I am waiting for my 338-06 to get here and looking at the brass i will use to resize from 30-06 to 338. i guess what i want is something heavy in the neck so as to not get thin necks or reduced neck tension.
I have RP, LC match, and federal on hand.
will these be OK or should i get some factory weatherby 338-06 brass? its just that that stuff is $30 for 20.

i'd use the GI stuff. its usually thicker and more uniform than commercial

This week I had to make a similar choice. I have a 8mm-06 on order and I have some extra 30-06 brass. But I decided to spend the extra money and get some brass with the proper headstamp.

I spent $180 for 100 pieces of brass, which might have been a waste of money, but the peace of mind is worth it for me. Your 338-06 would be a comparative bargain at $140 for 100 pieces of Norma brass.

I've been using 06 and .308 Military brass for many years to form wild cats . So far head stamping has not been an issue. Neck wall thinning on 8mm-06 has been almost unnoticeable.Going an additional .014" in Dia. should be a snap. roger

If I had your delightful problem, I'd get a wad of bulk Remington .35 Whelen brass from MidwayUSA and size them down to fit the .338.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:
If I had your delightful problem, I'd get a wad of bulk Remington .35 Whelen brass from MidwayUSA and size them down to fit the .338.

Me too. My reasoning would be - "Okay, it's headstamped .35 Whelen. If by chance someday, someone puts the ammo in the wrong gun because of the headstamp...at least the .338" bullets will be going down a .358" groove diameter bore, not a .30 caliber one......" (.338/06 ammo shouldn't even chamber in an '06 chamber anyway, but who knows what one will run across?)


Have necked up an awfully lot of '06 military brass in the past, and it works fine like frog's hair, but commercially headstamped ".35 Whelen" brass wasn't available in those days...in fact that's one of the chamberings which the brass was being necked up to.

I've used Whelen brass, & 06 from Norma, RP, W & Fed. I would stay away from Fed. at least for me, they don't last, very soft. I would opt for Lapua 06 or Norma or buy Norma 338-06 headstamped.

i thought that if i sized down whelan brass i'd need to ream inside, i couldnt find a .338 inside reamer so thats why i was looking to resize UP from -06.

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i thought that if i sized down whelan brass i'd need to ream inside,

Not likely. Unless you have a tight neck chamber and that's not likely either.

I decided to resize some of my 30-06 brass up to 8mm-06. As bartsche said, it was a snap. I'll save my 8mm-06 headstamped brass until I'm further along in load development.

I'm thinking of marking "8mm" on the side of the brass with a Sharpie pen to provide an extra safety measure so these are never chambered into a 30-06 chamber. Any other ideas on how to make sure the brass doesn't make its way into the wrong chamber?

One of the things I noticed after resizing some of the 30-06 brass was the variance in the weight between the different brands.

My 8mm-06 Quality Cartridge brass weighs 168gr, but the Winchester re-sized brass is 188gr, the Remington is 194gr, and the Federal is 201gr. That is way more of a variance than I would have guessed.

I neck down 35 Whelen, Rem brass, and neck up Lapua '06 brass, both to good advantage for my 338-06AI. Use the Whelen brass if you desire the thickest neck...no reaming necessary in my R.W. Hart chambered Rem 700.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:
If I had your delightful problem, I'd get a wad of bulk Remington .35 Whelen brass from MidwayUSA and size them down to fit the .338.

I agree.

quote:

Originally posted by duckboat:
One of the things I noticed after resizing some of the 30-06 brass was the variance in the weight between the different brands.

My 8mm-06 Quality Cartridge brass weighs 168gr, but the Winchester re-sized brass is 188gr, the Remington is 194gr, and the Federal is 201gr. That is way more of a variance than I would have guessed.

Yep, that's why it's always a good idea to segregate by brand. Internal cap. can vary quite a bit. Anothe rreason I don not like the Fed. 06 match brass. Go Lapua or Norma.

quote:

I'm thinking of marking "8mm" on the side of the brass with a Sharpie pen to provide an extra safety measure so these are never chambered into a 30-06 chamber.

Good luck chambering an 8mm bullet in a .30 caliber throat. If you were able to, two things would become apparent: 1. You need to replace your barrel because with a thoat that oversized it can't possibly shoot worth a hoot. 2. An 8mm/06 fired in such a chamber would likely go unnoticed insofar as apparent pressure, etc. Bullets swage down with amazing ease when you put 50K psi behind them.

I'm more concerned with the residue that the Sharpie ink would leave in my chamber than with the remote possibility of an 8mm shell chambering in an '06 chamber.

Ringworm: Unless your .338/06 chamber has an unusually tight neck section, the necked-down .35 Whelen brass will need no thinning. In fact, the slightly thickened neck walls will probably fit your chamber better.