8mm-06 reloading

kjohn

kjohn

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
173   0   0
Location
SE Sask.
I have owned and shot an ugly old "sporter" 98 for a long time. I've resized 30-06 cases with some success. I use only nickel plated cases as of some years back to distinguish 8mm-06 cases. I recently bought a bag of OF from Ted at Eastend, SK.

I made a neat discovery today. I full length resized 10 OF Winchester in 30-06, the proceeded to neck up these with an RCBS 8x57 die, just running the up enough to expand the neck. I've used this method for all my cases. I have never been impressed with the job. The necks seem to come out deformed and lopsided.

An inspiration struck me while looking at these cases. I had a pulled bullet from a Yugo 8x57 surplus sitting on my desk. Hmm... I seated the bullet in a resized 30-06 case just to see if it worked. The bullet had a boat tail and it slid in as nice as could be. Presto! Pulled the bullet out with a collet puller. Did all ten like that. Now ready for some cast bullets. The bullet I used is a cupro-nickel plated. (Not sure if that is the right term or not. I'm sure someone will hurry to correct me.)
 
Seems to work, but also seems like a lot of effort. If the die was used in the "normal" fashion, the neck would first be expanded, and then forced into the neck and shoulder portion of the die and any "lop-sideness" would be corrected.

What is the shape of the expander portion of the decapping rod? Is it a long taper like employed by Lee dies, or a short quick taper as I've seen in many RCBS dies. I've found the former works best when I'm reforming brass such as i do when I convert 30-06 to 9.3X62.
 
Andy said:
Seems to work, but also seems like a lot of effort. If the die was used in the "normal" fashion, the neck would first be expanded, and then forced into the neck and shoulder portion of the die and any "lop-sideness" would be corrected.

What is the shape of the expander portion of the decapping rod? Is it a long taper like employed by Lee dies, or a short quick taper as I've seen in many RCBS dies. I've found the former works best when I'm reforming brass such as i do when I convert 30-06 to 9.3X62.
Click to expand...

Yes, the RCBS does have a rather blunt taper as opposed to a Lee. I used the RCBS in the past, and although the finished product didn't look so good, it did seem to shoot ok. I smoked a few whitetail with that rifle, using a 150 gr. Sierra (forget which model). Shot them all just back of the front leg with excellent results. Heart and lungs just mush, no meat ruined.
 
Andy, I wonder if Kjohn means the case mouth is no longer square to the neck but wavy in appearance and needs to be trimmed square again. This is normal when changing diameters of necks.

Kjohn, I have used your method with 8x06, 338x06, 338x08, 35 x 06 (35 Whelan) but I haven't bothered to do anything else. I even prime the cases, put in the powder and push the bullets down into the necks, then take them to the range and shoot them. After this, I always trim the cases.

I've also found that annealing the necks only to dead soft clears up a lot of issues.
 
kjohn; Here is a tip. Instead of necking up unfired cases, try necking up 1-F cases. Do not resize them in a 30-06 die.!!
They are already partially expanded, and the 8mm-06 FL die will turn them into the proper case
without the distortion you have described.
I just finished making 50 325 WSM cases from 1-F 300 WSM cases. went slick as could be...no crooked necks, and no losses. D
 
Eagleye said:
kjohn; Here is a tip. Instead of necking up unfired cases, try necking up 1-F cases. Do not resize them in a 30-06 die.!!
They are already partially expanded, and the 8mm-06 FL die will turn them into the proper case
without the distortion you have described.
I just finished making 50 325 WSM cases from 1-F 300 WSM cases. went slick as could be...no crooked necks, and no losses. D
Click to expand...

Good tip. I don't have a FL die for 8mm-06. I will try the method described by bearhunter. It will work when I am using boat tail bullets, but I doubt it will work with GC cast, as the GC are pretty blunt. My cases are all OF, so they need to be FL sized.

Good discussion so far. Nice to be clear of trolls, eh boys? :p
 
kjohn said:
Good tip. I don't have a FL die for 8mm-06. I will try the method described by bearhunter. It will work when I am using boat tail bullets, but I doubt it will work with GC cast, as the GC are pretty blunt. My cases are all OF, so they need to be FL sized.

Good discussion so far. Nice to be clear of trolls, eh boys? :p
Click to expand...


Kjohn, I have a set of RCBS 8mm06 two piece dies. It's missing the expander ball and rod assembly but that can be picked up with a long taper ball fairly quickly and easily. No rust and clean. This set is at least 40 years old but it hasn't seen a lot of use.

PM me and we can make arrangements.
 
You can buy this part from Lee (8X57 expander) for less than $10 (I buy mine from Higginsons). Install it in any Lee die with a body larger than the 30-06 (e.g. 45-70, any Magnum, etc.) and you'd be good to go.

p-1698.jpg


Since I load for so many 8mm cartridges, I bought a 325 WSM F/L die a few years ago and use it for Neck-sizing all of them.
 
bearhunter said:
Andy, I wonder if Kjohn means the case mouth is no longer square to the neck but wavy in appearance and needs to be trimmed square again. This is normal when changing diameters of necks.

Kjohn, I have used your method with 8x06, 338x06, 338x08, 35 x 06 (35 Whelan) but I haven't bothered to do anything else. I even prime the cases, put in the powder and push the bullets down into the necks, then take them to the range and shoot them. After this, I always trim the cases.

I've also found that annealing the necks only to dead soft clears up a lot of issues.
Click to expand...
I run .270 and .30/06 brass into my LEE ,35 Whelen dies with nos signs of any kind of distortion to the mouth or neck I have done this with '06 brass, both once fired and new.
 
dan belisle said:
Oh oh, someone else has the 8mm bug. �� - dan
Click to expand...

I had the 8mm/06 bug in the early 90s due to several 8x57 rifles I was hunting with. I had planned on buying a Remington 7600 in '06 and rebarrelling to 8mm/06 wen I was informed that the Whelen was offered as a factory chambering. 25 years later, I am still a rabid Whelen fan.
 
The old rifle performed quite well. Thanks for all the tips. Thank you bearhunter for the die set! Now, off to find some dinosaurs!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom