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Thread: making 300 BO brass question

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy Scooby's Avatar
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    making 300 BO brass question

    I have read tons and tons of threads on making 300 BO brass from 223, however I still have a question or two. I have 2000 LC 78 brass, I have de-primed, swaged primer pockets, and cut them all down with an ebay jig on the 6" harbor freight chop saw. Now for my questions If I wet tumble with stainless steel pins will it remove the cut off remnants from the chop saw? Also will the brass harden from wet tumbling in pins, do I need to anneal before forming to 300BO? Am I better off just using the inside and outside rcbs tool instead of wet tumbling to get the brass remnants off? I just don't want to make brass that isn't going to have a long service life.

    Thank You

  2. #2
    Boolit Master


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    Short answer, is yes. Here are my steps when I convert these cases, this was after I got my Lyman prep station, so I can chamfer and deburr more often.

    I deprime with a Lee universal depriming die
    Remove the primer crimp and (optional)uniform the primer hole.
    Cut the cases, then chamfer and debur the cut.
    Lube and size the cases.
    Trim, chamfer and debur.
    Tumble.

    This keeps my cases free of any lube until I load them, and since I add a bit of car wax to the wet tumbler, they stay relatively shiny until then. I haven't, yet, annealed any, but I ordered an annealer so this may change. I haven't lost any to cracked necks yet though, so I don't think the conversion or wet tumbling hardens them much, if any, I think it gets work hardened when resized.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master


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    Oh, BTW, here is what gets left after tumbling my 300Blk and 277 WLV cases after this process.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy


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    I decap, cut to rough length on the bandsaw, anneal, size, trim to 1.365 and then wet tumble for 3-4 hours. For me, the wet tumble removes most of the trim bur and any remaining bur can be removed when I cut the primer crimp if needed. I tried some without annealing and it took a lot more pressure to form.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Brass will not harden from wet tumbling with pins.

    Wet tumbling with pins will not eliminate, replace or replicate the advantages of chamfering the case mouth.

  6. #6
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    Good and bad brass inconverting 223/556 to 300BO


    Good
    ADI PERFECTA
    Aguila PMC
    A USA PS
    FC PSD
    GFL RA
    HB RP
    Hornady SSA
    Hornady (nickel TAA
    IK03 Tula
    IMI TW
    IVI TZZ
    LC WCC
    M193 Winchester
    Norinco WIN NT
    NOSLER WMA 15



    Thick neck wall, bad without neck turning:

    AB 556 L2A2
    ATI MKE13
    CBC MPA
    CJ6 Norma
    CJ 8 NPA
    DNL PMC
    FNM PMP
    FRONTIER PPU
    GECO RAM
    Hot Shot RORG
    HRTRS RWS
    ICC S&B
    IK03 SADU
    IMI TAA
    IVI SADU
    KFA Wolf Brass

    First I swage all the primer pockets on my Dillon 600, (I have a spring on the swage rod and 223 brass is more manageable than 300 BO brass coming off the rod)
    I used a trim jig and an HF chop saw. Cut close to length, deburred the outside full length sized, trimmed, wet tumbled, chamfered, deburred.


    Now for my questions:
    If I wet tumble with stainless steel pins will it remove the cut off remnants from the chop saw? ---Not all
    Also, will the brass harden from wet tumbling in pins, -- I haven't found wet tumbling to work harden brass
    do I need to anneal before forming to 300BO? --- I didn't have to anneal before full-length sizing
    Am I better off just using the inside and outside rcbs tool instead of wet tumbling to get the brass remnants off? ---debur the outside before FL sizing then chamfer and deburr (inside and outside) after trimming to the final length. Brass will stretch a little when you FL size
    I just don't want to make brass that isn't going to have a long service life. --- You could anneal before FL sizing if you want.

    Thank You
    Last edited by Conditor22; 03-05-2021 at 02:58 PM.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I do it different

    I pick a lot of 223/556 brass with a neck thickness 10-11

    aneal
    remove the decaping assembly ..lube and size in the 300 bo die
    using a jig in a band saw cut to length plus .010 or so
    trim to length
    water wash/ tumble clean/dry only needs 15 min
    final size/ deprime

    its ready to load

    more steps than most but i like to be able to discard rejects at the sizing step, if the shoulder or neck has any flaws

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy Faret's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ford SD View Post
    I do it different

    I pick a lot of 223/556 brass with a neck thickness 10-11

    aneal
    remove the decaping assembly ..lube and size in the 300 bo die
    using a jig in a band saw cut to length plus .010 or so
    trim to length
    water wash/ tumble clean/dry only needs 15 min
    final size/ deprime

    its ready to load

    more steps than most but i like to be able to discard rejects at the sizing step, if the shoulder or neck has any flaws
    So how does the neck get expanded?

