hey guys,
i was wondering if it is recommended (i know it's possible) to size 308 brass to 243. just bought a new 700 BDL in left hand and am looking to load up.

any suggestions?
thanks!

It works fine with a regular 243 full length sizer and you will wind up with slightly thicker necks which can help accuracy with the typical sloppy factory chambers.

ghostrider, i have so much .243 brass i have never tried it but i do not see why you could not do it. you may need to take it down to .260 and then to .243. i regularly size .308 brass to .260 with one pass. check the oal you may have to trim the necks.

arky65

I've never had any problem with resizing .308 to .243 with a single pass, even with the infamously "hard" nickeled brass.

I've only had one brass/chamber combination that needed the neck walls thinned, and that was using military brass. In most instances you'll have a better neck fit in the chamber.

Be sure to check the length as you may need to trim. Always chamfer inside and out after trimming.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
It works fine with a regular 243 full length sizer and you will wind up with slightly thicker necks which can help accuracy with the typical sloppy factory chambers.

roger

308 to 243 Not recommended. You will get a donut on some brass, (military) requiring inside neck reaming. Your diameter of a loaded rounds neck can be to large, over .276" on some lots of brass requiring you to neck turn brass for safty. 308 brass when sized to 243 is shorter than min. trim length. After a few firings the thicker metal from the shoulder flows into the neck making rounds chamber hard. It can be done,, but not worth the trouble.

The differences in results and opinions were of some interest as I have made .243 cases out of .308 cases in the past.

JUST NOW I took some federal match cases and Lake city cases and full length sized them.

The fed. match cases formed very easily. In contrast the LC cases required a lot of force

The form appearance one to the other was significantly different. For example the junction of the neck to the body was sharp on the FC and well rounded on the LC.

The wrinckeling on the shoulder was far more rounded on the LC.

The neck wall thickness on the LC was as high as .017" and on the FC it was only .014".

The OCL of the FC was 2.025" the LC was 2.022"

When put into a Ruger .243 Varmint rifle the FC closed was no felt obstruction. It took a little force to slide the LC case in and put the handle down.

Identical bullets were pressed in to the same extent. Both necks were skived by the die 1/2 way down; the LC far more than the FC.

The FC went into the chamber and the bolt handle closed with a very little noticeable resistance. The LC required a lot of force.

The statement refering to tighter necks and increased accuracy is probably true.I've done this with commercial cases but probably would not with Military cases.

The opinion that it just isn't worth the effort is an individual sentement and one that I concurr with when looking at these test results on the Lake City cases.

The reason I have resized .308 cases to .243 cases in the past is that my rifle was given to me and I had no .243 cases. These were RP cases whose neck wall thickness was .014" and they were lightly skived also. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

Hey man. This is the 21st Century. Brand spankin new 243 brass runs $20 per 100. Why would anyone want to go back to the 20th Century and scrounge brass and then spend hours to turn it into something else? JMHO

Now don't jump my a$$. I have been loading since 1946 (yes I'm THAT old!) and I spent 1/2 of my youth with my eyes to the ground looking for that stray empty that someone had missed. Old habits are hard to break and I STILL do it. But, when I want to shoot and I don't have the brass I need (not too likely) I just buy a new bag-full.

Ray

I spent 1/2 of my youth with my eyes to the ground looking for that stray empty that someone had missed. Old habits are hard to break and I STILL do it. Ray[/QUOTE]

No ass jumping here! I pickup all the short fat cases and the Ultras I see in the dirt as I'm sure they will be collecter items shortly. roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
:I pickup all the short fat cases and the Ultras I see in the dirt as I'm sure they will be collecter items shortly. roger

Now that's not nice.

quote:

Originally posted by ghostrider272:
hey guys,
i was wondering if it is recommended (i know it's possible) to size 308 brass to 243. just bought a new 700 BDL in left hand and am looking to load up.

any suggestions?
thanks!

Been there done that it gained me nothing. But it did keep my out of the rain.

I had other reasons for necking down 308 brass. In my case to 25 Souper. I have a couple of 243s and didn't want Soupers with 243 headstamp, too close to tell apart. Also I have about 75lbs. of military so why not use it?

I went straight to 25cal. in one pass, but did have to turn the necks. The cases hold about 1 1/2grs. less then brass made from Win. or Rem.


A friend went the other way with some - 358Win., much easer.
Pedro