Are there any issues when necking up the 270 case to a 280 rem.

regards
Griff

The 280 shoulder is forward of the 270. It will correct on the first firing but it could cause you headsapce issues the first time.

Yes, and those headspace issues will cause your brass to have a short life. It will not correct on the first firing unless you hold the case back against the bolt face. The correction will be in the form of your brass stretching in the middle, which will lead to separation. You must treat it like an improved round that needs to have the brass held back; you can do that by expanding the neck out so you get a firm crush fit when you chamber it, (like making it a 30-06 first) or load some medium loads with the bullets jammed into the throat. (i use that method for my 280 Ack Improvecd) If you don't, your brass will be pushed forward into the chamber by the firing pin, and then when it fires, it will stretch because the forward part will obturate and be held against the chamber walls.

What dpcd said.

I would much prefer to neck down .30-06. This gives you a case which is a tad short, but this just means it won't need trimming any time soon. You can leave a "false" shoulder on the .30-06 at the precise point that exactly fits your chamber and have perfect headspacing on the first shot. If, for some reason, you need to use .270 brass, then by all means run a .30 caliber expander ball into the neck first in order to be able to create the false shoulder.

Here is a photo of a .560" group at 200 yards fired with necked down .30-06 brass before fireforming. You can see on the loaded cartridge the "false" shoulder, and on the fired case how it is ironed out in firing. I've seen no difference in accuracy or velocity between the first firing and subsequent firings when .280 brass is made from .30-06 this way.

The reason I am using the 270 case is that I have about 2500 of them.


Stonecreek,
would there be an issue with necking up to 30 cal and then back down to 280 as regards working the brass..

regards
Griff

Having 2500 of them would be an incentive to using them alright. I don't know that necking up to 30-06 and then down would have any effect as you're dealing with a shoulder position.
I think I'd just take a light for caliber bullet and seat it out where it's jammed into the lands and use a beginning charge of powder to blow out the case. I'm sure there are more complicated ways of doing it but this would be pretty straight forward. If the reforming isn't complete with a beginning charge of powder, you may have to go up a grain or two.

quote:

Originally posted by griff:
The reason I am using the 270 case is that I have about 2500 of them.


Stonecreek, would there be an issue with necking up to 30 cal and then back down to 280 as regards working the brass..

regards
Griff

Your interest in using the .270's is understandable.

While using a jammed bullet to minimize headspace will work, it is less than ideal. In the first place, you definitely would not want to use such loads for hunting. It's not good to have a round stuck in the chamber (due to jamming in the lands) with no option other than to fire it; and this method, while it controls headspace to some degree, is not as precise as headspacing on an actual shoulder since the case can be pushed forward slightly (to varying degrees) if the bullet slips in the case neck prior to firing from the impact of the striker. Jamming a bullet in the lands also keeps you from using a full power load, so your performance with such fireforming loads will be something less than with regular loads for your .280.

Overexpanding the case necks of .270 will work-harden them a bit. Whether they will get excessively hard in part depends on their hardness when the process is begun. You certainly risk split necks on firing if the necks are excessively work-hardened, and I would assume that this is at least once-fired brass and not virgin. If that is the case, I would suggest annealing the neck/shoulder area after expanding to .308" and before sizing back down to .284".

I've never found that simply sizing down .30-06 brass work-hardened it enough to be a problem, but the stretch-then-shrink process with .270 brass introduces considerably more work to the brass.

Another possibility would be to swap your .270 brass for .30-06 brass. Usually such swap is financially advantageous since the .30-06 brass tends to be more common and thus brings a bit less than .270 brass -- but this certainly depends on the local situation.

Neck up to .30 cal on a tapered expander, then back down to 7mm. Use imperial sizing wax applied with a Q-Tip on the inside of the necks. Gives you a false shoulder to headspace on.

You've got 2,500 .270 cases to play with, who cares if you lose a few during initial forming or lose a few prematurely due to work hardening.

Ackley was never a fan of using bullets-into-the-lands to control headspace. But what did he know anyway?

Gordon Bennett!

SELL you used cases on a UK Forum like "The Stalking Directory" and BUY some new 280 Remington cases from the likes of Norman Clarke at Rugby.

He has them and nt expensive too. My last lot, bought about three years ago, were about £30 per 100.

I think that unless you've a load of cheap powder and cheap bullets it isn't worth it.

AND IT IS DANGEROUS WITH THE COMBINATION YOU HAVE CHOSEN.

That is you may then "confuse" standard 270 re-loaded rounds with your converted 280 re-loaded rounds.

And firing a 270 WCF in a 280 Remington chamber will make a lasting impression...

I wouldn't want to offend a fellow from the UK but for waht you'll get selling even only 1,000 of your 270 WCF cases you'd easily be able to afford 200 to 300 correct 280 Remington cases.

Fireforming by seating bullets into the rifling is the easiest method and requires no additional brass forming steps. True you can't use full loads but you can practice with them. I have done literally a thousand of them that way. Yes, you have to have tight neck tension. Once you chamber it, fire it. Or you can expand to 30 cal first. That will work too with no issues. Brass is very ductile stuff.

quote:

AND IT IS DANGEROUS WITH THE COMBINATION YOU HAVE CHOSEN.

That is you may then "confuse" standard 270 re-loaded rounds with your converted 280 re-loaded rounds.

And firing a 270 WCF in a 280 Remington chamber will make a lasting impression...

You could fire .270s in a .280 chamber all day long and the only problem you would encounter would be very poor accuracy, or perhaps a failure to fire due to the cartridge not being held firmly against the bolt face (depending on the type of action and whether the extractor gripped the case rim firmly).

NOT that this is a good practice, just that the two cartridges are so close in dimension that a .270 round would be unable to rupture in a .280 chamber.

Still, if a shooter owns both a .270 and .280 then having brass properly headstamped for each is helpful in telling the two apart since the bullet diameter is only .007" different. However, I own multiple .30-06's and have no difficulty discriminating between my .30-06 brass and my .280 brass formed from .30-06 cases. But then I've had occasion to reform so many calibers from others in my reloading life that I'm not accustomed to depending on headstamps to determine the caliber.

I agree that it is not wise to reform any brass into another cartridge if you have a rifle of the original cartridge in the house.

Thanks for the replies,I have given it some consideration and the easiest route would be to sell the 270 cases and buy some 280's but hey who wants an easy life!
I bough this rifle from and auction and do not know its history so I think for the interim I will buy a few 280 cases and see how she performs.
Initially I only wanted the action of the rifle as I was going to build another 264wm with it. I bid very little at the online auction, the picture only showed the action,but when it arrived to say I was delighted was an under statement,the stock is a McMillan M40, the action has been worked on and is a slick as could be, the trigger is a Jewell and it is fitted with a new stainless barrel.
If she turns out to be a performer with the 280 cases,but doesn't shoot with the 270 cases , then I will know its my press skills at fault..


regards
Griff