7mm & 6.5mm Jackets from .30 jackets on the Cheap

[MUSTANG]

Well I am well down the rabbit hole. I Recently I decided to get the MilSurp 7x57 and 6.5 Swedish Mausers out of the safe. Shortage on ammo turned that into acquiring more molds and sizing equipment for casting boolits for them. Then, I had only a few cases on hand and proceeded to make brass for each from 30-06 cases, and developing cast boolit loads. I was in a couple of Big Box stores looking at reloading and the prices for Jacketed Bullets seemed to be on that continual escalator; which caused my thoughts to migrate to “You Really Should start making jackets for 7mm and 6.5mm in addition to the .30 and .224 jackets I currently make. I saw an add here on Cast Boolits with a member selling swaging dies for 7mm; so the temptation was to great – and besides turning around in the Rabbit Hole is difficult.

Years ago I had BT Sniper )from here on Cast Boolits site) make me a die set to fabricate .30 cal jackets from 5/16” copper tubing. The jackets I make with his die set really works well. We are currently having the asphalt shingles on the roof replaced with Steel Standing Seam – a pricy endeavor; so I thought perhaps I should look at some frugal options for satisfying this Rabbit Hole endeavor.– rather than purchasing dies to convert Copper tubing or sheet copper into jackets. Drawing down the .30 jacket to 7mm and then to 6.5mm seemed to be the best option since quantities to be produced will be limited.

[MUSTANG]

I have several hundreds.30 jackets on hand formed from 5/16 copper tubing. I also have many Lee boolit sizing dies; so I gathered LEE .301, .285, and .266 dies to use in this effort. I also have a dedicated Pneumatic press with dies to form .224 jackets from 22LR, 17HMR, and 22WMR expended brass cases. The punch on this set is about .185 in diameter; so it seemed it should be a good “Pusher” for drawing the cases down. The push rods that come with the Lee sizing dies are too short to use for drawing the .30 jackets to 7mm and 6.5 mm.

My first attempt was using my Rock Chucker press. No Go. The throw on the ram is too short to fit everything together to draw the jackets down; and the force to go from .307 diameter jackets to the .301 die diameter was more than I was able to generate comfortably. I opted to move the operation to my Corbin CSP-1 press which when the ram was adjusted was a much better option. Given the “Test Nature” of this effort and the large size reductions between .307, .301, .285, and .266 I opted to do the sizing in numerous steps. I adjusted the lee die to where it just engaged the jacket placed on the Push Rod with the Ram all the way cycled up. I then lifted the handle to lower the ram, turned the Lee Die down in the threads a single 360 degree turn, sized the jacket slightly, lifted the handle and dropped the ram, and cycled another 360 degree turn of the die, sized, and ……. Continued the process until the jacket was fully cycled into the Die. Extracting the newly created .301 jacket required I take the .224 push rod out of the Ram and use the Lee Push rod for the .301 die to fully push the jacket up into the wider upper portion of the die for extraction. This process was then repeated for each of the Lee dies used to reduce (the .285, and then the .266 die). The below picture shows an original .30 jacket sized in multiple dies to 6.5mm (.266).

Jacket 7mm from .308.jpg

On the left is the .224 “Push Rod” used for making .224’s from 22LR. All the way on the right is a .30 Jacket that was formed from 5/16 inch copper tubing. In the center, is a 6.5 mm Jacket formed in stages from a .30 jacket. I used Lanolin “Grease” as a lubricant during all reduction operations.

[MUSTANG]

A potential draw back to this DIY on the cheap production is the slight skewing on the mouth length and base. Also, the base is almost completely closed (very slight hole) on the .30 Jackets I make. The pressures on the base in the resizing operation open that hole up as seen in the below picture. During the Core seating operation; I anticipate that the base hole will be closed; but no where near as much as in the originally fabricated .30 jackets.

Jacket 7mm from .308 - 2.jpg

[MUSTANG]

Over the next few months; I plan to make up 50 to 100 of the jackets for the 7mm and make bullets to test. The cores for this effort will be 0.195 cores that I use in my .224’s. The .30’s I make take a larger core, and that core will not fit after the Jackets are reduced to 7mm and 6.5mm. Looks like I can make a 146 grain fairly easily for the 7mm or the 6.5 mm in my quick test using some cores and I had on hand and the formed jackets. This effort was “On the Cheap” and I was able to do so from items I had on hand.

[DsGrouse]

I bought a 30 cal jacket to .264 jacket draw down die from RCE. He's still has it listed on his site. 105 bucks. IIRC when i used it, I was able to draw everything down in a two steps.

