Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Fire forming vs. neck expansion

Just curious what method of brass forming y'all prefer and/or have had the best results from? I am having a 9X57 Mauser built and I have 100 rounds of WW 8X57 brass reserved to feed it with. I can fire form the brass when the rifle is completed or I can order a tapered sizer button for the Redding die set I have coming. I have already annealed the brass using the candle method.

Load bullets and shoot has worked best for me rather than COW

IME, Redding dies for cases which are commonly formed from other cases have come with tapered expander plugs. A quick call to Redding can confirm whether or not you need to specify that this needs to be a special order. FWIW, I always expand the necks with a tapered plug before fire forming cases.

Yep, already called Redding. I was hoping to order a set with the tapered plug installed, but was told they don't build them that way. In fact, they don't sell die sets to the public. So, I ordered the set from a dealer and have to order the stem with the tapered button from Redding as a replacement part. Cost of stem is $20 plus shipping. I haven't found a dealer with the tapered button in stock.

This is the primary reason for the question. I can do the old pinch of fast pistol powder under a filler to fire form or I can spend another $30 or so for the tapered button and manually neck the cases up. If the tapered button is better, then I'll order it.

I used to fireforme cases using the filler method but I found the case mouths often came out very crooked and needed lots of trimming as well as uneven neck thickness. I also had some case head separation with that method, mabye I wasn't doing it right. I tried expanding the necks and fireforming with a bullet loaded into the lands to control the headspace. What I liked the best was expanding the necks a little over sized, then sizing back down and creating a false shoulder to headspace on.

I use a stiff load of Bullseye and a wax plug. Fireforms nicely.

I recall having 15% case loss when using the pistol powder + COW + beeswax plug method. This was FF'ing .338 Win cases up to .375. Mechanical expanding was in the 5% case loss. Just did around 20 '06 cases to 35 Whelen with the RCBS expander and got 100% success rate with a good amound of Imperial Wax on the expander and inside necks.

Yeah, I neck up if it's at all feasible.

Sometimes it isn't, but necking up 8x57's should be pretty easy.

Notice that Huntington Die Specialties has 9x57 cases from Germany in stock. Sometimes it's easier to buy oddballs than common cases.

Agreed that where it is as easy as here it's part of the fun to roll your own and the time value is entertainment not an expense - where time and nuisance value and cases lost in the process make it no fun at all places like Huntington's are a nice alternative.

I'm with Clark, can you not just buy proper 9x57 cases?

My Scots heritage just won't allow me to spend $3 apiece for brass. Not when I can reform it from 8x57 brass already in the stockpile.

I have only done that method once, but I do like the method. I took .270 up to .308 and than back down to 7mm. If I have to do that again, I will get an extra decapper and turn it down to just barely above the size required to make a false shoulder. I think I worked the brass more than I should have. I had very few that did not make the change. 2 if I recall correctly out of 100. miles

As an FYI for those interested, I got the 9X57 dies in along with a tapered expander button. There were 102 new WW 8X57 cases that I had already annealed using the candle method. They were first run over the tapered .338 button in my 338 WM die. They were then run completely thru the new 9X57 FL sizer die (with the tapered button in place) without the loss of a single case. Now, some problems may become known when I fire them the first time, but they look OK from a visual examination.

In addition, I ran about 30 assorted 8X57 cases thru the 9mm die to be used to work up cast bullet loads. These were once and twice fired cases that had not been annealed. There were no losses during this process as well.

Needless to say, I'm very happy that I went this route rather than fire forming with COW or other fillers.

Hook:

Good to know.I am interested.

What seems to be missing is the bottom line. It's OK to machinate the cases from on shoulder angle to another and case length but in this particular the essential matter at hand is that this case head spaces on the shoulder.

Either the .30-06 Springfield or the 8x57 Mauser brass can be treated in RCBS dies. Trim to 2 1/4 inches. Fire form with inert filler.Trim to length and debur.

You seen to be happy and downstream already.

I would suggest that you start with moderate loads, look for pressure signs - primer flattening, case head separation hard extration

What is cow?

cream of wheat

Can't expound on the question. But, I do know Redding is a stellar customer oriented company.

Well, the story isn't over by a long shot. I have the chambering reamer in from Pacific, but the bbl won't be here for a few weeks. That means I won't be able to check the reloads in the finished rifle, much less shoot them for awhile. Since this is my first go-round doing all this from scratch, I really amn not sure what to expect. Guess that's part of the fun.....right?????