Reoloading 308 and 6.5 cm

[peterk123]

It's been over two years since I have reloaded. I probably have 50,000 rounds of pistol under my belt and about 300 rounds of rifle. I have reloaded my 45/70 brass multiple times, but only new brass has been used for my 308, and I have yet to reload 6.6 CM. I probably should have added 223 to the title, because I am saving my brass for that as well (when not shooting steel case). I'm just looking for the method/order you folks are doing you rifle brass/reloading pre work. Here is what I intend to do.

1) Pop out the primers (no resizing)
2) Clean the brass
3) Lube the brass
4) Size the brass and add primer
5) Hand measure each load and manually add the powder.
6) Go back to the press and seat the bullet
7) Go Shoot

Are you guys following the same steps or adding anything or possibly combining anything?


Some curiosity questions:
Is everyone annealing their brass, or do you even bother?
How many times do you get to re-use the brass before failure and do you wait for the failure (crack)?
Does accuracy get affected as the brass in the neck gets thinner?

My question regarding whether or not to purchase a 223 bolt action for practice has inspired me to suck it up and pay the ridiculous prices for primers. I enjoy reloading and probably can build up a 308 round for 75 cents or less, vs over two bucks if I buy it.

Thanks. Pete

 

[ddeck]

After sizing, you need to check for trim length.

And i clean before popping out the primers, keeps the depriming area clean.

Depending on the lube, you may need to clean it off.

 

[DW357]

You’ll want to measure the cases after resizing to confirm if they need to be trimmed and then chamfered and deburred.

 

[DW357]

After sizing, you need to check for trim length.

And i clean before popping out the primers, keeps the depriming area clean.

Depending on the lube, you may need to clean it off.

This. I also clean before sizing/depriming

 

[tung tide]

I clean before de-capping too, What about a crimp? As a noob I am using a go-no on my .30-06 loads

 

[Mudflap621]

It really depends on how far down the rabbit hole you intend to go and how much time you want to spend. My workflow goes as followed for fired brass.

- Clean 15 min tumbler
- Anneal
- Full length size and deprime w/o expander . I use lanolin lube.
- Clean 30 min
- Trim/Chamfer/Debur

At this point it goes on a Dillon 550 where I prime, mandrel the neck for final sizing, drop powder, then seat bullet.

 

[peterk123]

Thanks. Forgot to add trimming after sizing. And i think I have to clean after lubing. I was pretty sure i was doing that for the 45/70.

 

[paul73]

It's been over two years since I have reloaded. I probably have 50,000 rounds of pistol under my belt and about 300 rounds of rifle. I have reloaded my 45/70 brass multiple times, but only new brass has been used for my 308, and I have yet to reload 6.6 CM. I probably should have added 223 to the title, because I am saving my brass for that as well (when not shooting steel case). I'm just looking for the method/order you folks are doing you rifle brass/reloading pre work. Here is what I intend to do.

1) Pop out the primers (no resizing)
2) Clean the brass
3) Lube the brass
4) Size the brass and add primer
5) Hand measure each load and manually add the powder.
6) Go back to the press and seat the bullet
7) Go Shoot

Are you guys following the same steps or adding anything or possibly combining anything?


Some curiosity questions:
Is everyone annealing their brass, or do you even bother?
How many times do you get to re-use the brass before failure and do you wait for the failure (crack)?
Does accuracy get affected as the brass in the neck gets thinner?

My question regarding whether or not to purchase a 223 bolt action for practice has inspired me to suck it up and pay the ridiculous prices for primers. I enjoy reloading and probably can build up a 308 round for 75 cents or less, vs over two bucks if I buy it.

Thanks. Pete

of 6.5CM - there is brass in small and in large rifle primers sizing. i so far did not see a huge amount of difference between them, but it seems those who actually compete in 6.5CM - whoever is still left - those folks prefer small primer brass, usually using #450 CCI.

make sure to sort through the brass to group same headstamps, or go with the scale to make sure the brass you got is within 5-10 grains in weight or so. you do not want cases that differ by huge amount, it will show up in your ES/SD numbers.

powder of choice for 6.5CM is reloder 16. bullet of choice - hornady eldm 140gr.
more info here:

6 & 6.5 Creedmoor Load Data – What The Pros Use

This past year I asked the 173 of the top-ranked precision rifle shooters in the country about the ...

precisionrifleblog.com

good luck, it is all fun and a great caliber.

