap brass from www.grafs.com and save the time for shooting.

[bruce drake]

Doug,

Garage time is just as much fun as shooting to me.

Bruce

[rockrat]

I don't remember if it is Midway, or Brownells, that I bought some case forming lube from. It is a dark burgendy in color and works well. Worked better than imperial wax.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Sorry for the double post. I was editing, and it came up as a seperate post.
Morgan

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I've posted here a couple of times about case head swaging using lathe turned dies and a heavy bench vise. I've always used the same lube I use for my rifle cases, 50/50 anhydrous lanolin and Vaseline. This formula was given to me by P.O.Ackley, as a case lube and gun grease. The lanolin lifts any existing moisture from the gun preventing rust. This was 50yrs ago, when the only alternative was Cosmoline.

An excellent extreme high pressure grease is Bel-Ray Mollylube 126 EP Grease 2 #232404379. I use it all the time in my shop when I can't use ball bearing centers in my lathe, but it's too messy to get all over your hands.

BTW, using turned dies and a vise, you should be able to do the job in four steps. Even with the lube, you'll need to knock out the cases with a rod and hammer.
Morgan

[45 2.1]

I reform 308 military brass to 6.5 Jap a lot. I turn the base and part of the case wall off with a lathe (the wall thickness is greater than in commercial brass after the military brass is sized and turned BTW). It would be a lot easier on me if I turned a recess for the normal base and a taper into my extra size die, then the lathe turning would be quite easy.