Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

[tomt53]

I have 200 once fired (not from my gun)remington .308 win. brass. Ihave full lenght resize, trim, debur flash hole and ultra sonic cleaned. I whould like to fire form this brass to my gun's chamber. Hodgdon reloading manual list 14.0 gr. of Trail Boss behind a 150 Nosler BT. for 27,100 PSI.

Is this enough pressure to fire form the Remington brass?
Can a cheaper lead bullet be used?

Thanks Tom

 

[doc76251]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

Any particular reason you wouldn't load them to full strength and fire form it that way?

Most ammo you buy in a box will be undersize for most actions and after the first squeeze they are closer to the actual chamber size. Most brass takes 2 - 3 firings to get it to minimum tolerance so that when you resize you move metal as little as possible.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[turbo54]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

Fireform with max loads.

I think a fireforming sticky is in order. This question comes up a lot.

Fireforming loads qeven for improved and Ackley cartridges, produces great accuracy. There is no good reason to "pre-fireform" with reduced loads or pistol powder or cream of wheat. In fact, doing so only "starts" the forming. The only way to get the brass really formed to ones chamber is PRESSURE!

 

[MALLARD]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

+1 turbo

i dont think you can fully form cases using a cream of wheat or other low pressure loads. I think you actually need to shoot 2-3 full pressure loads in order to get a case "ideal" or "properly" hardened.

 

[Ballistic308]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

brass not fired in your rifle vs virgin brass make no difference regarding accuracy, it does make a difference on how reliable they'll chamber though. However since you stated you have sized them you are without a doubt good-to-go as is.

 

[tomt53]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

Thanks guys, I've been using Remington brass and using a Lee neck sizing die. I'll load some of this brass and see what happens.

 

[bignada]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

Here is a recommendation...

Buy a Wilson Case Gauge (if you own a dial or digital caliper that measures 6" or more), or an RCBS Precision Mic. You will Really Benefit from KNOWING what your chamber oal is.

Measure an unfired virgin case and write your measurement. Fire the round and write the reading for that fired case. You might also make practice of measuring different brands of brass, they are not identically dimensioned.

For a bolt rifle you want to size at least .001" under the fired case oal measurement and adjust your sizing die for this dimension after you test about 10 sized pcs of brass by chambering them in your rifle. For semi-auto, size a minimum of .003" under and .004 or .005 under is better.

Once-fired brass should not need case trimming. Wait until brass is fired in your rifle before even considering doing a trim.

 

[JGorski]

Re: Fire Forming Remington .308 Winchester

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mr. T</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have 200 once fired (not from my gun)remington .308 win. brass. Ihave full lenght resize, trim, debur flash hole and ultra sonic cleaned. I whould like to fire form this brass to my gun's chamber. Hodgdon reloading manual list 14.0 gr. of Trail Boss behind a 150 Nosler BT. for 27,100 PSI.

Is this enough pressure to fire form the Remington brass?
Can a cheaper lead bullet be used?

Thanks Tom </div></div>
Just load it up with your fav load and go shooting!