Reforming Brass (.22-250 from .30-06 / .308)
Bob DeBula
#sl...@cc.usu.edu wrote:
#: Hello Everyone
#:
#: I am wondering how difficult it is to reform .22-250 cases out of .30-06 or
#: .308 brass. I have an abundant supply of military .30-06 and .308 cases
#: and would rather put a little work into them instead of buying more .22-250
#: brass. I really don't have any idea what I'm getting myself into as far as
#: brass thickness, special dies, special presses, decreased powder volume,
#: increased pressures, etc. so any information you have will be appreciated.
#
#RCBS has some case forming dies that should do the task. Depending on how
#many cases you want to reform, it might be cheaper to get new ones of the
#type you need.
#
I'll jump in to agree with Bart here; It may just well not be justifiable
economically (given the cost of forming dies & neck reamer) or
effort-wise.
Given the pricing of new .22-250 brass ($19.95 per hundred, $86.25
per five hundred for Remington or Winchester brass, per Lock,
Stock, and Barrel's latest catalog P. 28), I wouldn't personally
bother to form .22-250 cases. I myself try to own at least 100
pieces of brass for any given bolt action rifle, but it seems
to last quite a while (unless you are pushing the threshold loadwise)
and the volume I shoot with a given bolt just isn't that great.
If you are using a .22-250 on a prarie dog colony(ies) to the point
where your trigger finger is sore on a regular basis, then your milage
probably varies from mine (I use mine for informal bench mostly,
but used to hunt groundhog with it with great success).
You may (probably) have to ream the necks on reformed
.308 as the necks may well be too thick after forming
from .308 brass. You'll also have to check out case capacity
with relation to normal .22-250 brass and making powder charge
allowances. You might (probably) also have to re-anneal the case neck
and shoulder after forming. Examining a loading manual, I notice that
you'll be introducing quite a bit of body taper to a .308 case
and that the web area of .308 is .470" (.30-06 is also .470")
versus the .22-250s .467". If you have a tight chamber, I would
think this might have some importance. Given a choice of the two
cases to reform to .22-250, I'd probably pick the .308
as it looks to involve less reworking of the brass. Unless
you plan to go through a lot of cases (>500), I'd probably
just buy new bulk .22-250 brass. The price for the forming
dies may well be substantial as RCBS probably considers them
"specialty" items.
My experience with reforming involved producing .350 Remington
Magnum cases from .300 Winchester cases. This involved forming
in several steps (using standard dies, I never bought forming
dies), neck reaming (the area of the new neck was quite a ways
down on the body of the .300 WM case and consequently the neck
was much too thick on the reformed .350 RM case), and
re-annealing the neck and shoulder area (being careful
not to effect the body of the case, especially the lower
body around the web). I also did water and powder volume
comparisons. Why did I do this? Because Remington
produced their limited edition Classic model 700
without making new brass readily available for quite
some time :-(.
Would I do it again? No. I would rather buy factory
ammo and pull the bullets than go through the process
again. Was it educational? You bet. Still, knowing what
I know now, I'd probably have chosen to avoid this method
of education :-).
--
==========================================================================
Disclaimer: These are my views, not the U's
"If it's in the paper it must be true!" --- D. Doright
william E Davidsen
| I am wondering how difficult it is to reform .22-250 cases out of .30-06 or
| .308 brass. I have an abundant supply of military .30-06 and .308 cases
| and would rather put a little work into them instead of buying more .22-250
| brass. I really don't have any idea what I'm getting myself into as far as
| brass thickness, special dies, special presses, decreased powder volume,
| increased pressures, etc. so any information you have will be appreciated.
If you reform, don't forget to ream or turn the nexk so the wall
thickness is proper. Also, work up loads all over again, since the
thickness of the case will not be the same as a factory case originally
in the caliber.
It's only worth doing if you do a bunch, so you can work up loads and
assembly line the conversion process. I once had a full garbage can of
once fired 308 I converted to various things, but the load development
takes time, and cost more that you save with only a few cases.
--
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345