30.06 brass too make 8mm brass

fiddler

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A friend of mine made this video to reshape 30.06 brass to 8mm (8x57).



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1-Fs1LUll8
 
That’s cool! I do use 30-06 for my 8mm but I was using a different method… I like that trim die, I will get me one !!
 

I didn't see where you necked the brass up to 8mm. That's an important step to leave out. Did you do that before or after trimming?


Its not left out, the 30cal neck was pushed out and cut off, and the remainder of the brass is necked *Down* to .323. Its all one step. The 8x57 sizing die will size the inside of the brass in the normal loading steps from then on.
 
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make sure you re labelling your new transformed brass especially if you re using the 30-06 as well. is that hard to find 8x57 brass? i had 2 bags for sale at the last gun show and no interests at all. i finally gave it to a friend i should have kept for you David.
 
make sure you re labelling your new transformed brass especially if you re using the 30-06 as well. is that hard to find 8x57 brass? i had 2 bags for sale at the last gun show and no interests at all. i finally gave it to a friend i should have kept for you David.


Anyone can find a bag or two, but we needed several thousand and converted over a 5 gal pail. It was free, we already had it. We have a dozen or so guys in our hunting/shooting group. Its not worth the effort unless we can walk away with a few hundred rounds each.
 
OP - You do your resizing / cutoff sequence different than I have done - I found that the re-sized case were not the same length after re-sizing the neck or case - so I usually trim off gross excess - then re-size - then trim to length that I want. Did you check that your re-sized cases are still appropriate length? My experience is limited to making 9.3x57 from new 8x57JS cases (which came out much shorter than they needed to be, as per a cerrosafe chamber casting of my 9.3x57 rifle), and making some 7x61 S&H from 7mm Rem Mag cases.
 
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OP - You do your resizing / cutoff sequence different than I have done - I found that the re-sized case were not the same length after re-sizing the neck or case - so I usually trim off gross excess - then re-size - then trim to length that I want. Did you check that your re-sized cases are still appropriate length? My experience is limited to making 9.3x57 from 8x57JS cases, and making some 7x61 S&H from 7mm Rem Mag cases.


Once they are converted, they are all rechecked and sized as you would any rifle load, with every cycle. They do get a bit longer sometimes, but so do most of the cases when you shoot them.
 
Again. our experience might be different - I found most fired cases get slightly shorter than when loaded, but get longer when resized in a die with the expander ball - was my thinking, until now, that the firing made the case body expand slightly (so shorter, slightly), whereas pulling the expander ball out of the case made that case "stretch" a bit. However - if you are measuring and is to spec, does not really matter.

I just realized that in a chamber / rifle with any amount of excess "headspace" - beyond minimum - and if the case was to be full length resized - it will "blow out" to fill the space available - and therefore might measure to be longer than before it was fired - then full length re-sizing would make it shorter, again.
 
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Again. our experience might be different - I found most fired cases get slightly shorter than when loaded, but get longer when resized in a die with the expander ball - was my thinking, until now, that the firing made the case body expand slightly (so shorter, slightly), whereas pulling the expander ball out of the case made that case "stretch" a bit. However - if you are measuring and is to spec, does not really matter.

I just realized that in a chamber / rifle with any amount of excess "headspace" - beyond minimum - and if the case was to be full length resized - it will "blow out" to fill the space available - and therefore might measure to be longer than before it was fired - then full length re-sizing would make it shorter, again.



Again, its a pretty simple process. We reshape and cut it close to the proper case length. We have wiggle room to trim after our resize step, and often we do. I'm not sure how this is confusing? Failing that, which has not happened yet, we have another 50 pounds of 30.06 brass.
 
I love doing this conversion, keeps the brain working and provides quality time, especially when you can't get out to shoot. Over the years I have watched several vids on doing this conversion and they run anywhere from about 3 minutes to 15 minutes to do the same thing. Well worth your time and saves you a bunch from going out looking for 8mm brass.
 
make sure you re labelling your new transformed brass especially if you re using the 30-06 as well. is that hard to find 8x57 brass? i had 2 bags for sale at the last gun show and no interests at all. i finally gave it to a friend i should have kept for you David.
Damn if I’d know !!
 
I originally wanted to reload for a K31 Swiss but this one is a lot more common. I’m pretty happy with it and it will be my new hunting rifle. Easy to get brass now and should drop anything in a it’s tracks.
 
I've made .270, 8mm mauser and 9.3x62 out of .30-06. Fireforming 9.3 is fun.



We talked about fireforming but in a time of market shortage for 1000 primers we opted not to go that route. I may have to go that route to reshape 30-30 cases to 38-55 but only for 100 cases or so if I can't get my tool/die maker to work up an expander for me.
 
This is an excellent idea! Now I can think about taking my k98 to a match without worry about loosing my good 8mm brass. I bet the guy picking up those "30-06" brass after the match will be confused as hell though.
 
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