I'm gonna neck up some 308 win brass to fit my 338 Fed. Do I need to fireform or can I just neck them up and load them up with a moderate load to go hunting?

You can neck up in one pass. They will be lsightly shorter than factory brass but should be fine to just load & shoot.

quote:

You can neck up in one pass. They will be lsightly shorter than factory brass but should be fine to just load & shoot.

+1

Thanks. I've never necked anything up before. Do I need to lube the inside of the neck or anything?

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Do I need to lube the inside of the neck or anything?

I would use a little lube.

like the other poster said just one pass and wha-la
I used to make 358 win brass out of 308 win so a touch of lube in the mouth can hep some

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Originally posted by Ckemp:
Thanks. I've never necked anything up before. Do I need to lube the inside of the neck or anything?

SOme dies use a tapered expander which makes it very easy. Yes, for best results, lubing the inside of the case neck will help as will a slight chamfer.

Everybody has already said it all. The only thing I would add is that if you will make sure to push them into the die far enough that the upper case walls contact the sides of the dies, but short of where you push back the shoulder (often referred to as "paritial full length resizing") it should help ensure that your expanded case necks are concentric and aligned with the axis of the case in order to give you potentially better first-shot accuracy.

You'll need a little lube on both the insides and outsides of the case necks.

Imperial case wax applied with the first second and thumb on a nylon cleaning brush...a little dab will do-ya...tapered expander, one pass and be sure the sizer die contacts the shell holder solidly with NO break over...just screw the die down one-two full turns after it contacts the shell holder at the top of the stroke then lock it down for the initial sizing. This will center and square the case and the first firing will finish the process.

I've done this process hundreds of times for dozens of wildcats based on several cases...belted, rimless and rimmed...and have/had/worked on wildcats/standard based on the 308 case from 22 cal to 375 cal...20-243, 22-243, 243, 260, 270-308, 7mm-308, 308, 8mm-308, 338, 358, 9.3-308, 375-308, 40-308. Some were just explorations of possibilities rather than actual built rifle, but still fun to think about, work throught the ballistics and just play with.

Sometimes I use two resizing steps, splitting the difference just to ease the stretching process, sometimes I fireform first with cornmeal, resize, then load test.

The 308 case was full of possiblilites from the getgo.

I think it is a waste of time with 338 factory cases available except for the knowledge you gain.

Another problem...you should measure the case volume if you use military 308 cases as the internal volume will be less than factory 338 cases which will increas pressure if you load to manual specs. Might or might not be a problem but should be checked never the less.