Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles What's the best way to resize a 30-06 to 9.3?

I figured I'd just screw a 338 size expander into the 9.3 die and run them through then run them again with the 9.3 expander in the die. Thoughts?

That 1 way to do it,I'd be inclined to start with 35 Whelens if they were available. Lube the inside of the necks whichever way you go.

With the 9.3 shoulder both farther forward and of larger diameter, you may have to expand to say .416 then back down to 9.3 to form a false shoulder.

If the shoulder is farther out as Rovering says, you will have to go bigger and then back down as he suggests so the case will headspace properly. Don't count on a bullet jammed in the lands for headspacing, IMHO. Doing it in steps is probably the safest. Just for giggles I have created 9.3x57 from 270 Win brass in one pass in Hornady dies with no problems, so you can go in big steps depending on the brass/die combo

Good point.

Even though I also have and load for a 9.3x57, I assumed that the more common x62 was the subject.

Which 9.3 Hntr1?

9.3X62.

I just buy the brass

with you on that
by 0.3x62 brass and use the time you would have spent expanding cases, fire forming, etc. to shoot

I thought that might confuse the issue, but my second point was that you don't always have to step up in small increments. The x57 has a shorter headspace so it can be a one and done. The x62 should be taken larger and then back down to give positive headspace for the first firing. I don't have the specs in front of me, but I think that the x62 chamber is a little bigger (~0.006")toward the case head than the 30-06 and 06 brass will bulge out in front of the rim to fill the space. Not dangerous, but not necessarily visually pleasing.

Unless you are especially frugal, I would agree with just buying some of the readily available 9.3x62 brass to run full power loads. I made the x57 from 270 to make cases for low pressure fire lapping that would get thrown away after use.

I've made a variety of long taper expanding plugs for different calibers and uses. They all begin as the shaft of a bolt. It usually takes less than 1/2 hour to make, and my tools are: a 1/2" electric drill, a flat metal file, fine grit emery cloth, a dial caliper, and sometimes a thread cutting die.

These expanding plugs are made to work with other commercial dies such as a Lyman Expanding die or the RCBS die body shown below.

I just lube the inside of the case mouth and run the case through the die. With the die and plug shown, I've expanded 7mm cases to .375 in one pass. Over the years, I've expanded hundreds of cases with these plugs, and never had one split.

Buy PRVI brass from Graf's and be done with it. It's cheap and good.

The most important aspect of '06 to 9.3X62 case forming is getting the correct headspace. The shoulder angles are the same, but the length from the base to the shoulder is ninety thousandths difference. That's nine tenths of an inch!

Here's my post, from another forum:

This thread is for those who want to know how this is done, and came about as a result of discussion in an earlier thread on the 9.3X62 as a hunting cartridge. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=661753

Rather than take that discussion too far off track, started this new thread. Please add your comments as you see fit.

To start, here are the dimensions of the 30-06 and the 9.3X62 chambers.







As you can see, the 9.3 is six thousandths larger in the base than the '06. This was the area of discussion.

In the previous thread I posted that there is lots of 9.3X62 brass that is available today. It is made by many different manufacturers, and easily obtained, so the use 30-06 brass to form 9.3 is not nearly as common as in years past. However, I was asked how I formed 9.3X62 cases using 30-06 brass, so today I formed five cases, loaded the ammo, went to the range, and fired them in one of my rifles, a factory built Husqvarna rifle on the 98 Mauser action.

It's late, and I'm going to hit the sack, but here's a few pictures to get us started.









Good night,
Ted

And more:

Here's the RCBS die for necking 30 cal to 400. You can also use a .375 neck expander, but it does not give nearly the false shoulder that a 400 does.



Lube the inside of the standard 30-06 neck well, bottom case, and a single pas through the die gets you the case in the middle of this picture.



The next step is to lube the straight case for sizing. The FL sizing die is then set so the bolt will just barely close on the sized brass. This is accomplished by by turning the die down a bit at a time and checking a single case until the desired forming is reached. The top case has been formed to just barely close on my Husqvarna.

The lock ring is then set to keep the die at that position in the press, and all the brass is sized the same.

From there, it's just loading as normal. Do not use reduced loads for this step. Accuracy will be essentially no different from loads using fireformed cases. I have actually hunted with ammo that has not been fireformed on a number of occasions.

Next post will be with measurements of fireformed brass, and comparison to factory brass.

Ted

And one more:

Okay, here's some fired Dominion and Imperial brass that was reformed so long ago I have no idea how often it has been fired.



It measures .473 at the expansion ring, the same as the fired Federal stuff I started this thread with. If you look closely, you can see the slight bulge ahead of the extractor groove.



Have annealed the necks a couple of times, and am still using this brass. The black lines across the primer indicate the load I was using.

Ted

Ditto!

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/823?

Here ya go.

No fuss-no muss-no bullet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29jr3uHUbh8

Is that a specific die for this function or one you had made up. Wondering about forming 9.3x57 from 30-06 brass.

I form 9.3X57 from 8x57 the same way, first neck up to 40 and then resize until the bolt just barely closes on the resized case.

Have never tried it using 30-06 brass. I'm sure it would work, but you might have to ream the neck of the shortened case because it will be partially formed from the shoulder of the '06 brass.

The 30-40 sizing die is from RCBS.

Ted

This! By far the easiest. I've been happy with the Privi brass in several cartridges.

I have using Imperial Sizing Die wax run over a tapered expander to make a straight walled case out of your basic 30-06 case then run through a full length 9.3x62 sizer.
I did use new brass and did not experience case failures though this was not a high volume operation. That was probably over kill but I didn’t have to go through making false shoulders, etc.