Fire forming .243 to .308

mwjones

mwjones

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I have a bunch of IVI 7.62x51 brass that had the bullets pulled and was sized and fire formed to .243. I would really like it to be .308 brass. I tried lubing a couple pieces really well, neck sized to 6.5, then tried runnign them into my .308 sizing die, and no dice, the necks split. Just wondering if anyone has ever successfully fireformed .243 to .308.

And yes, I know they would have been trimmed, but i have my fingers crossed that they won't be REALLY short.

Thanks!
 
Anneal before fire forming, or before resizing? I admit, i could have annealed before sizing, but they already have such pretty neck and shoulder annealing i was hoping they'd be ok :S
 
I would try annealing 10 of them and see how they size/fireform then. Assuming you didn't anneal them they were done once at the brass factory and the shooting and sizing since then has hardened the brass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgD5D0Wzu-c

It can be as complicated as you want it but this is about the simplest way to anneal. No need for special potions or black magic to anneal.
 
fireform with no bullet.

cream of wheat or corn meal on top of 5 or 6 grains of pistol powder , may have to do it twice depending on results and annealing is a good idea. before and even after seeing how much shaping will take place.
 
hk33ka1 said:
I would try annealing 10 of them and see how they size/fireform then. Assuming you didn't anneal them they were done once at the brass factory and the shooting and sizing since then has hardened the brass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgD5D0Wzu-c

It can be as complicated as you want it but this is about the simplest way to anneal. No need for special potions or black magic to anneal.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the vid link. Watching it in about 12 seconds from now :)

gvanzeggelaar said:
Anneal them and load them with a 243 bullet, and shoot them out of your 308.
Click to expand...

I thought about that, but then I'd have to spend money on 243 bullets.

Kelly Timoffee said:
fireform with no bullet.

cream of wheat or corn meal on top of 5 or 6 grains of pistol powder , may have to do it twice depending on results and annealing is a good idea. before and even after seeing how much shaping will take place.
Click to expand...

I just watched a video of a guy fireforming 243 into 243AI using oatmeal and a bar of soap. Seemed simple. I just need the neck to be 30 cal so I can get a cast bullet in there. I've been using .312 roundballs for plinking loads and they're cheap :)

iceman2 said:
Why bother? Sell them for scrap, take money buy once fired 308 brass (common as dirt) and carry on.
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I could sell them for aboout $3 worth of "dirty" scrap brass. IVI brass isn't "common as dirt" so if I can save some semi hard to find brass then I will :) Plus, I'm bored and cheap, and nobody wants to buy or trade for my IVI .243 brass :)
 
I could make a series of expanders at work too....hmm.....something to do at lunch time tomorrow perhaps. Like a series of decapper/expanders that will fit in a lee .308 die. I don't need them to last super long, so I'll try a couple out of stainless. If they get chewed up, i can always make some out of drill rod and heat treat them.

I'm more in this to see if I can, rather than feeling i should do it to save time and/or money :)
 
I just reformed .243 to .308 this summer. I annealed the 243 first, applied a little case lube to the inside of the case mouth and then ran the case in hornady sizing die. The hornady sizing die has a bullet shaped expander and glided into the case with ease. I have already reloaded these cases twice now.
 
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