 

[paul73]

and probably can build up a 308 round for 75 cents or less

those work very well for .308. a 175gr blems would be even better, but, they are quite rare to get for some reason, i did not see them in a long while.
those 168gr are available and are also quite good.

1. 
   
   Rating:
   100%
   30 CALIBER 168GR HPBT CUSTOM COMPETITION (100CT) (BLEM)
   ADD TO CART
   SPECIAL PRICE$26.95$65.95AS LOW AS $24.95

 

[RankAmateur]

Depending on powder/bullet/primer and your specific load, you're about right for cost of reloaded .308 (assuming that your brass is free). About 25¢ for powder, 10¢ for primer, and 35-45¢ per bullet for 168s (as an example). You can certainly do it for less if you find less expensive components.

My process for bottleneck rounds:

• Deprime
• Wet tumble
• Anneal
• Lube & size
• Mandrel expand
• Inspect, measure (and trim if needed)
• Chamfer/deburr (whether or not trimmed), polish mouth (Scotchbrite or 0000 steel wool)
• Dry tumble (removes lube and any brass chips)
• Prime
• Charge
• Seat bullet

Some curiosity questions:​

Is everyone annealing their brass, or do you even bother? ​

How many times do you get to re-use the brass before failure and do you wait for the failure (crack)?​

Does accuracy get affected as the brass in the neck gets thinner? ​

I anneal every loading for the dual purposes of extending brass life and returning brass to it's original hardness. To your last question, your neck tension will be affected by thinning/thickening/hardening/uneveness/etc. of your case necks. In my experience, significant differences in neck tension between rounds can substantially affect precision. Neck tension is not just the size of the neck compared to the bullet diameter. I have Peterson and Lapua brass I've reloaded more than 25 times. I have had Federal Gold Medal cases with loose primer pockets after only three firings. I've never had a case split on annealed brass. Small primer pockets survive longer, and brass life is substantially affected by load (the hotter your load the sooner your brass will need to be replaced)

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[paul73]

I have Peterson and Lapua brass I've reloaded more than 25 times. I have had Federal Gold Medal cases with loose primer pockets after only three firings

6 dasher lapua where i could potentially care to do annealing seems to get pockets loose after 5 firings consistently, and it is with a mere mellow 30.8gr load i use. dunno how other people say they go for 32gr and even 33gr there. at anything above 31.5gr i had primers popped out immediately.

on 6.5cm i tried to anneal some - same blowtorch method - after 3 reloads, and on some plainly ignored any annealing - did not see any SD deviations there, to be honest, between annealed and non-annealed samples. but i did not do a proper scientific analysis of that stuff, of course.

can`t say i see much point in doing annealing anymore, frankly, for what i do. as you shoot in competitions, it probably matters there much more, to make sure all was done to maintain the consistency.

 

[Mudflap621]

6 dasher lapua where i could potentially care to do annealing seems to get pockets loose after 5 firings consistently, and it is with a mere mellow 30.8gr load i use. dunno how other people say they go for 32gr and even 33gr there. at anything above 31.5gr i had primers popped out immediately.

on 6.5cm i tried to anneal some - same blowtorch method - after 3 reloads, and on some plainly ignored any annealing - did not see any SD deviations there, to be honest, between annealed and non-annealed samples. but i did not do a proper scientific analysis of that stuff, of course.

can`t say i see much point in doing annealing anymore, frankly, for what i do. as you shoot in competitions, it probably matters there much more, to make sure all was done to maintain the consistency.

Annealing is not going to do anything for primer pockets as when done right the heat should never travel down to the web of a case. Annealing should only affect the neck and shoulder area and when done right with both lengthen service life and add consistency to your loads.

My opinion is there is something else going on with your dasher. I know plenty of people running it not seeing loose pockets in 5 firings. It could possibly be chamber dimensions or are you oversizing your cases creating excessive headspace? I assume your running 450s?

 

[paul73]

Annealing is not going to do anything for primer pockets as when done right the heat should never travel down to the web of a case. Annealing should only affect the neck and shoulder area and when done right with both lengthen service life and add consistency to your loads.

My opinion is there is something else going on with your dasher. I know plenty of people running it not seeing loose pockets in 5 firings. It could possibly be chamber dimensions or are you oversizing your cases creating excessive headspace? I assume your running 450s?

450s, yes. I got a bunch of premade alpha brass now, will see how it will or will not differ.
Lapua was fire formed from 6 br.