Forming 6.5-06 AI brass

[Torminous]

What's the proper way to neck down 270 win to 6.5-06 ai. I currently have the dies for 6.5-06 ai. From my understanding, I need to full size to 6.5-06 and then fireform from there.

Also, any recommended loads to start from? This is a hunting rifle.

 

[North Dakota]

I use 25-06 brass with re-22 55grs
130 gr. bergers
Have used H4831,liked it but seemed pretty hot be careful

 

[Torminous]

I use 25-06 brass with re-22 55grs
130 gr. bergers
Have used H4831,liked it but seemed pretty hot be careful

Which die do you use to resize? Also are you fire forming?

 

[dok7mm]

For a 6.5-06, you can go either way, 270 or 25-06. The easiest is using a 25-06, lube inside of necks and just run a 6.5 expander in the neck and trim to 2.484", chamfer, prime, and shoot. For 270 brass, you anneal if you can (not terribly important on new brass, but more consistent forming), trim to 2.484", lube inside necks and case, run them thru your 6.5-06 die and check trim length again. Chamfer,prime and shoot. The 270 cases will have some slightly thicker necks after forming. Use the best brass you can afford. Happy shooting.

 

[stomp442]

I have always used 270 brass necked down in a 6.5-06 die and use close to max charge of the parent case to fire form with. After fire forming I resize the brass and turn about a .001 off the necks or just enough to clean them up for uniformity.

 

[horsefor4]

I use 26-06 brass and a100 gr. Nosler BT with 56 Grs. 4831 just stuff the bullet in no sizing and shoot it form perfect every time my fire forming load shoots sub moa so I use them to shoot coyotes.

 

[Trnelson]

It is true that you can form 6.5/06 and 6.5/06AI (among others) from either .25/06 or 270. Just two critical details to mind carefully. First, make sure your length of your re-sized brass is appropriate. 270 will end up too long and 25/06 ends up short. Second, check the neck diameter of your finished round neck against your chamber diameter and turn down or ream out to get safe clearance and neck tension, if needed. One of my rifles has a .297" chamber neck and my friend I shoot with has a rifle with a .301" chamber neck. His finished rounds will not chamber in my rifle, but mine will chamber in his. He can just neck down, trim for length and load up. I have to do the extra step of reaming the neck material. You can form brass with the 6.5/06AI die and then fire form to the chamber. I prefer using 270 brass in my rifle as I find it is easier to size it down, trim for correct length and fire form with the bullet seated normally.
Using expanded and fire formed 25/06 brass in my rifle usually ends up at 2.476"-2.480" before firie forming and needs to have the bullet seated touching the lands to get the shoulder to fully form with the correct headspace. That's a lot of brass to flow and stretch so usually I only get two or three loadings.

 

[Torminous]

It is true that you can form 6.5/06 and 6.5/06AI (among others) from either .25/06 or 270. Just two critical details to mind carefully. First, make sure your length of your re-sized brass is appropriate. 270 will end up too long and 25/06 ends up short. Second, check the neck diameter of your finished round neck against your chamber diameter and turn down or ream out to get safe clearance and neck tension, if needed. One of my rifles has a .297" chamber neck and my friend I shoot with has a rifle with a .301" chamber neck. His finished rounds will not chamber in my rifle, but mine will chamber in his. He can just neck down, trim for length and load up. I have to do the extra step of reaming the neck material. You can form brass with the 6.5/06AI die and then fire form to the chamber. I prefer using 270 brass in my rifle as I find it is easier to size it down, trim for correct length and fire form with the bullet seated normally.
Using expanded and fire formed 25/06 brass in my rifle usually ends up at 2.476"-2.480" before firie forming and needs to have the bullet seated touching the lands to get the shoulder to fully form with the correct headspace. That's a lot of brass to flow and stretch so usually I only get two or three loadings.

Which fireforming method do you use? Cream of wheat or standard 6.5-06 load?

 

[Trnelson]

Which fireforming method do you use? Cream of wheat or standard 6.5-06 load?

It depends. If I am forming from 270 brass I just use a cheap 120g bullet. After reaming out the neck to work with my chamber a trip through the sizing die and a trim to 2.487" I load 50.0g H4831sc and fire it. The fired case ends up 2.484" and perfectly formed. I anneal after fire-forming and neck size from there on. Most of the time I anneal after the third firing and pitch them after the fifth firing.
Recently I have had reliable success using Prvi Partisan 120g bullets. My rifle doesn't shoot fire-forming loads well enough to justify sticking a premium bullet in the case, so I do not waste them on that. With bullets less than 100g I have had ok results with a few not fully forming on the first go around.
If I am starting from a batch of .25/06 I have done it both ways but have had the best success usually using the COW method to get to 90%+ fire-formed then the cheap prvi 120 to finish forming the survivors seated out to touch the lands.
Normally, I figure to lose about 10 out of a batch of 100 due to necks splitting or a case head thinning too much to be safe or even rupturing during COW fire forming using 25/06 brass. Then a good annealing before loading my rifles preferred load. I try NOT to use 25/06 brass as it starts out too short and has to flow quite a bit to fill and form to the chamber. That usually leads to case heads getting too thin or even failing within three 'full' loadings. That's a lot of work to do for just a few firings, especially when 270 brass is plentiful.