Question about making .308 brass from 30.06 brass

[81Z4ME]

I've only rarely done this when I've cracked a 30.06 case neck or bent it up badly when the expander tried to go in.

I was reading on another forum where one of the guys who is a well respected M14 gunsmith and match shooter tried the same thing. He took a batch of 30.06 cases, ran them through a .308 sizer die, trimmed them back, loaded them up and got nice groups - on the first loading. On the second loading the groups went south and he couldn't find an obvious reason why. I believe he tried one more loading and the groups were still very poor vs. the 1st loading of those cases. He gave up on it without trying to find out why.

Has anyone here done this and if so did you have similar results and then follow it through and find out what was going wrong?

Thanks. I may have to try it my self here out of curiousity.

 

[Grumulkin]

Re: Question about making .308 brass from 30.06 brass

The first reloads would have been full length sized. It's possible that for the second reloading, neck sizing was tried. At times, despite theories to the contrary, full length sizing results in better accuracy than does neck sizing. I presume faulty dies may be the cause of this phenomenon.

With 308 cases as available as they are, I don't understand why someone would go to the trouble of making them out of 30/06 cases.

 

[bohem]

Re: Question about making .308 brass from 30.06 brass

If he cut the cases down, sized, failed to neck turn/ream and then just shot them, on the second time around there was probably a huge amount of brass flow from the 1st firing. My suspicion is that he either gave himself a bad case of the donuts, or the extra thick necks have now work hardened to where the neck tension was widely variable and he got poor groups... or both.

I'm not really sure why you'd do it though, per Grumulkin's comment, it seems like a waste of time.

 

[308sako]

Re: Question about making .308 brass from 30.06 brass

Just to se how much work it was i made a small number a few years ago. Using R-P cases I found the necks quite thin, and would suggest that annealing would have helped in the above situation.

 

[81STFACP]

Re: Question about making .308 brass from 30.06 brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grumulkin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
With 308 cases as available as they are, I don't understand why someone would go to the trouble of making them out of 30/06 cases. </div></div>

Art is retired from his profession and retired for the most part in building M14s, thus he has plenty time on his hands.

 

[Jerry m]

Re: Question about making .308 brass from 30.06 brass

No comment why the first load was better. But, if you either have a lot of time on your hands or tons of 06 brass, it is a time consuming venture. Run a lubed -06 case into an RCBS .308 trim die and cut off the excess with a hacksaw. Resize and trim smooth and load like a .308. One problem is that you cut off most of the annealed part of the -06 case.

Easier to trade brass with someone.

Good luck

Jerry