Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Forming 6-284 Brass from 284 Win

Have lots of once-fired 284 Winchester brass, trying to form them to 6-284.

I've tried greasing them up and running them into my 6-284 seating die, then the 6-284 FL sizing die. Also tried just one pass into the 6-284 FL sizing die. Crushed necks.

Do I need to anneal? Or just find a die to form them to an intermediate size? Is two steps enough? Can anyone recommend a cheap die to do this?

Thanks,
jkpq45

You will need to step down to 6.5mm from my experience. I had the best luck starting with once fired 284 Win brass. I think it is a little stiffer than new or annealed brass and works better.
My 6-284 dies came with a .25 step down die, but I had better luck with a 6.5x284 die as an intermediate step.
jmho
Tim

I form virgins in a Redding FL die,with the seater being an intermediate step. My
Lee's will do likewise,but they [bleep] suck(in all chamberings) and add copious runout.

OneShot and W/W hulls.

tried it straight from 7mm to 6mm and it messed up some necks..

tried it from 7mm to 6.5 and then to 6mm and had a lot better luck...

this was using Winchester Brass, and Redding Dies...

pulled the spindle out using the 6.5mm Redding Die...

also use synthetic Amzoil spray lube, which has given me a lot of success compared to other lubes.

Start out with Norma or Lapua 6.5x284 brass and it is then an easy one step process, i.e. run it through your die and GO, that yields great brass without having to do it in steps and then ending up with brass that is most often (If going from 7mm all the way down to 6mm) that is too thick in the neck and has to be turned.

BTDT, wont ever mess with plain vanilla 284 brass again for one of the smaller diameter bullets based on that case.

I love to neck down...because you get to drive a false shoulder for initial and finite headspace control.

Never had to turn anything in 6mm,that started at 7mm,whether 243,243AI,6mm,6mmAI,6-284,6-06 or 6-06AI.

In fairness,I doubt it's much more than a few dozen barrels total.

The core of your problem is that you are using once fired brass, which is work hardened and less ductile. I think you should anneal them. Even if you were to use a 6.5x284 die as an intermediate, I think you would be stressing that brittle brass and get earlier neck cracking than you would like.

Easy schit,stumps alotta folks and I'll never understand why.

i had a form die from redding and never had a problem........

if it was me i would sell the 284 brass you wont have a problem selling it and purchase some new 6.5-284 brass

depending on neck diameter if you will have to turn or ream the necks and the 6.5 will have more clearance than the std. 284 brass

I started with 284. First pass thru 6.5-284 then thru 25-284 then 6-284. I still have the dies if anybody wants them. There were no 6.5-284 cases at that time.

Used old 264 win mag barrel and made a forming die. Used 6mm-284 chamber reamer with some extra sanding and polishing. The die steps the necks down enough to move to the 6mm-284 FL die.

I was going to suggest using the 6mm-284 seater die but someone beat me to it.

My die set came with a 25-284 neck die to make this process easier.

But I purchased a couple hundred Federal 6.5-284 cases when I had the rifle built. So far I have not taken the 25 cal die out of the box.