Is there anything special I need to do to neck down a 30-06 case to .280? Never tried before and I kinda like my gun and my face the way they are. Lots of advice would be greatly appreciated before I hurt myself.

Not tryin' to be a smart ass, but why go to the trouble? Is 280 brass hard to come by? My advise is get some 280 brass.

I've got the 06 cases around (my dad and a few buddies shoot it and dont reload). Figured why the hell not. Kinda hard on me to leave all that new shiny brass lying around the range being the tight ass that I am.

It can be easily done.. However, you will also notice that resized 30/06 brass will be shorter than 280 brass... this will lead to quicker throat erosion on your rifle....

Don't think you would care for that feature....

I sure wouldn't....

seafire

Laner,
I'm sure you noticed that the .280 is longer from the base to the shoulder than the '06. You'll have to partially resize '06 brass until it will just chamber to avoid having an excessive headspace problem and then fireform. It can be done but, buying .280 brass is much simpler.

Why not trade the .30-06 off for once fired .280 at a show or at the range? I usually take my off caliber brass and trade it for brass or bullets at local shows.

Thanks guys. Think I'll just chuck em in the trash. Not many gun shows around and even less 280 rifles.

Laner, you can use the brass, but probably more trouble than it's worth. I'm sure someone here would take them off your hands, don't throw it away.

quote:

Originally posted by seafire/B17G:
It can be easily done.. However, you will also notice that resized 30/06 brass will be shorter than 280 brass... this will lead to quicker throat erosion on your rifle....

seafire

I think seafire was a little too deep into his nightly bottle of distilled spirits when he wrote this comment .

Throat erosion is a result of the cutting action of hot gases on the first FEW INCHES of the rifled throat, not on the tiny gap of neck-size chamber between the end of the case and the rifling leade. A very slighly short case does nothing to increase throat erosion.

The slighlty shorter length of the '06 brass is, once it has been resized and fired, just about exactly the trim-to length for .280 brass. The opportunity to utilize the larger diameter neck to create perfect headspacing on the first loading is a genuine advantage. I wouldn't hesitate to use '06 brass to form .280.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Throat erosion is a result of the cutting action of hot gases on the first FEW INCHES of the rifled throat, not on the tiny gap of neck-size chamber between the end of the case and the rifling leade. A very slighly short case does nothing to increase throat erosion.

As the term is used I kind of agree with you. To me ,however , it is not certain if this isn't a misnomer as the throat stops where the lead into the rifling begins.

The erosion that Seafires is speaking of actually eats into the area we call throat. All things being equal then it looks like Seafire is correct even if it doesn't meet the popular definition normally missused.

What is a rifled throat? roger

Don't use 30-06 brass in a 280 Remington chamber. First of all one can mix up the head stamps and have the wrong ammo at the wrong time.

Also while a false shoulder can be made the greater headspace in the 280 chamber along with the likelyhood of some headspace there already will still pull metal from the expansion web.

Now if one does not reload the 30-06/280R brass much it would work but just don't do it if the only reason is economy.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
Not tryin' to be a smart ass, but why go to the trouble? Is 280 brass hard to come by? My advise is get some 280 brass.

This is a very good suggestion....

Stoney:

Actually the "throat erosion" I spoke of using 30/06 brass in a 280 chamber, is from info in Parker Ackley's book, where he indicates using 30.06 brass in a 270 will lead to a short life for the barrel via throat erosion...

I can be wrong at times, but this info is from Ackley and I was just passing it on.... I do think the guy had some experience to draw upon....

Also, Seafire does not do "nightly spirits"....
Seafire doesn't do alcohol...Seen too many alcoholics so I gave it up 20 plus years ago....
Never smoked either, or used drugs.... Real Momma's Boy, Ain't I???

And brilliant though he was, I think that P. O. might have been imbibing a little when he wrote that the short case would increase "throat erosion".

What we think of as throat erosion is well in front of the terminus of the neck. And, wherever the neck ends, whether precisely at the end of the chamber, or a fiftieth of an inch short of that point, there is going to be an opportunity for the gases erupting from the case neck to "chew" on the chamber walls. This causes, however, a rather negligible amount of wear and is unnoticeable even in rifles fired many thousands of times.

Where the confusion may come is the problem that people ran into when .22 shorts were cheap and popular (and perhaps loaded with corrosive components) and a person might fire many thousands of them in a .22 LR chamber. The resultant chamber roughness at the terminous of the Short case would sometimes prevent a LR from chambering and firing. Many attributed this to "erosion", but what actually happened is that powder residue would build, and if unremediated, its corrosive effects would pit the chamber at this point, rendering it unusable for LR ammunition.

The sage P. O. Ackley's advice notwithstanding, I see no detriment to using centerfire brass that is a few one-hundredths short of standard length.

Most gun culture wisdom is B.S., but P.O. got some stuff right.

He explains "a few causes of blow ups" in his Vol 2 in 1966:
1) obstructions in the barrel
2) overloading
3) Wrong powder
4) Wrong ammunition


280 ammo that says "30-06" on the base of the case is an extra risk of "wrong ammunition", but I don't know if you can a blow up. To find out, you will have to try it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Stonecreek:
And brilliant though he was, I think that P. O. might have been imbibing a little when he wrote that the short case would increase "throat erosion".*****I think if you asked around in Utah you might find that Seafire and PO didn't drink*****

What we think of as throat erosion is well in front of the terminus of the neck. And, wherever the neck ends, whether precisely at the end of the chamber, or a fiftieth of an inch short of that point, there is going to be an opportunity for the gases erupting from the case neck to "chew" on the chamber walls. This causes, however, a rather negligible amount of wear and is unnoticeable even in rifles fired many thousands of times.

****You may be right on this . Do you have any data or hard evidence to support it.I for one would like to learn if any tests have been made and what the results were.******.

Was in Temecula this weekend and the deer population is really sparse. When you get down here ,John, I guess I'll just hae to clean up my act. roger

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tnekkcc:
280 ammo that says "30-06" on the base of the case is an extra risk of "wrong ammunition", but I don't know if you can a blow up. To find out, you will have to try it]

Oh my!!!!!!!! roger

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:
280 ammo that says "30-06" on the base of the case is an extra risk of "wrong ammunition", but I don't know if you can a blow up. To find out, you will have to try it.

An '06 cartridge shouldn't chamber in a .280 chamber due to the larger neck/bullet. A .280 cartridge shouldn't chamber in an '06 chamber due to the longer base-to-shoulder dimension, HOWEVER, an '06 chamber with excessive headspace might allow the bolt to close on a .280 cartridge. If it did, there would be extremely low pressure due to the oversized bore and no potential for gun damage or shooter endangerment.

I have any number of rifles in which I sometimes use reformed brass: 8 x 57 from '06; .243 from .308; .222 from .223; .25-284 from .284; and .25 Remington from .30 Remington. I've never had an occasion to mischamber such a reformed round. Relying on headstamps to identify ammunition is amatuerish, particularly since the headstamp says nothing about the actual load or the individual gun for which it may be intended.