making 6.5 creedmoor brass from .308 brass

[joemusso]

I was fooling around to day and made a few pieces of 6.5 CM brass from 3.08 1X fired brass. I was wondering if anyone else had done this with any success.
Thought it was a cool thing to do.

Any ideas or comments are welcome.

I did get some very small wrinkles in the shoulder. would this fire form out and be ok?

 

[trailrider121]

I don't own a 6.5 creedmoor, but I've heard guys making it from 22-250 Lapua brass.

 

[RottenII]

I've done it using Fed .308 brass. I had to turn the necks though which makes it more work than it's worth to me. I'll stick with the Hornady Creedmoor brass as it's held up very well for me. I do like the idea of doing your own though as a back up option.

 

[joemusso]

thank you guys for the input

 

[Froggy1129]

I make it with Hornady .308 match brass from once fired TAP. I have to neck turn but it is extremely accurate. The wrinkles are from too much lube but they will fireform out fine.

 

[Trental]

Here is a thread where I detailed my process. Some brass crushes the cases when doing this, other brass holds up well. My converted brass is holding up very well and I have 7 reloads on some of it so far.

http://www.65creedmoor.com/index.php?topic=487.0

 

[Aimsmall55]

I tried this this weekend. I annealed the .308 brass then neck sized then fl sized. Then trimmed. Only problem is my chamber is so tight it would not chamber. Maybe 7mm-08 brass would be a little easier. I've got plenty of that.

 

[Scotch_egg]

Has any one gone up from .243?

 

[Trental]

Has any one gone up from .243?

See the link I posted just above. It's all about .243 to Creedmoor.

 

[7mmSTW]

22-250 is the way to go...and you don't have to trim it!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[SFSGM]

6.5 CM from LC Match or Federal

I have been able to make 6.5 CM very easily from 308 LC Match and Federal 308 GM brass. I have a good quantity of Hornady brass but after 4 decades of reloading, and military background I cannot be satisfied with just one source. Besides I have thousands of LC cases here from a career of shooting M14's and the M1A, etc plus the boltguns...I use Hornady's FL sizing die w/o the sizing button. this makes a good 6.5 CM conversion and then trim the long necks in my Giraud or Gracey trimmer. I then use a Sinclair mandrel in 6.5 to size the necks. at this point I run them all through my Redding FL sizing die and it is a very good piece of brass. I have a small neck in the chamber so I am turning the necks. Going from a larger to a smaller neck diameter most always flows brass into the necks. I turn them to under 0.003 from my chamber diameter and they settle at about 0.001 to 0.002 when loaded. The brass is good enough to fireform 123 Lapua's or other 120-123 grain bullets. On the next load I use my 140 - 142 grain bullets and work my load up while at 600 yds. (Just because they group well at 200 does not mean they will group the same at 600 - and 1,000 is a whole 'nuther game).

I use Imperial sizing wax for everything, sizing, turning, reaming.

Oh yeah, i gauge my necks with the LC Match brass because of the thickness and ream them to remove excessive thickness. this makes a concentric neck and gives me nearly 0.0 on my spinner.

Best of luck, shoot safely brothers
Will

 

[Kebo57]

As long as I have a supply of Hornady brass I'm not going down this road! .....but if you feel like you gotta make your 6.5CM cases out of something else- the 22-250's parent, the 250-3000 Savage requires less change in the neck - 0.257 to 0.264. I have a 250-3000 Ackley.....its the same as the 6.5 CM except for neck diameter and shoulder angle...40 for the Ackley...30 for the 6.5CM . I realize 22-250 brass may be easier to find than 250 Savage, but removing the need to turn necks would make it worth looking at if you choose to go this route

 

[POSM]

6.5 CM brass from .308 Recipe

Use LC09 .308 milsurp brass. Deprime. Clean. Trim to 1.920" (Forster Trimmer). Redding 6.5 CM type S die without the bushing using ample sizing wax. Trim to 1.910 (Giraud Trimmer). Turn necks on Forster Neck Turning Adapter for Forster Trimmer. RCBS SMALL BASE 6.5 CM die. Final trim on the Giraud. Clean.

This gives you awesome brass that is better than the factory Hornady stuff (No offense Mr. Hornady).

