Sizing 30-06 to 6mm

Originally Posted By: schmidtyWith 6mm rem brass hardware to find is it doable to size 30-06 down to 6mm Remington?

Yes you can also from 7x57 and 257 Roberts although the 257 brass is just as hard to find.
I have formed 6mm AI brass from Lapua 30-06 brass with out losing a single case, by using a set of shoulder set back dies by Pbike257 he has a few videos on youtube.
you can also use case forming dies, or take it down in steps with 8x57 and 7x57 dies.

I have formed more 6mm from Norma 7x57 brass than anything its great brass and much less work but a little pricey while 06 brass is much cheaper its just more work.

steps with the Pbike die set
IMG_20150820_164735097_HDR_zpsiql9bvzx.jpg


finished brass
IMG_20150828_182942818_zpsk3gow1n6.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Rich44Originally Posted By: schmidtyWith 6mm rem brass hardware to find is it doable to size 30-06 down to 6mm Remington?

Yes you can also from 7x57 and 257 Roberts although the 257 brass is just as hard to find.
I have formed 6mm AI brass from Lapua 30-06 brass with out losing a single case, by using a set of shoulder set back dies by Pbike257 he has a few videos on youtube.
you can also use case forming dies, or take it down in steps with 8x57 and 7x57 dies.

I have formed more 6mm from Norma 7x57 brass than anything its great brass and much less work but a little pricey while 06 brass is much cheaper its just more work.

steps with the Pbike die set
IMG_20150820_164735097_HDR_zpsiql9bvzx.jpg


finished brass
IMG_20150828_182942818_zpsk3gow1n6.jpg


Annealed and necks turned?
 
Pbike257, his form dies are fantastic!

I formed 6 XC brass from 308 Lapua palma brass(small primer pocket). Worked so well, formed brass from PMC 308, and Chinese military, all that once fired PMC and Chinese military brass shot groups in the 2's.


Groups with 39.5,40.0,40.5g of R#17. 40.5g was doing 3270 with a 107g Sierra with cci 450 primer.

Paul Bike makes one heck of a set of form dies. I just used a headspace gauge to set the headspace for the form down. You could also use a new case to set the headspace length with.

 
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My hat's off to those that go through all those steps to make ammo. I am WAY too lazy. I used to neck up .223 to make 7mm TCU and neck down .308 to make 7mm-08 back when it was a wildcat. That's about it. My Ackleys aint really wildcats because they will shoot factory ammo.

A lot of steps but a lot to be proud of too. Good job.
 
Forming brass makes for good Winter projects. Since I had a much longer neck from the formed brass (about .400), I had the gunsmith cut the neck in the chamber longer and then cut the freebore. We have heard about long necks keeping the turbulence point in the case vs in the throat. Will be interesting to see if this long neck has any effect on barrel life.
 
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Yep good projects for winter time when it's to bad out to do anything else, also for me it's kinda therapeutic, I'd much rather be in the reloading room if I can't be outside.
Last winter I formed 1800 20Vartarg cases from Lake city 5.56 brass and a couple hundred 6mmAI cases for my brother and myself also sold a couple hundred to some friends,
 
Tried to use once fired 30-06 brass, think it was Remington, to make 7X57 brass. Didn't anneal it before I ran it into my 7x57 die, but did remove most of the 30-06 neck. Seems like two out of three would split on the shoulder of my 30-06 brass when I ran it thru my die.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanForming brass makes for good Winter projects. Since I had a much longer neck from the formed brass (about .400), I had the gunsmith cut the neck in the chamber longer and then cut the freebore. We have heard about long necks keeping the turbulence point in the case vs in the throat. Will be interesting to see if this long neck has any effect on barrel life.

Wouldn't mind seeing some updates on that long neck business.
 
That particular X caliber bbl shoots like a house a fire, no kidding. I have never used Norma 6 XC brass, so I can not compare.

When I first got the 6XC caliber, I was wanting to replace the 243 for a calling rifle and deer rifle. Some cases have inherent accuracy, and I did not want a hunting rifle that I had to buy high dollar brass for.

So, I formed some cases from Chinese Military 308 brass that had been fired in a machine gun, the groups were in the very low 2's with the crappiest brass I could think of. Then I formed some out of PMC once fired brass that I bought off the net cheap. Same thing, but the primer pockets did not get loose in the PMC brass. Next, I have found lot of Lake City 308 unfired, and I expect this brass to be tougher than Lapua brass.

So, I set at my bench, form brass, then neck turn while I am watching Fox news in bad weather.

At 1000 rounds, I will measure leade growth and see if that long neck with .130 freebore has lowered pressures enough or changed the turbulence point to where I may get longer barrel life...probably wishful thinking. Gives me something to play with.

With a .400 long neck, you also have the option to leave the throat at a normal .105 freebore, which would push the bullet back in the neck and perhaps give you longer barrel life this way as the neck would eat up (.105-.075 regular neck length). You would have a lot of bullet contact in the neck...this may mean that you need to drop down to .001 grip on the bullet and perhaps lower the powder charge to change the "tune" as pressures will go up from the extra neck/bullet contact.

We have heard a lot about Turbulence point in various cases, especially when it comes to the barrel life of a 6 Dasher vs a 6 BR, I want to see if there is anything to this(short neck vs long neck).
 
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Originally Posted By: nastynatesfishSagesreloadingsupply.com has new hornady 6mm R.E.M. Brass fyi

Agreed. Hornady 6mm brass is readily available from numerous on-line vendors in boxes of 50. It would sure beat the price of forming dies.

That said, your project to convert -06 brass sounds like fun, as well as a good learning project.
 
I am almost done. Got about 300 30-06 revised and trimmed down to 6mm specs. Now I am going to annealand neck turn and should be ready to fire form! Thanks for the responses!
 
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