338-06 question

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458lott

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i am having a hard time finding 338-06 brass. so my question is, can 35 whelen brass be sized through 338-06 sizing die with no issues? or 30-06 brass necked out to 338 with less issues. any help from someone with this calibre.
 
I don't own a 338-06 but...
It's easier to neck down than size up but I would prefer to neck up 06 brass and avoid
triming or thick necks,not that thats much of a concern at all.
And thats how they did it back in the wildcat days.
 
458lott said:
i am having a hard time finding 338-06 brass. so my question is, can 35 whelen brass be sized through 338-06 sizing die with no issues? or 30-06 brass necked out to 338 with less issues. any help from someone with this calibre.
Click to expand...

I have done hundreds of 338-06 cases from 30-06 cases. One swipe of the case over the neck expansion ball is all that is needed. They even make up a tapered expander for such a job. Not really necessary though. Just make sure to lube the inside of the case neck and brush out all of the crud if you are using once fired brass. New brass just needs a bit of lube inside and regular lube on the outside of the case.

Depending on your chamber, the case will likely have to be fire formed.

It also sounds like you're reloading for one rifle. If this is the case, just neck resize after fireforming the cases. They will last forever. I have cases that I've reloaded 30 times. Just need to anneal the necks every 4 shots.

338-06 stamped cases are darned expensive.

By the way, it's a lot easier to neck up the 30 cal neck than to neck down the 35 cal neck. You should also square off the case mouths and get all of your case lengths equal. Other than that, no big deal.

Your existing set of dies, should work fine, unless you have a set of dies that compresses your case neck around a mandrel.
 
i neck up as 30 06 brass is easy and cheap to find. my redding dies has a tapered expander. a little lube one pass threw the die and its done. necking down is fine if you have a sourse of 35 whelan cases.
 
I found a bag of 35 Whelen brass for cheap and sized them all to 338-06. I found them to be the same as 30-06 necked up. I did find the rem brass is softer than the Weatherby 338-06 and wont take as much pressure.
 
You can load boat tail 338 bullets in 30 06 caliber cases no problem. The look funny if the base doesnt go to the bottom of the neck. I made this mistake and continued to load a bx and shot them they were fine then i had fireformed brass.
 
I shoot a 375 Whelen Imp. which is 30/06 necked to 375. No problem with thin necks at all. BTW back when 338/06 was popular that's how it was done as there was no factory 35 Whelen brass as it was also a Wildcat.
If you get tired of morons looking at your brass and saying "Duh, it says 30-06 on the bottom, how come you say it's a 338?" just get some military brass. It's great stuff. Now they look at my brass and wonder what LC 69 means.
 
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