Im trying to neck up some 30/30 brass to use in my contender that is in 375 cal. finding 375 brass is impossible, well almost, im going to use cast bullets and pressures wont be that high, im going from 30 to 35 caliber with no problems but when i try to go any bigger the neck splits, i have anealed the necks but its just not working, anyone have any ideas i can use, thanks, Bubba.

Have you thought about doing it in stages - 30 to 33, 33 to 35, 35 to 375. Maybe that would help.

Going from 308 to 375 is quite a jump. Neck wall thickness of the 30-30 brass is probably not enough to make the stretch.

If you annealed well you should be in good shape for the most part. Virgin brass is the way to go though but I have made a lot with fired stuff.
Lube the inside of the case mouth.
Chamfer the inside of the case mouth sometimes there is a burr in there that will cause a split.
When you go from 35 to 375 go easy. I do as much by feel as anything. Try partial sizing bump. Go part way with the 375. Then readjust and go full length on the second pass.
I use range brass to set my dies up. If you are using different makes of brass they will act differently when sizing.
Play with it and have patients it can be done and its not that tough really. Yes you will loose some cases in the beginning I have faith in you.
Jeff

I have fire formed it without a filler or bullet and had some wrinkles at the shoulder.

I think you could use 2 or 3 grains of Bullseye and a plastic packing peanut or 32 cal buckshot stuffed into the case.

I used once fired recent manufactured R-P brass and for my fire forming. I think the wrinkles were mainly from not having enough internal pressure to iron out the shoulder.

If 30 to 375 is a stretch what would you call my 30 WM to 425 Express,,I did go up in 30thousands increments with a bit of lube in the neck. i can't recall losing a case when doing 50 or 60 cases.

Neck wall thickness on the WM and WSM brass is twice as thick as the 30-30. Even the 223 brass is thicker. Have necked both up to a straight walled case. 338-223 the other is just a 458. Have even went over to 35-223 and a 470 and 50 WM. lol never could figure how to size them let alone get a reamer.
Jeff

Yo Bubba,

quote:

im going to use cast bullets and pressures wont be that high

I think you're attacking this issue from the wrong angle; especially since you're in a T/C Contender; why not simply try 38-55 brass, ought to be available from the Cowboy Action Shooting crowd. Simple matter of running the brass through a 375 Winchester Die and trim a tad - Voilá.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Sta...164110.aspx?CAT=3837

Also, with very little loss, you can fireform the .30-30 brass using 6 gns Unique powder, fill the rest of the case with Cream of Wheat and cap it off with a wax plug. Watch out where you point it!

I run the brass over a 30/30 expander first, then over a 7.62X39 expander .311, then over a 9mm expander .355, then over a .357 mag then over the .375, going from .357 to .375 is when it split, im going to aneal it after the 357 die and see if that helps, im useing lube, if this doesnt work ill go to fire forming, thanks for all the replys.

Anneal the neck before trying the last jump in size. The 30-30 is quite thin to start with compared to others and expanding it to .375 only makes it thinner.
Also check the expander you're using for the .375. Many are somewhat blunt or abrupt taper for this operation,,they work fine to expand case necks during normal loading operations.

Sometimes you can trim the expander to a more tappered lead. It's easier on the brass and avoids the split that way.
If you can't, you can make up an expander just for the operation from scratch.
An easier way is to take an expander from a caliber larger and trim it down to the needed size then add a long gentle tapped lead to it.

Expanders are usually hardened steel, but can be annealed. Easier to work on when annealed.
You can leave them in the annealed state to use. I always did.
Probably never wear it out in your lifetime expanding 30-30 brass .

I don't know about the 375 being unavailable. There are four lots of it on Gunbroker right now. Three of them close within 24 hours.

I've taken 280 brass to 416. Did it in several steps with tapered expanders. annealing was a must.

quote:

Originally posted by bubba:
I run the brass over a 30/30 expander first, then over a 7.62X39 expander .311, then over a 9mm expander .355, then over a .357 mag then over the .375, going from .357 to .375 is when it split, im going to aneal it after the 357 die and see if that helps, im useing lube, if this doesnt work ill go to fire forming, thanks for all the replys.

Yeah sounds like you should anneal at about half way. Remember, each time you change the size you are work hardening. It would probably help if you had an 8mm expander and that's about the point you should anneal.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:
Yo Bubba,

quote:

im going to use cast bullets and pressures wont be that high

I think you're attacking this issue from the wrong angle; especially since you're in a T/C Contender; why not simply try 38-55 brass, ought to be available from the Cowboy Action Shooting crowd. Simple matter of running the brass through a 375 Winchester Die and trim a tad - Voilá.

Sounds like the solution.

I've necked up several dozen 7mm and .300 RUM cases to .375 RUM on a single pass over this long taper expander plug that I made from a 7/16" bolt. The 7/16" bolt had the same thread as my RCBS expander die.

I did not anneal any of the cases before I expanded them, and have not had any split. I lube the inside of the case neck with Imperial die wax and simply run them over the expander.