Notes:
1. The RCBS SB die tightens the neck back and uniforms them after neck turning. Otherwise you get some loose necks upon bullet seating (unless you use a crimping seater).
2. The SB die also gives me brass that will cycle through my 6.5 CM gas gun even when dirty (I shoot it suppressed), whereas without the SB it sometimes won't chamber when dirty.
3. I used to anneal the final product but my chrono data showed that my velocity ST DEV was smallest with un-annealed brass made in this fashion. The annealing process was less predictable for neck tension than turning alone. Unfortunately I have a ton of annealed brass because I didn't figure this out until I had annealed it all. Thusly, remember to test new processes in small batches.
4. This brass weight on average 25 grains more than the Hornady factory brass, so pressures are higher for the same load--BEWARE.
5. If you reload in the winter, don't try this process if the temperature in your workroom (garage?) is less than 55 degrees F. You will crush a lot of cases when it's cold.
6. Watch for folds in the neck and shoulder. Discard these cases (they look like a little slit in the shoulder usually).
7. Neck wall thickness in a factory case is roughly 0.0145". Roughly. The necks on the LC09 out of the Redding Die are usually 0.019" (too thick for sure because brass does flow to the neck during forming). Turn to 0.0145" target thickness.
8. If you trim too short at the first step (don't trim to 1.910" initially) you will get less brass to flow to the neck resulting in uneven, undulating neck wall thickness as you check around the neck. This leads to necks that have places that have brass removed during turning and other places the lathe skips (<0.0145") and I think this leads to less uniform neck tension.
9. Variations in neck tension appear to be the #1 cause of velocity variation in 6.5 CM brass, whether from neck length, wall thickness, annealing, dilation, sizing or crimping.
10. If you shoot a bolt gun, you may want to refine the treatment of once-fired brass from this process with a different resizing methodology. But if you shoot a gas gun, always use the RCBS SB die (or other SB die for 6.5 CM).
11. Any comments welcome.

 

[DHDeal]

I have sized down 50 Laupa Palma that needed to be neck turned. I turned them only enough to give me .0015" clearance. Not much, but these will not be used for anything but targets.

Sized down with a Redding 6.5 Creedmoor S FL die with no bushing. I go slow and cam over turn 180 degrees and cam over again.
I trim at this stage and chamfer/debur.
I then run them through a FL non bushing die with expander ball.
I use my 21st Century expander die then turn the necks with a 21st Century neck Turner just into the shoulder junction.
I turn using low speed with the case held by a Lee 3 jaw chuck. I do a final polish with 0000 steel wool.
I now size with the Redding S die .293" bushing and fire form.

Lots of work it seems, but it does not take too long as all my tools are set up where I can get to them in sequence.

We'll see if the effort is worth it as the cases have been fire formed but not loaded with my rifles favored bullet yet.

If it sounds like I have made the brass to mirror Laupa 6.5 × 47 brass, you would be correct. Also what I have done is made the cases with minimal neck clearance. I am interested in accuracy more than rate of fire. It is an entertaining project, but not inexpensive.

There are reasons why I used the type of dies and the sequence described. I do not pretend to know the best way, only my way works for me. Also, if you go slow sizing the brass down and keep your dies clean while sizing, you won't get those wrinkles. Ask me how I know this. I don't anneal until after fire forming.

I have plenty of 6.5 Creedmoor Hornady brass that makes very good ammo, so this is not necessary, but the CHALLENGE is enough reason.......

 

[RabbitS1X]

Use LC09 .308 milsurp brass. Deprime. Clean. Trim to 1.920"

I also use Lake City Brass for forming with a set of Hornady Full length dies and have had very few problems at all. A little neck turning and they are good to go. I like the LC brass due to it's availability which in turn allows me to weight sort into larger lots for my long range accuracy loads in rifle A and load a more basic hunting load for rifle B with the odd lots of brass. After the brass has been through their perspective rifles once (fire formed for chamber), I will then neck size only. The only issue I have encountered with LC milsurp brass is the "Ding" or "dent" on the main body from some rough extractor/ejector. These I still use the dings and dents but in a .308 hog gun. Irons out those little dents nicely and gives me more trigger time. Win/ win.