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    So how does the neck get expanded? Uh, sizing die.
    Rough cut is not accurate enough, still need trimming and chamfur.
    Annealing helps as you made the neck out of the body which was never annealed from the factory.
    Omega's process is correct, I would anneal after the chopping. You also may need to outside turn as the LC brass body is thicker than normal neck thickness. Depends on the gun.
    Last edited by popper; 03-15-2021 at 03:21 PM.
    Whatever!

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy Faret's Avatar
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    Not if the expanding button is removed with the decapping assembly. I just did not see a expanding step in the list?

  11. #11
    Boolit Bub
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    You should confirm the outside diameter with a GOOD caliper or I prefer to use a micrometer after loading as was said thick wall brass can force you to neck turn if the round will not fit the chamber of your rifle or rifles. Always good to know your ammo will work when you need it.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Brassmonkey's Avatar
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    anyone here ever use fired blanks? to form into .300 bo

  13. #13
    Boolit Bub
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    Not that I know of. If the crimp from the blank is short enough, it should work. You need to remove most of the original neck anyway.

    On second thought, you better dissect several cases and measure wall thickness. You never know, they may be thinner walled brass and not made to handle the pressure.
    Last edited by rboeser; 04-06-2021 at 10:20 PM.
    Benefactor Member of NRA

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    I recently started loading .223 again after many years. A buddy gave me a coffee can of LC brass and he has primers too. I ordered a Little Crow .223 case trimmer and it works great. Fast too. If you are converting a pile to 300 BO you might check them out. I'm sure they make them for the BO and it would save a bunch of time and improve the process.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Omega View Post
    Short answer, is yes. Here are my steps when I convert these cases, this was after I got my Lyman prep station, so I can chamfer and deburr more often.

    I deprime with a Lee universal depriming die
    Remove the primer crimp and (optional)uniform the primer hole.
    Cut the cases, then chamfer and debur the cut.
    Lube and size the cases.
    Trim, chamfer and debur.
    Tumble.

    This keeps my cases free of any lube until I load them, and since I add a bit of car wax to the wet tumbler, they stay relatively shiny until then. I haven't, yet, annealed any, but I ordered an annealer so this may change. I haven't lost any to cracked necks yet though, so I don't think the conversion or wet tumbling hardens them much, if any, I think it gets work hardened when resized.
    This is the method I've used and have had good success. I also have not annealed any and do not use a wet tumbler. If you have an annealer then it probably wouldn't be a bad idea but I haven't seen as to how it's necessary.
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  16. #16
    Boolit Master
    Ed_Shot's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brassmonkey View Post
    anyone here ever use fired blanks? to form into .300 bo
    Fired 5.56 blanks work perfectly for forming 300 BO brass. Got mine while the getting was good from Everglades Ammo.

    BTW: Lake City uses the same brass for military ball or blank ammo.
    Last edited by Ed_Shot; 04-11-2021 at 10:03 AM. Reason: Add info
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  17. #17
    Boolit Bub
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    Thanks for a very informative reading regarding forming 300 blackout. I was having a little problem with making mine from 221 Fireball brass, used it because it didn't have to be trimmed so much, but had problems with a split in the area where the shoulder meets the neck.

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub

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    Fired blanks work fine for 300 BO Brass. Have done many.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brassmonkey View Post
    anyone here ever use fired blanks? to form into .300 bo
    Have shot Blackout formed from blanks thousands of rounds. No problems.

  20. #20
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brassmonkey View Post
    anyone here ever use fired blanks? to form into .300 bo
    Here is my method of forming blanks into 300BO

    1st: Tumble until clean,
    2nd: Form case in Redding file trim die & cut of excess length with saws-all
    3rd: Resize & deprime
    4th: Final trim with LEE case trimer
    5th: Swage primer pocket with RCBS primer pocket swage.
    6th: Champer neck
    Final steps: Prime case, add powder, seat bullet & crimp.

    The saws-all makes trimming faster than any other method I've tried. The LEE case trimmer cleans up any jigged edges the Saws-all leaves.

    I do the final trim in a drill press. Something that helps with that is a tool I made from a pair of needle nose plyers.
    I ground a 3/8" radius in the wire cutter section of each jaw, then glued in a thin strip of leather in each jaw to protect the case from scratches & keep it from turning.

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BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
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LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check