30/06 to 280 Remington

[UncleNorby]

I see that standard 30/06 case length is 2.494 and that 280 Remington is 2.540. Does anyone know if converting '06 brass to 280 is considered "easy" and, does anyone know how much to expect the '06 brass to grow in the process?

Also, 270 Win case length is 2.540. Is this a "better" case to form 280 Remington from?

Thanks!

 

[rimfire_crazed]

Easy? Yes. I've made .280 and .270 brass out of 30-06 brass. I didn't need to turn the necks and trimming was minimal - i do not recall the exact amount because I use a zip trim.

As always your mileage may vary. Never really had a problem locating .280 brass.

 

[kludge]

Run .30-06 Brass into the .280 Rem die a little at a time. Adjust the FL die to leave a "bump" where the neck meets the shoulder. The "bump" needs to be such that the brass will *just* chamber in your rifle. Screw the FL die slowly inward (like 1/8 turn at a time) and check it in your chamber after each time you push the start of the shoulder back. Once you get the die set, lock it down for the rest of you brass. The die will not be touching the shell holder like normal.

Check the neck thickness, multiply by 2 and add 0.284" to see if you are still within the limits, Trim (if nothing else than to square up the necks), load (check neck diameter with the bullet in place-just to double check), and then Fireform.

Fireforming will blow the rest of the shoulder forward to where it needs to be in the .280 Rem.

If the brass is not *tight* in your chamber before fireforming, meaning if you have any excess headspace, then you will stretch the brass near the case head, negating all your work.

After fireforming, it would be prudent to anneal, and then you can FL size as normal. Some would say annealing before forming the .30-06 would be a good idea.

And no, forming from .270 brass is not easier. To do that you will have to anneal, neck up to .30 caliber in a .30-06 FL die and then follow the process outlined above to get back to .280. You might also have to deal with "donuts".

 

[UncleNorby]

Thanks very much.