Can brass with a .264cal neck be reliably sized up to a .358cal neck?

I take 280 to 375 and even 416. Go in steps and anneal

It can be done but I don't recommend it and I fireformed rather than "button" form going from smaller to larger holes. Necks and shoulders get thinned out doing that amount of mucking around with the brass by step forming approx 6 steps depending on how you count...not so bad with fire-forming in one step and you may end up with necks that can be TOO THIN TO FINAL SIZE...it depends on the brass wall thickness to begin with.

My question would be WHY???...with the price of brass as it is, it's a waste of time and money mucking about with more than one, maybe two size changes...it all depends on your situation.

Good Hunting

Do you have a large amount of 6.5 Swede on hand and you're trying to do something with it?

If you google Cream of Wheat or COW fire-forming, I think you guys call it semolina or durum (breakfast porridge?).

COW Method

Good Luck with your project.

quote:

TOO THIN TO FINAL SIZE

That is sure possible. For me I had custom dies made anyway so not an issue. If you were using a factory 375 die you might end up without enough neck tension.

what case are you starting from?

Forgot to mention the cases can SHORTEN...CONSIDERABLY depending on case volume and so on.

I try to be as simple as possible when delving into wildcatting a "new" cartridge, but learning as many ways as possible to solve case sizing problems always leads to greater possibilities for later iterations.

Good Hunting

I was requested by a member of this forum to size up a .223 piece of brass to .357. I did it with a PMC .223 piece of brass and seated a .357 185gr. psp bullet with no real problem.
I don't think it would have been a workable cartridge in that the neck OD was .0002" > than the base Dia. roger

I think that shooters/reloaders/wildcatters also take for granted many things and assume others that might not be valid.

Take for instance neck lengths...the ONLY way to know for certain what an individual rifles chamber dimensions are is to make a chamber cast, measure it and compare those numbers to SAMMI specs. I've been surprised a few times with factory and wildcat chambers having longer necks than standard SAMMI and WAY over headspace numbers that required mods to cases AND sizing die/practices.

Two other items to check while you're reforming brass. Such things may or may not affect accuracy/pressure curves and so forth BUT it certainly means that wildcatting is "WILD CATTING".

Good Hunting

It's always helpful, and better, to tell us what exactly you want to do; what brass you are starting with and what you want to accomplish. There are many ways to skin a cat, and form brass.
Disclaimer; I have never skinned a cat.

I agree. In years past I would come up with ideas that I thought were unique + grand + then looked in Parker's books + found out that he did it many years before.

I have a medium length action I want to rebarrel to .358 cal.

I'm considering having it chambered to either 6.5x55 or 8x57 and have the neck and throat opened to .358.

Both types of brass are readily available new and the same price here. Leaning towards 8x57 brass. The swede case is a tad shorter but I was concerned that the neck may get thin with the resize.

I'll be fire forming brass to the new chamber.

quote:

Originally posted by Rhodes:
I have a medium length action I want to rebarrel to .358 cal.

I'm considering having it chambered to either 6.5x55 or 8x57 and have the neck and throat opened to .358.

Both types of brass are readily available new and the same price here. Leaning towards 8x57 brass. The swede case is a tad shorter but I was concerned that the neck may get thin with the resize.

I'll be fire forming brass to the new chamber.

6.5, 7, 8, 9 mm x57 -- you know this is a factory cart, right?

9x57 .. modern barrels will be .358, some other barrel will be .356 ..

or 358 winchester -- based on 308 case ---

Not sure where you are going with this, but if I were you I would measure the magazine length and determine what case head can be used or made to be used and pick a relatively common and readily available case. ANY of the 35 cal medium length cases with volumes up into the 80 gr H20 can and HAVE been used...the effectiveness of all of them isn't in question, but the difference in actual velocity/energy between the 60/90+ gr volumes can be small at least and depends on barrel length also.

I built a 9.3 x 62 on a M98 action, case volume ~78 gr...a 375 JDJ, case volume ~68" normal 444 M case" that I use 9.3x62 cases at 78+ gr, BOTH 26" bbl's (because I had a set of high dollar 375/444 dies I picked up somewhere and a loose action). Can't hardly tell the difference in performance and components are readily available and CHEEP.

In your shoes and down there in Oz...I would be looking HARD at the 35 Samar/WSM, 350 Rem mag, 350 Norma, Rigby Whelen A.I. etc or just a run of the mill x 57/62 whichever I could get cheaper reloading components for. ALL of then will get the job done and depending on how deep your pockets are, can cost peanuts or your left one.

Good Hunting

You might try a .357 X .284 Long throat, taking advantage of magazine length when using long bullets and not infringing on powder space.
Just a thought.

Thanks for all the suggestions.....and all are appreciated.

I was originally looking to do a 35 Whelen on an '06 length action when something else popped up.

This gun is a featherweight and will just be a rebarrel. I'm not sure where I'm at with magazine length yet until I can measure it. That's my limiting factor at this stage. Prefer to stick with a standard case for low cost and ease of everything. I don't want to do any feed or mag work. I want something with 358Win or better performance as that is all I need and low recoil for the light gun and light stock but I have this thing about 308Win based cartridges (I don't want one).

The most readily available brass where I am (now and into the future) is 6.5x55 or 8x57 so they are it. Just a bit dubious about expanding the 6.5 case that far hence the original post. It's now off the list.

Jeffeosso, yes the 9x57 will be what it ends up at but I don't want to put that stamp on the barrel to avoid any future confusion with bullets or licensing. Although the barrel maker / smith does have a 9x57 reamer so I'll discuss with him which way he's happy to go.

Hope that clears up where I'm at.