225 Winchester from .30/30?

[screwcutter]

If I was wearing your shoes, I’d buy him a box of new brass off gunbroker!

[Texas by God]

Brass Magnet probably has some squirreled away somewhere!

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[dverna]

I have a good friend that inherited a rifle in 225 Winchester. Gun Broker seems about the only source for factory ammo or brass. Prices are… unattractive.

I’ve heard brass can be formed from .30/30. I would love to gift him some if I could manage it. Anyone done this conversion?

When a gun in inherited, I understand not wanting to touch it. Regrettably, the .225 Win is a prime contender for "a useless caliber", unless the owner had deep pockets. But $100 for 40 cases is not the end of the world either. If your buddy only shoots it a couple of times a year those cases will last a while and can be annealed to last longer.

I would keep an eye on Gunbroker and snap up a deal when the opportunity presents itself. I would not trust "once fired" to be once fired in that caliber.

[Rapier]

Here,
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/920398645 buy now is $125 for 50. $2.5 a pop is cheap for Win 225 new unfired brass.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I would suggest starting with 25-35 brass, but that is also hard to find, maybe easier than 225 though. The rim is the problem. Check to see if the bolt would accept a 30-30 rim. Starting with 25-35 is better than 30-30 as neck thickness is much less and with care, sizing to 225 should work. Such cases would need trimming. Again check bolt face fit first, tinkering with the rim requires some means to turn the rim - possibly both thinner and smaller. Stlll, best is to just buy 225.

[Ickisrulz]

https://www.rccbrass.com/product/225-winchester/

$5.25 per piece. Minimum order 50 cases.

[country gent]

You might give it a try with what you have on hand,start with a 308 die to just bump the shoulder back, then step the neck down in the increments you have available, 7mm 6mm 22. make sure the body isnt getting squeezed down also, then a pass thru the 225 seater and final the sizer die to set body taper and shoulder. check inside dia and final would be anneal. Use a good lube and lube for each step. If the step down sizers are to much then the seaters are usually a few thou bigger.If it dosnt work then your only out a few 30-30 cases. A heavy press with good leverage will make this easier, For lube Imperial sizing die wax is good. You may need to anneal a couple times to reduce this much.

I prefer to neck up when I can as it dosnt thicken the necks. Making 357 herret from 30-30 is 1 pass over a tapered expander rod to .357 caliber then a pass thru the sizer to set shoulder body taper. trim to length .005+ then anneal and load with a fire form load. Making 243 from 308 is more there pass 308 thru the seating die to rough form then the sizer, trim and most then needs neck reamed or turned.

I have a wildcat here I came up with its a shortened 300 wsm necked down to 6.5 mm with a 40* shoulder ( shorter 284 X 6.5 with 10% less water capacity) a short fat powder column. Neck is .350 long. When case is formed it needs both a neck ream and turn. Also 2 anneals in the forming process. this case gets pretty involved to make. But its very efficient and accurate.

Reforming brass cases can be a simple one pass to a vary involved labor of love

[Rfeustel]

If it helps:

[TMB]

Think I have a bunch of old 225 Winchester brass in yellow boxes that belonged to my step grandpa out in the shed. I will look tomorrow to see if I can find it.

[TMB]

Yep, I have some Western superX 225Win brass, idk how many times it may have been fired though.

[PNW_Steve]

I ran into some stray .225 in the shop the other day. PM me if you have any interest.

I sure miss my .225 . it was my first sub-moa rifle.

[jason280]

I hate I missed this thread...local store had 3x boxes of Winchester factory loaded .225 55gr ammo for $29/box. I watched them for a couple months, debating on buying them for a rainy day, but someone finally bought them a few weeks back.

[Jim22]

If I was you and I wanted to do something nice I would find a single box of 20 either cartridges or brass and buy them for him. If he truly loves the rifle he will spring for more. But in the meantime you will get him shooting it.

Jim