I finally caught the big bore bug from reading this forum and am having a .416 Taylor built. I'm told it is simple to form these cases by necking down .458 brass. Problem is that I have over 500 new .338 Mag cases and would like to use them to form brass. Is it possible to just run these cases (.338)through a .416 Taylor die to expand the necks or do I need an intermediate step? A .08 jump seems a bit much on one pass.

If you have a tapered expander you should be able to do it in one step. Second option is a little bullseye and cream of wheat to fireform. What ever you use 338 or 458 I would start with new brass and get your rifle off to a good start.

[This message has been edited by ramrod340 (edited 11-13-2001).]

Save yourself the wear and tear of fire forming loads...use a .375 expander ball first and then the .416.....works great.

Hi.
Just run your .338 Win cases right trought the 416 Taylor dies, that works fine with me. I had a cuple that craced, but that was "old" cases. I belive it's even easyer with new brass. But try. Just lube the troat well.

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Shoot well, and hit hard.

Arild.

Rick. There are a few things you should be ware of when you neck those 338 to 416. These might pose some problems, especially if the chamber is on the tight side:

1. The cases will be about 2.46" long, down from 2.5". No problem there.

2. Part of the new neck will be formed of the old 338 shoulder. This part is usually thicker than the part made up by the old neck that is thinned due to the expansion. I see in Wildcat Cartridges that the neck of the Taylor is only .345" long, so the thicker part will be shortened to almost nothing when you fireform the cases. Both in the fireing- and sizing process this thicker part will be pushed into the inside of the neck where it might or might not be a problem. Just keep it in mind when you get you first experienses and do the examinations of the cases. The problem might be whorse when the cases are fired many times, as wildcats cases tend to be, due to case streching. OTOH the shoulder of 32� streching should be minute.

Congrats to a fine big bore! Take care. AKI

One thing I have found, running 338 WM through my Taylor die, is that the neck ends up lopsided (i.e. case mouth not square). I don't know if this is an idiosyncracy of my die/reloading system, or if it will happen to you too. Expanding the case mouth SLOOOWLY, and rotating the brass a few degrees several times, lessens this. Cases are shortened when you have to do all that trimming to square them. Maybe fireforming would work better? That's a whole lot of Unique, primers, and TIME though.

Keep it simple -- sell your 338 WM brass, you can probably sell it for more than Cabela's price on E-bay, and buy 458.

Best,
Todd

Todd,
Yes it is common to get lopsided cases that way...A cure is to run them over a 375 tapered expander ball and then a 416...and any formed case needs fireforming, some to a lesser degree than others but all never the less...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Thanks for that tip Ray -- I will try ordering a 375 expander from RCBS. I had decided to make a 338 and use the cases that way, but my fickle temperament changed again, that gun will be a 9.3x62 instead!

Maybe I'll buy some 9.3x62 dies to lock in my decision.

Todd