Is there a procedure that reforms 7.62x51 and/or 308 Winchester brass to 358 Winchester that does not require fire forming or otherwise using consumables during the procedure? What I seek is a method where brass is sufficiently reshaped to allow 358 handloading to occur as though the case were originally 358.

I'm not concerned that the reformed brass might not "look" SAAMI. First firing accomplishes that. I'm trying to determine whether brass can be rendered "close enough" to be loaded as would actual 358 brass.

The 358 is simple the 308 case necked to hold a 358 bullet. Simply neck up your 308 to 358. Probably will need to do a 338 step inbetween. Load your bullets and go shooting. The shoulder and angle are the same as is the headspace. Your final case will be just a touch shorter in the neck than a facotry 358. This is caused by the necking up. No harm load and shoot as normal.

Indeed...I'd concur with ramrod. Just increase the mouth diameter in steps. Perhaps some annealing could be used, but that is probably not necessary at this point.

There must be a few boxes of .358 Win in my stash, but most of it has been reloaded. The few remaining virgin empties aren't worth the shipping expense.

Good luck.

Apply a dab of case lube to the inside of the neck with a neck lube brush, then size as directed above. If the press arm moves in a herky jerky way, add more lube.

It's that simple??

Outstanding.

I opened up a bunch of 1x .243 brass into 7-08 brass with one pass of the die and then started shooting full house loads. No prob.
Trim to a uniform length after resizing even if its shorter than saami.

I know some do not like my method, but it has worked for me for years. Put a healthy dose of Bullseye in the case and then fill the case with cornmeal and seal with parafin. Fireform it. It is easier on the brass than the expander.
Butch

use a hornady or other VERY tapered expander and some kiwi neutral polish/imerial sizing wax..

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I know some do not like my method, but it has worked for me for years. Put a healthy dose of Bullseye in the case and then fill the case with cornmeal and seal with parafin. Fireform it. It is easier on the brass than the expander.
Butch

I rule this method out because I have no primers, powder, etc. I care to use for the purpose.

So how are you fireforming without powder, primers, and etc.?
Butch

He doesn't want to use "consumables" to form the cases. I'm curious and would like to know more about "why"? Surely no one is that cheap.

Use case lube on the inside of the neck,
Imperial Die Wax is by far the best. Run the brass through a full length sizer. If the neck
splits do an anneal on the neck before sizing.
I make 35 Whelens from 30/06 same thing.
Good Luck!

Using the consumeables results in less brass loss during the process.

As for reforming brass, doing a similar resize (30-06 to 35whelen) for a friend with a hornady tapered expander brass loss was very low (2 out of 50) IF "virgin" brass was used.

Doing the same operation with a primer and six grains of bullseye and a case full of Cream of wheat resulted in NO brass loss.

Trying to reform once fired 30-06 brass made the loss rate jump to 8 cases out of 50.

But Fire forming with bullseye CoW resulted in only three lost cases (split necks) and that on once fired military brass that had been laying around for ~25years...

Making your BRASS "consumeable" to avoid using a trivial ammount of propellant and as many primers as you are forming cases is "Penny wise, Pound foolish"

AD

quote:

I know some do not like my method, but it has worked for me for years. Put a healthy dose of Bullseye in the case and then fill the case with cornmeal and seal with parafin. Fireform it. It is easier on the brass than the expander.
Butch

Butch,
I use Bluebell buttermilk and white flour from New Braunfels. It makes small buttermilk bullets - good stuff. No matter how it turns out, I always chase it down with 1 quart of Bluebell Cookies and Cream ice-cream.

Hey Lawndart what wieght Lipitor Bullet do you use on that load the 40mg or straight to the 80mg Lipitor?