Hi guys,
I have just bought a 6.5-06 IMP. It came with the dies. My question is this:

I have a bunch of 270 brass, and no other 270 rifle to be confused with, so I would like to use the brass. I lubricated the 270 brass and ran it through my full length die, with the decaping pin in the dies. I then tried to chamber an empty round, and the bolt handle closed no problem. Then I trimmed it to 2.494 which is the length wanted for the 6.5-06. I don't know if I needed to trim, since it chambered fine, is this true? I don't know if my chamber was cut to 6.5-270 or not.

Then I read this on the internet:

"Using 270, or 280, or 30-06 brass will work fine, just that the neck "should" in some cases be reamed to the correct thickness."

Keep in mind:
This is just going to be for a hunting rifle, not needing to be under 1 MOA.

Do I need to ream the neck thickness of the brass when going from 270 win to 6.5-06 AI?

Also, am I doing the steps in the correct order, or should I fire form it (I will use the cream of wheat method) and then I trim to length?

This will be my first wildcat cartridge, and my first fire forming.

Thanks in advance!

You noticed that they said in some cases you may need to ream the necks, not in all.

Just take a look at it. You probably won't need to.

I had a 6.5-300 (300 weatherby mag case necked down to 6.5). The necks did not have to be reamed after they were sized down with the brass I was using.

As far as triming goes doesn't hurt to go by the recommended length for a start. Just depends on what reamer was used to do the chamber. I have a 243 AI whose chamber allows 20 mil over the recommended max length.

I use 270 brass in my 6.5-06AI and I always trim it to length first. It takes all of the guess work out of it. The necks will shorten a bit when fireformed, but I trim to max length and let them shorten. I have never had to ream the necks.

I do not use the cream of wheat method of fireforming. It is just not as much fun, in my opinion. I like to see where the bullets hit on the fireform rounds versus the final loaded rounds. My fireform rounds are MOA and the finals are much better than that. I just load some rounds and fire them. Since I never load to max, it is not an issue. I load a 120 Ballistic tip with 52.5 grains of AA4350 for hunting and with a 120 Sierra (seconds I get from Sierra) for fireforming.

First of all, do not simply screw your die down against the shellholder and "full length resize". This may (or may not) result in excessive headspace. Instead, back your die out a turn or so, resize a case, and try it in your rifle's chamber. If it is a no go or a tight fit, turn the die down a little at a time until your brass chambers with just a hint of resistance. This will give you perfect headspace, promote good accuracy with the first shot, and make your brass last longer.

Second, not knowing the exact length of your chamber's neck it is best to trim your resized brass to the standard length. Besides, your brass will be somewhat irregular in length, so trimming will both ensure that it doesn't crimp on the chamber lip and will uniform it for better consistency.

And finally, unless your chamber has a "match" extra tight neck, the tiny amount the brass of the neck thickens when reducing from holding a .277" bullet to holding a .264" bullet is very unlikely to merit thinning. Only if a 6.5 bullet refuses to easily re-enter a fired case is the neck too thick.

If your re-formed cases chamber easily after trimming, just load 'em up and shoot them. After you've fired a round, if a 6.5 bullet will slip into the neck of the fired case, you don't need to ream.
If you like to use thingies, then measure the neck of your finished cartridge, then fire it. Then measure the neck of the fired case. If the neck of the fired case is .002 or larger than the neck of the finished cartridge, you don't need to ream.

270 Brass I started with



Using the full length resizer, I resized just until it fit into the rifle and closed the bolt. About half of the neck got resized.



17 grains of HS-6 was used to load the case, this powder is meant for hand guns and shot guns



First you add the powder with a funel of its own (tap down the powder), then you add the cream of wheat (COW) to top up the case, tap it down, and then use a 1/4 of a sheet of single ply toilet paper to plug up the case.









Here you can see what 5 grains does on the left, and working my way up slowly to 17 grains, these are some of the many I used to work my way up.



And Wha-La! The finished 6.5-06 AI case on the left, and the 270 WIN case I started with on the right!

Thanks for the help guys! I did it, and the fire formed brass seems to let a bullet slip down it no problem, so I wont have to thin the necks!

About your trimming.
Check your chamber like this.

Flare a case mouth to a bell or bugle shape.
Push it into the chamber and let the chamber neck squeeze it back down. If the brass is too long it will hit the end of the chamber before the bolt closes. You will see that the chamber crimped the end of the case mouth.

Here is are a couple of examples.

Several Mausers that I have checked have a chamber length at the mouth about 1mm longer than a case

The 6.5X53.5R (AKA 6.5X53R) Dutch Steyr M95 rifles have a chamber that measures 2.150. The standard for the brass is normally give as 2.110. When I make these cases from 303 Brit brass the shorten .007 or so when fire formed.
I normally make the cases 2.150 long and fired them like that. They are touching the end of the chamber lightly. After firing they are 2.142 to 2.145.

BIGBOAR: Looks like you've pretty well perfected your case forming.

While using the intermediate step of loading a "blank" to fireform the case may be useful in your instance, I've found that full power fireforming loads almost always perform as well as those in cases which have been previously fireformed. Therefore, I prefer to build finished ammunition in my formed cases, then fire it in the field (usually at varmints, but possibly at informal targets, etc.) I then load my fireformed brass with my "serious" loads for game hunting.

Yup. Looks good. Now I would anneal it and load as usual.