7.62x39->6PPC brass?

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prosper

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I need a new gun :)

I was thinking of trading a few of mine in to fund a Cooper, probably in 6mmPPC (possibly 6mmBR, but I understand this can be formed from .308 brass).

I'm not planning on shooting competitively, so I'm not terribly concerned about having high-quality Lapua brass. 7.62x39 reloadable brass is much more available and cheaper - can I form this into PPC brass?
 
Yes, you can form 6PPC from the 7.62X39. The case head size is the same on both cartridges.

Where you may have some challenges is in neck thickness, depending on how tight the chamber on the rifle is. However the necks can always be turned to the correct thickness.

Forming from 30 to 6mm almost always requires at least two dies to keep from ruining the brass. It is simple if you have the correct die sets and the necks are annealed.

Certainly not the end of the world, just a bit more work, and once fired you will have perfectly formed brass.

One other thing, some 7.62 brass comes with large rifle primers and some with small. If you really want the best accuracy, most shooters feel the small primers give best results.

Ted
 
prosper said:
Is the shoulder location in the same place, or am I going to have to form a false shoulder to headspace on?
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Actually, you will have to push the shoulder back. I'm not sure how experienced a reloader you are, but this isn't a "one pass through the press and done" type of project. It's certainly do-able, and this is where the first competition brass came from (well, actually from 220 Russian, but same base cartridge), but it is a fair bit of work, resizing (probably at least twice, maybe three times to prevent case crumpling), trimming, inside and outside neck turning, fire forming, and then you're ready to actually use your brass. FWIW - dan
 
sunray said:
The 6mm PPC is based on the .220 Russian, not the 7.62 x 39.
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..............and the 220 Russsian is a necked down 7.62X39. :)

If he wants to make it easy, just buy 6mm PPC brass. Why buy 220 Russsian and neck it up?

The question asked was if can he make 6mm PPC out of 7.62X39. The answer is yes, however it will take a bit of work.

Ted
 
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The biggest problem with forming PPC from short Russian is brass length. The only dies that you can use to form the brass, beside custom forming dies are the BR family or cut down 308 based FL sizers.

First, neck turn the Russian to around 10thou, even thinner if you start crushing necks. Run through a 7BR FL sizer. You may need to neck turn again before running through a 6PPC FL sizer, if lucky, or a 6.5 die if you start crushing too many shoulders. Annealing will most likely be needed after fireforming.

Unless you already have the dies, the cost to buy PPC brass is way cheaper.

One trick I do is not use an expander die when necking down, this way I run 308 brass through a 7BR die and can fireform right away in my 6.5 Mystic chamber.

Making 6PPC, you might be able to go 7BR, then cut down 260 or 6.5 BR, then fireform using Cream of wheat. Once fireformed, you will need to turn necks and most likely, anneal.

Jerry
 
Annealing will most likely be needed after fireforming.
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after fireforming? I would've annealed before sizing, to make the brass more malleable, and reduce the number of crushed necks or donut shoulders, and to keep it from splitting during fireforming

Unless you already have the dies, the cost to buy PPC brass is way cheaper.
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Ahhh, too bad. Still, if I do get a PPC, I'll probably still try this as I have the 7.62x39 brass already.



I have had some success necking 308's down into 22-250's in two passes - trim to length, first sizing in a 22-250 seating die, and final sizing in a 22-250 FL die. I only experienced minimal case failure if I annealed the brass first, and lubed well. But, 308's are somewhat heavier than 7.62x39's, so that may account for it.
 
I believe Precision Shooting once had an article about this conversion. A form die set was used. Certainly can be done if you are motivated. Another consideration - if you are shooting a 6PPC, you are looking for serious accuracy. Reworking 7.62x39 cases is a problematic way of obtaining a quantity of very uniform and consistant cases. How many cases do you need? Consider the cost of new brass, versus the expense, time and effort required to produce cases that will probably be inferior.
 
Well, as I said, I don't need 1/8 MOA accuracy, so if I can avoid having to buy Lapua brass, it should be sufficient. I've had no problems getting 1/3-1/2 MOA out of american brand brass, and that is sufficient for me. I'm not planning on shooting competitively, I just want to try varminting with a PPC. And varminting requires obscene amounts of loaded ammo, which requires lots of brass. So cost is a factor.
 
Making "obscene amounts" of cases that require multiple sizing operations, trimming, and neck turning or reaming is going to be a bit of an ordeal. It would probably be best to invest in purpose built tooling to make the conversion as efficient as possible.
 
Ah, but my time is cheap. Turn on the TV, and get to it. Turns otherwise wasted time in front of the TV into somewhat productive time
 
Well, neat venture, but if you're buying a Cooper, I'm sure you can afford the brass. :) Also, again since you're going with a Cooper and clearly reload, I'd argue why not give it top grade fodder, in the form of Lapua. It's really not that expensive and the Lapua 6PPC and 6BR brass is fantastic.
 
you can get 100 Norma 6PPC cases from Bruno's Shooters Supply for about $120 CDN at your door...I know...I did...

probably less $ now that our dollar is stronger against the US$...:D
 
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