30-06 Brass necked down to 25-06

[LoanHarvey]

May I please hear the best way to do this from the experienced folks on the Hide who have successfully done this. I have a couple of hundred 30-06 cases, and would like to get them ready for a new build in a 25-06. Please advise on brass prep and steps to take to convert.
Thank you very much.
Loan

 

[29aholic]

Necking down is pretty straight forward. Use a good lube like Hornady Unique or Imperial Sizing Wax and go slow. Check your case length and you will probably have to trim. Your first loads should be at the lower end of the range for fireforming, check your length again.

 

[LoanHarvey]

Thanks for the info, the re-sizing went well. I like to anneal my brass, would you do this before or after fire forming? Thanks again!

Necking down is pretty straight forward. Use a good lube like Hornady Unique or Imperial Sizing Wax and go slow. Check your case length and you will probably have to trim. Your first loads should be at the lower end of the range for fireforming, check your length again.

 

[RTH1800]

After forming

 

[29aholic]

Thanks for the info, the re-sizing went well. I like to anneal my brass, would you do this before or after fire forming? Thanks again!

Yep it's not too bad if you take your time and don't use too much lube.

And like rth said anneal after fireforming

 

[DocB]

LH,

The brass will grow while necking down, you'll have to trim it. The neck thickness won't grow much, but you may wish to neck turn before necking down.

HTH,
DocB

 

[witchhunter]

Your necks will get thicker too. Turn to make them uniform. If it is a new build, the more consistent, the better. Use the same headstamp.

 

[LoanHarvey]

The 30-06 Federal cases I acquired are once fired, and were purchased years ago from Montgomery Ward believe it or not. They have been setting in a coffee can at a friends for years.
I acquired them, asked about re-sizing and then did that. After re-sizing and trimming, I cleaned the flash holes and tumbled real well. I then began to put Winchester LR primers in them in preparation of fire forming. The Winchester primers went in really easy, and felt kinda like it does when brass has had too much pressure. Felt like they just slipped right in. I tried a couple of F210's and they went in easy, but did not slip in quite like the Win's did. I know for a fact that these are once fired, because they were shot by a friend of mine, who I scored that wood blank I asked you all about if any of you recall that. So, I have 100 of them loaded with 52gr of H4831 just for fire forming and some Hornady's I picked up from a hide member. My plan is to fire form these in the new build when it gets done, which will accomplish 2 things, fire form the brass and get the barrel broke in with those 100 rounds. Should I be concerned about the "easy slide in primers?" These federal brass cases are probably from the 70's.
Thanks again for your contributions.

 

[DocB]

LH,

If they are old enough to have been obtained from M-W, you may wish to anneal them before performing any operations. The current WLR primers are on the small side for primers, you may wish to consider obtaining some CCI #34s and trying them.

HTH,
DocB

 

[LoanHarvey]

Thank you DocB!! When I de-primed those old M-W cases, it felt like they were kinda glued in and they sort of "popped" out. Upon inspecting the primer pockets, it does look like there was some sort of glue in there.
I will try the CCI 34's for those. Appreciate that DocB!