Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Which brass for a 338-06??? Whelen or 30-06?

Just wondering what makes for better reloading. Converting 30-06 or 35 whelen to 338-06?? What say you and why?

I prefer necking brass down, rather than up--which prevents the "dreaded donut" at the base of the neck.

But either will work, IF you measure the thickness at the base of the neck, and it's OK. If it isn't, the base of the neck might need to ne outside turned.

John beat me to it - what he said.
Also, you'll likely see the case OAL shorten a bit when necking up 30-06 and maybe lengthen a bit when necking down Whelen brass. There's no shortage of neck on the .338-06 so losing a bit just means it's longer until you need to trim.

I have plenty of 35 Whelen brass (R-P, Nosler, and Hornady) but could never bring myself to neck it down, preferring to save it for my Whelen. So I just neck up 30-06 and outside neck turn, as John alluded to.

If you have no trouble getting 35 Whelen brass, I think necking it down is the best option. But I had so much 30-06 brass available I just went that route, since I had a reason to save the Whelen brass.

I guess I’ll look for a sale on quality 35 whelen brass and give it a try. I’ve been using ‘06 brass but wondering if I could get more accurate ammo w the 35 whelen. I haven’t been neck turning my ‘06 brass. How do I determine if it needs to be turned? What should I be looking for (or feeling for)?

I gather Jesus must be watching over me....

I've never used nothing but 06 brass and its never been a performance or accuracy problem...

I've used a few Whelen rounds, but that was some range pick up brass.. and you could tell ZERO difference with it or the 06 brass... probably got over 2000 to 2500 rounds down my barrel at this point...

Model 70, claw extractor, 90s manufactured...24 inch barrel.

Personally, I wouldn't stress it... because there is no reason to...

If the base of the bullet doesn't reach the base of the neck at your preferred OAL, you may never notice the donut that may be there. A couple of appropriate sized gauge pins could tell you if there's a donut. At 3.340" OAL the base of 210 Partitions aren't near the base of neck. They fit & feed from the magazine, & is the place where they shoot best in my rifle at about .030" off of touch if I remember right.

I've always used WW 30-06 brass in my 338-06, but had most of a bag of 50 pieces of new 35 Whelen brass with a bit too short headspace for my Whelen (bright ring at the web line after 1st firing) that was turned into good 338-06 brass. It works as well as the 30-06 brass.

If the donut is on the inside of the neck, if you run a flat based bullet with your hand into a fired case before it is resized, it will stop at the donut. Aside from this, not sure if it is true with .30-06 brass, but sometimes with Winchester brass, because it is relatively thin, there isn't such a huge difference in the thickness of the neck versus the thickness of the shoulder when you are necking up and so there is less of a donut.

You can buy headstamped 338-06 brass. I have purchased brass from Norma, A-Square (out of business) and Weatherby (also said to be Norma) and, with the exception of the A-Square brass, found it to be excellent. Initially used 35 Whelen brass when I first built my 338-06 Imp. Lost a few cases when I began to neck down the Whelen brass using my Redding 338-06 FL die. At Reddings suggestion, I first ran them through a Redding 338-06 neck die which brought them down just shy of the right diameter and then finished them on the FL die - both sans expander ball. A trip over a Sinclair neck expander and a very light neck turning - just enough to clean the flare off of the base of the neck and I was left with really nice, concentric brass which has been good for 8 - 10 loadings. Not a donut to be found.

Easier though to just buy factory brass IF you can find it.

I started with a bunch of R-P 30-06 range pickup brass and later on I bought some Lapua 30-06. I've never experienced the donut at the neck.

I've also never had any problems with accuracy reliability or brass longevity

i have neck up and down the '06 cases. i have a mini cut off saw and i have reformed the '06. i never had donut either. the 9.3x57 had to be outside neck trim. i think that 8x57 needed it, but i'm not sure.



made from '06 cases

270 Win, 25-06, 6.5x55, 7x57, 8x57, 9.3x57, 7.65x53 and a couple of others (i forget)

I never bought brass for it..

always been plenty of it in the long run, laying on the ground at the range. folks too lazy to pick it up.

its cheaper that way.. if it needs work, just toss it and load the one that don't need much.

Redding 338-06 dies. Once fired commercial 30-06 brass well lubed .1 stroke of your press lever and done. That simple..mb

I often wonder if the ranges you and I are familiar with are different than other ones around the country???? Hell, even rock quarry's I've been to EVERYWHERE have brass in them. Good useable brass too. That's all I use in my AR's. No need to buy brass for those rifles, when it's free. Picked up 100 pcs of fresh once fired 308 winchester brass the other day, at the range.

Excellent point!
Rex

I received 7 boxes of Weatherby 338-06 brass with a custom Mauser I bought. It was disappointingly imprecise. Neck wall thickness varied an average of .003" and I ended up having to completely neck turn them all to get good consistent necks. I had heard they were made by Norma but have never seen Norma brass (nor hardly any other brands, including regular US Fed/R-P/Win) be that imprecise. Maybe a bad lot - who knows?

Cheers,
Rex