I am having trouble finding 7x57 and 8x57 brass. I am considering reforming 30-06, 270, 280, 25-06 and the like into these cases. My question is; "once reformed and shortened, is it necessary to ream the case neck to accept the bullet"? These are hunting rifles, not bench rest guns, and I don't necessarily need 1/2 MOA accuracy. I just don't want to run the pressures up with this procedure.

anneal the necks, tirm, and form.

If you start with new cases it is unlikely they will need annealing before reforming. Once- or multi-fired cases are work hardened and will reform best if annealed.

For 8x57, simply run .30-06 cases through the FL die using a tapered expander then trim and chamfer. The necks will become a tad thinner rather than thicker, so no neck reduction is needed.

For 7x57, do the same (paying particular attention to getting enough lube on the case, but not so much as to cause wrinkles on the shoulder. Most chambers have overly large necks, so I doubt needed to ream the necks of your resized cases.

I would stick to using .30-06 cases for 8x57 which are usually a bit more common and less expensive. Enlarging .25 or .27 cases to 8mm is a bit of a stretch and may result in excessively thin necks. While .280 and .270 should work well enough for 7x57, I still like the '06 as a base.

Offhand, I can't recall ever having used an actual 8x57 case; all of mine have always been reformed .30-06. I've never owned a 7x57, but did come by a large lot of 7x57 cases many years ago -- which I promptly reformed into .257 Roberts

annealing is so easy, there's no point to not?

If you have a .30-06 you might be careful to not mix up your reformed cases with your 30-06 ammo.
I like to use .30-06 military brass because it has no caliber marking or .270 brass because I do not have a .270. Once fired .270 brass works well for 7X57 brass since the neck is about 7X57 size after firing. I have also used a lot of .270 cases for 8X57 since the 8X57 makes the neck out of the .270 shoulder. Same for the 7.65 Argentine Mauser.

Life is too short to anneal cases that can be picked up by the bushel at your local range.

quote:

Originally posted by stillbeeman:
Life is too short to anneal cases that can be picked up by the bushel at your local range.

Please send me a bushel. roger

You anneal becuase the brass is an exact fit for that rifle chamber.

Thanks guys. I've reformed 6mm Remington from 30-06 cases but the resulting necks needed to be reamed. I have never had to make cases for 7mm or 8mm Mauser because brass was always available at some price. I have annealed brass very often and that will not be a problem. I like the idea about using Military brass for this project. Thanks again for all the advise and recommendations.

Duckhunter

You pay the postage. I've still got coffee cans of 30-06 brass I picked up in Memphis when I lived there @ 25 years ago.

Do you want to buy 10 boxes of 1x Match 30-06 brass. Frankford Arsenal all the same lot etc??
Make an offer.

I have done the 3006 to 8mm and it works,just a lot of trimming.I didn't have to ream the necks.Once just to do it i made 250 sav out of 3006 brass,I belive i used 4 or 5 different dies to get there,but it can be done.Good Luck

I know that when you ask one question you get another answer...but are these military rifles or hunting rifles?

I'm like Plainsman, I made a 22-250 case just to see if I could. (I didn't anneal)
Back to the prob: I'd don't see why you couldn't make one pass from 30-06 to 8x57 and then trim a lot. use lotsa lube. Then reducing to 7x57 would be easy but you'd have to do some measuring to see if you'd need to neck turn.
Measure a store bought case that has been fired in your 7x57 acrost the neck. Make up a dummy round using the reformed brass and whatever bullet and measure it. If the measurement is smaller than your measurement on the store bought case, you're good to go.