Fire Forming

[Greg Duerr]

What is the best way to fire form your cases like from a .243 to the Ackley?

I was told that you need to seat the bullet out to touch the rifling if you want your cases to last past two reloads.....................



What the best way....................??

 

[Gene]

Jam bullets about .005" or .010" and use a stiff but not max load of your favorite powder. You want the case to fit well in the chamber after firing.

 

[MTBULLET]

with my .243AI, I have the best luck using winchester brass, loaded to about max for .243 at sammi COAL (with cheapest bullets I could find), and just shoot it. The win brass seemed to fireform first time, with only 2 split necks out of several hundred rounds. I tried rem/nosler/hornady brass also, but without good results compared to the win.

 

[Trnelson]

A few grains of unique, a 215 primer, fill the case with cream of wheat and compress the load with a canning wax plug set to the bottom of the case neck. That's what I use to fire form brass in my 30/338 win mag. Neck size from there, trim when needed and enjoy. YMMW.

 

[Reelamin]

A few grains of unique, a 215 primer, fill the case with cream of wheat and compress the load with a canning wax plug set to the bottom of the case neck. That's what I use to fire form brass in my 30/338 win mag. Neck size from there, trim when needed and enjoy. YMMW.

I understand what you are doing here. Put some more details out and others may be wiloing to try this. Specifically the amount of Unique and that it has to be sitting across the bottom evenly before putting filler in. Also how your forcing the wax plug.

 

[Trnelson]

I understand what you are doing here. Put some more details out and others may be wiloing to try this. Specifically the amount of Unique and that it has to be sitting across the bottom evenly before putting filler in. Also how your forcing the wax plug.

Yeah I left the amount out on purpose. I don't have a lot of experience with the 243 or any offspring of the .308. Great case, I just don't own a rifle that shoots it. I personally use 11g of Unique in a MUCH larger 338 Winchester magnum case and 11.9 when I fire form from 7mm Remington mag brass. Please don't try anything remotely close to that much. The life you save will be your own.
As far as the COW I place very carefull, I sprinkle it very slowly as not to allow it to mix with the powder. I just muscle the wax into the case. My buddy likes to use his press with no die in to to force the wax in to the neck shoulder junction and snap the wax off flush with the top of the case and fire away. YMMV

 

[orch]

hey there,


another technique you can use... it may take few extra steps but it works for me...

use either a 308win or 260rem case as your parent case and "partially" neck it down to 243 leaving a very small portion of the neck unsized at the case neck/shoulder junction forming a false shoulder that will form a seal in at the base of the neck area in the chamber upon chambering the round. this will hold the round concentric in the chamber with out having to jam the bullet into the lands... i just use a cheap light varmint style bullet loaded near max book load for said caliber and fire away... you may have to play around with how much of a false shoulder you need to leave... its not much, you just need enough that the round chambers "stiff"


i had to do this in my 25-06 ackley... the first box of factory winchester 25-06 ammo that i tried to use to make fireformed cases was apparently at the low end of saami headspace specks and wouldn't correctly contact the chamber neck/shoulder junction and kinda slumped down in the chamber. when i fired them they would come out unconcentric along the case body lenght with a bit of a bulge on one side starting at the web continuing lopsided up the case towards the shoulder...
i decided to switch to lapua brass after 40 rounds of frustration and could only get 30-06 lapua brass... the bullet i wanted to use for fireforming wouldn't reach the lands due to the long lead in the throat, a buddy of mine that loads a 270 gibbs suggested it try the false shoulder technique and i have had great results with it...

i can use great brass, every thing came out concentric and outta 100 cases i didnt have a single split neck...

orch

 

[Trickymissfit]

What is the best way to fire form your cases like from a .243 to the Ackley?

I was told that you need to seat the bullet out to touch the rifling if you want your cases to last past two reloads.....................



What the best way....................??

the easiest way is to simply shoot factory loads in it (assuming the chamber is done right). But you could also load standard .243 cases with a good heavy generic bullet, and a good load to do the samething
gary

 

[jhibbard24]

hornady hydraulic (hydro) froming dies---- no extra rounds to fire down barrel and no powder or other components to burn. i haven't personally used one yet but that is the only i would go for forming improved brass. i think i would anneal brass first

check this out and it will tell you all about it

Hornady's Hydraulic Case-Forming Dies within AccurateShooter.com

 

[Trnelson]

hornady hydraulic (hydro) froming dies---- no extra rounds to fire down barrel and no powder or other components to burn. i haven't personally used one yet but that is the only i would go for forming improved brass. i think i would anneal brass first

check this out and it will tell you all about it

Hornady's Hydraulic Case-Forming Dies within AccurateShooter.com

I had not seen one of those before. 90-95% is pretty darn nice. Saves a ton of barrel life as well as powder and bullets. Email sent down the road to the boys at Hornady.