Sizing down .308 Brass to .243 Brass; hard on Dies?

[demolitionman]

Knowing the 243 is an offshoot of the .308 cartridge, and I have alot of .308 Federal American Eagle once fired brass, I was wondering not so much of the convenience, or ease, but more of the wear and tear from the sizing down process to get .308 brass to run in a .243 "match" chamber. Time wise, I enjoy winding down, drinking a beer and working my loading bench, so yes, I know its easy to just buy .243 but nothing makes a rainy day better than the loading bench.

Question:
I would think I'd obviously have to first FL size in a .308 die. I have a 6.5Creed die, which I would use as the next step in FL sizing the brass, and lastly I would FL size the brass in the .243 FL die. When it's all done, I realize I may need to trim to length of course, and possibly run a reamer if the loaded dimensions neck demensions are beyond SAMMI spec. If this really is possible with these listed dies, is this going to "marr" or scratch, or somehow take a toll on say the 6.5 creed fl die, and the .243 die from having to do such extensive sizing? I do not want to trash my nice Redding dies just to beable to use my .308 casings for .243.

Thanks.

 

[turbo54]

You wouldn't use the 6.5cm die.

You'd FLS with 308 die, FLS to 7mm08, FLS to 260, then FLS to 243. Expander ball removed in all dies but the 243.

Then you'd need to do some neck turning.

ETA: You could probably get away with using necksize-only dies for a couple of those steps, but the concept is correct. You need to work the neck down a little at a time to 243, and then neck turn.

Keep in mind SAAMI trim-to length for 308 is 2.005", and 2.035" for 243, 260 and 708.

You probably wouldn't need to trim much, as the case will grow a bit with all the working.

 

[M40_A1]

I don't know, but I just tried full length sizing a LC Match .308 case for the first time. Daaang!! I have my work cut out for me. I'll need to try Imperial for the first time, and maybe even get a Rockchucker to save wear and tear on my Redding co-ax. Maybe just necking a case down might be easier than this. For your sake, I hope so!

 

[jwp6114]

Liberal sizing die wax... Might also want to anneal after all that working.

 

[propeine]

I know its not the exact same but its relatively close in concept. I used to form 25-06 brass from 30-06. Single step sizing and neck turning. There was a very fine line between enough lube to not jam up a case and too much to where I got lube dimples. The shoulder wasn't the prettiest but it was plenty functional. After being fired one time in a chamber they were fine though.

Mind you we were using a case lube pad and this was 12 years ago with rcbs full length dies and we were making hunting loads. If you have a bunch of brass and feel like screwing around I say go for it.