Below are the first three shots I have taken with Butch's formin' dies. I am starting with the biggest and going down to the fourth largest on these .308Win cases. I got down to the fourth largest on the first two (L to R), then went to just the third largest on the third (far right) before it "tuliped over," which is my term for the bubble at the rounded shoulder. