elkaholic
Well-Known Member
I thought I would put up a new thread on the SS which covers the current options. As most of you know, I now have "ready to form" brass available in Norma that shoots very well. Another option is to go thru the same process that I, and a few of you, have used, and then Hydro form it rather than the cow method or just loading a bullet. I have a couple of pics that attempt to show the various methods. The pic on the left is a "ready to form" case as it is shipped to you. The one in the middle is the case on the left that has been put through the hydro die. The difference LOOKS subtle but the taper is blown out and the neck/shoulder junction is set. The shoulder is still somewhat rounded, which is typical even with the c-o-w forming method. The case on the right is after first full load firing. The hydro formed case will shoot just about as well, but just doesn't have the sharpness in the angles. The die pics are the Whidden hydro dies that I can get for anyone who might want to go that route. They are easy to use. You just put a used primer in the case to seal the hole, lube the case a little, and run it into the form die just like you would with your normal sizer die. You fill the case/die with H20 using the squeeze bottle provided, stick the plunger in the hole and give it a couple good whacks with the hammer. The die is preset so that it leaves about .010 over proper head space. When you run the case through your 6.5SS resize die, it expands the neck a little and pushes the shoulder back the additional .010". The part on the left in the die pic is an extra plunger setup for those who are not accurate with the hammer!!