You start the jacket on the draw die ram, push it 2/3rds of the way through, then back the ram out, and put in a small steel blank core, and push it the rest of the way through. I knocked out 100 or so in 10 mins.

https://www.rceco.com/accessory-dies/

IIRC i drew down 1" .30 cal jackets into 1.25" .264 jackets. I just checked the .264 jackets and that's what size they are.

The key point in my post was to mention the short steel core that acts as a ram extension. It allows you to pump the handle and insert jackets quickly. I added a paper cup with the bottom threaded onto the reducing die to catch the drawn down jacket.

[MUSTANG]

DsGrouse:

On my "To Do" list is to go through the Bolts and Nuts department at Ace to see if I can Locate a ~ .180 or so Steel Pin of 2 to 3 inches that I can do as you describe with. I have done similar when making .30 jackets from .223 Brass Cases and from 9mm Brass cases. My limitation currently is that small diameter hole in the 6.5mm particularly; but also the 7mm converted jackets. The wall thickness of the 5/16 tubing is 0.030 to 0.033. Leaves a hole of about 0.247 in the .30 jackets when fabricated. When drawing down those .30 jackets; some thickness is lost as the jacket elongates - but not that much. This is why I have to drop down to the 0.185 cores I cast in my Corbin Core molds rather than the larger diameter cores I use in the .30 Jackets.

If I were using a higher grade Jacket reduction solution; there would be a punch of appropriate diameter, then a reducing die of correct diameter - pushing more of that Jacket thickness down the length of the Jacket when going to 7mm and then 6.5mm. Currently doing this on the cheap. Down stream may buy more appropriate draw dies if i shoot more of these; anticipated volume of these rounds not justifying the expense. The RCE solution does not work for me as my set up is all based on Dave Corbins Products rather than the Richard Corbin solutions from RCE. As I understand it; the RCE solution has different thread set ups than my CSP-1 press from Dave Corbin uses.

[rolltide999]

Mustang,
I also have BTS .308 tubing jacket dies, and have been wondering about doing the same thing as you for making 7mm and 6.5mm jackets. Thanks for posting your results. Richard Corbin told me it would open up the case bottoms, as you have discovered. I will be eager to see your final result. I have also considered 5.7x28 cases that I use for .308 jackets for 7mm jackets and 6.5mm jackets. Definitely NOT doing that with a Rockchucker. 9mm brass has been reduced all the way to 308 jackets. That is reducing a .394 case head to about .306. Making 7mm or 6.5mm out of 5.7 brass would only involve going from .312 to .282 or .262. That should work.

[MUSTANG]

rolltide999:

Today I sized 20 .308 jackets to .301. I have them waiting for further diameter reduction; I ordered an NOE .291 Sizing Bushing (284Cal .291 Body Bushing (B291)) today. That will allow me to size the jackets down in more steps (.307 to .301 to .291 to .285). That should lesson the resistance of sizing, and hopefully reduce potential for the opening up of the base where the original tubing hole/mouth was. During my test; the 7mm (.285) jacket formed did not have significant opening of the base hole. It was only when I moved to the sizing of the 7mm down to the 6.5 jacket when the base hole opened up significantly.

And Yes, spending another $19 ($11 plus shipping) sort of defeats the "Frugal/Miser" approach of my using existing dies & Punches in my inventory; but I am writing it off to the cost of experimenting/self actualization. I should see that sizing bushing in hand in about 10 days or so if luck is with me; then I'll see how it goes. I may also going to pick up an interim die between .285 and .266 along the way to se how that goes. I have 6.5 Swedish Mauser and 6.5 Creedmoor that will be wanting some jacketed rounds some day.

PS... I too have made .308 jackets from 5.7 brass. I collect it when I come across it at the range on the ground. Down stream that might be interesting to pursue for the 7mm; but I am wondering what the weight achievable for a jacket/core combination will be. Given the thick base formed from downsizing Brass cases (5.7, 9mm, 223, etc...) it will result in significantly less volume available for the Lead Core. Worth investigating some day.

[PAT303]

I'm more interested in sourcing 5/16 to .30 cal tube dies if anyone knows who has any for sale.

[MUSTANG]

Pat303 -

Probably not much help for you in Australia; but I purchase mine via Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/ICS-Industrie.../dp/B07LCLYJYF

[BT Sniper]

I have made 6.5mm as well as 7mm jackets and bullets from 5.7 brass. Works very well. I'll have to post some pics soon.

Good shooting and swage on!

BT

[PAT303]

I want the dies to make the jackets, BT Sniper do you make the dies still?.

[Reload3006]

Check out Richard Corbin I would shoot him an email. I don’t have 7mm dies yet but I do have 270 (.277) I got a set of 308-277 jacket draw dies from him they work really well.