Forming 8mm out of 30.06 brass

[pigpen]

I heard you can take 30-06 brass and form it into 8mm(7.92x57). I was wondering if anyone has done it and if so how hard was it?

Thanx.

[Anthropy]

According to my Hornady reloading manual, the 30-06 OAL is 2.494" and the 8mm is 2.240". The base is the same. The neck would need to expand from 0.339" OD to 0.349" OD. The back end of the case looks to be close enough as the 30-06 is 0.470" and the 8mm is 0.469. Just before the neck the 30-06 is listed at 0.441" and the 8mm is listed at 0.434".

I guess I would take a few cases, anneal the upper portion and then run it through a 8mm FL resizing die to see what happens. Then measure the resized cases to see what happened. If it looks OK, then I would do up a light load to fire form the cases, then re-check.

You would be enlarging the case mouth by 10 thousands so I am not really sure if there is enough meat so the neck would not crack or split. I would measure the mouth case thickness before and after re-sizing - assuming it did not split.

Give it a try and let us know how the re-sizing goes.

[pigpen]

I'm going to give it a try since I am awash in 30-06 & only have a bolt gun to shoot it in. I'm planning on using any reformed brass for cast loads so there won't be any extreme pressures. Hopefully in the next week or so I wil have time to give it a try.

I had thought about taking a bunch of measurments & cutting about 5mm or so off the end of a case, lubing it up real good an push it through the FL die. I'll see what happens.

[Anthropy]

I would trim after resizing since you don't know where the brass is going to be going. It might be stretched in the diameter and not cause it to go lengthwise.


5mm = 0.197", that might be a little to much to remove at first. But what the heck, you have lots to play with. I would anneal first for sure and I would not think you would not need to go much below the shoulder line.

[robocop10mm]

I believe this is a fairly straight forward operation. +1 on annealing prior to reforming, you will have far fewer split necks. Full length resize and trim, good to go. Since you have guns in both calibers I would suggest you mark the reformed brass so you will not try to chamber it in the 06. I use a black magic marker on the baseto signify the change from the original head stamp. You can also make a ring of magic marker around the body. It will not easily wear off and will not effect chambering.

[okie shooter]

Pigpen, do you plan on useing these reformed brass cases in a bolt 8mm or a semi auto 8mm, I imagine they will work fine in a bolt rifle, but might give seperation problems on extraction in a semi rifle.

[pigpen]

Pigpen, do you plan on useing these reformed brass cases in a bolt 8mm or a semi auto 8mm, I imagine they will work fine in a bolt rifle, but might give seperation problems on extraction in a semi rifle.

I was gonna use'em in my M48 with some cast bullets so pressure & case separations should not be a problem(I hope). Can anyone steer me in a direction to find some info on annealing. Not sure how it is done.

[okie shooter]

Pigpen, many folks use a torch, setting the cases in a pan of water, heating the neck untill red hot then knocking them over into the water to quench. There are automatic setups that folks have made but for the numbers you are talking about the pan and knocking them over would work ok.

Heres a link to a very indepth article on the subject

http://www.lasc.us/CartridgeCaseAnnealing.htm

Here is a quote from this site, basicaly discussing the pan idea.

http://www.srfs.com.au/hints__tips_dies.htm#Case%20Annealing


Case Annealing

Case annealing is a skill that all rifle shooters should learn if you wish to get the maximum life out of your case. The process of expanding a case on firing and resizing causes the brass to go brittle and so crack or split, annealing keeps the brass soft. I have spent many hours sat outside on a dark night annealing cases, because that is the best way to see the colour of the brass. To anneal a case you are looking to soften only the neck of the case and certainly nowhere near the head. One idea is to stand the case in a pan of water about 11mm deep; this will keep the head suitably cooler than the neck. When the neck and shoulder area is a dull cherry red either place the case on the water or another bucket of water or allow to cool naturally (the cooling step is not a part of the annealing process). I am a great fan of placing the case in a bucket of cold water rather than leaving them to cool. You only need to pick up one hot case to take my point. If you get the case too hot you will see the brass disintegrate so please practice first. I would recommend that you sort out a handful of old split or damaged cases to practice on. There is no set standard for when a case needs annealing, this will depend on the shape of the case, straight or bottle and how loose the breach is. If you are only shooting one rifle in a caliber, try just neck sizing. This can extend the life of a case as you are minimizing the amount of reforming of the case.


I just googled these referances, they are inline with common pratices of home annealing of materials, I cannot say I have done any rifle cases, but plenty of steel parts for work get all sorts of heat treatements, it makes for a fun job some times.

[pigpen]

Thanx fellas thats what I needed. Hope I can get to it in the next few days.

[pigpen]

I did it. Was not too hard. Just need to get a cutting wheel for my dremel & I should be good to go.

[Norton]

Great thread , good info on brass annealing.:thumbup: