I have 200 or so rounds of old factory ammo for my 7mmRemMag that I would like to fireform and reload.
I am wondering if it is possible to pull the bullet and fireform the rounds so that I can save the 200 rounds of life for my barrel.
I know that I can shoot them as practice rounds, but I want to do that with my new reloads.
Is this possible??

Fireform them into what? If your chamber is a standard 7 mag, what are you trying to accomplish? Fit them to your chamber? I wouldn't bother. '

Yes, it is possible to use cream of wheat or plastic buffer granules but I do not have a recipe for it and you could create more pressure than you want doing that in a bottlenecked case.

DC,
Fireform them to my rifle's chamber is my intention

You are talking about a whole lot of work to disassemble 200 rounds. What is wrong with shooting them? They will fire form to the chamber of your rifle when you do that; then all you do is either neck size or partial length re-size, being careful to stay off the shoulder.

Use the 200 rounds hunting or practicing at the range, and re-load the brass as you accumulate it.

You wouldn't be saving your barrel from 200 rounds of wear. It's the heat and pressure that wears the barrel not a copper clad bullet going down a steel tube.

Having developed my loads for my 280 Ack Imp and discarded 2 lots of 50 cases, I do not shoot that rifle as much only because I hate fire forming!

200 rounds can take a fair bit of time preping the cases etc. 200 rounds of barrel life is neither here nor there if the barrel is not abused.

How well does the rifle shoot with the factory ammo? I would not worry unless the groups are really bad - over 2" at 100 meters.

Unless you are going to neck size only after you fire them, you are accomplishing nothing of any benefit. If you are going to neck size, well, you are still wasting time in a hunting rifle. And i don't recommend taking neck sized ammo into the field anyway.
Naki; As far as fire forming 280 ACK; I have one and it is easy to do; just seat your bullets hard into the throat and use a starting load; no prep required and it works without problems. The method of expanding and resizing is too much work for me.

Scraping the idea...thanks fellas!

quote:

Is this possible??

The answer is yes.

I've done it to form .375-338 and .30 Gibbs cases. These are .375-338 below. I use Unique + TP wad + Cream of Wheat filler + beewax plug.



These are with virgin cases. I'd never even think about pulling bullets just to fireform w/o one.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
....
Naki; As far as fire forming 280 ACK; I have one and it is easy to do; just seat your bullets hard into the throat and use a starting load; no prep required and it works without problems.

Hmm, I just load a standard near max load for the 280, chamber, & fire. I get perfectly formed cases everytime and the accuracy is more than adequate for hunting. If the chamber was cut right to begin with there is no need to seat the bullet into the lands.

I load standard rounds into the few Ackley chambers I have with nary a problem.

The 280 Ack Imp design has a crush fit on the bottom of the neck & does not need the bullet to be seated out.

Yes it is easy & as I said I have shot a lot with that rifle - since 1998.

BUT it is still a BIG PITA!

Now the only fire forming I will do is for my 9.5X57 MS as original size brass is virtually impossible to find and I have a couple of boxes of 9.3X57 Mauser that I fill form.

Back to the topic - I would just use the factory ammo as it is.

I don't really see the point. What is it you are trying to accomplish with fire forming a 7RM?

I have several bolt rifles I neck size brass for and have never had a chambering or feed problem. I use LEE Collet Dies.

Bob

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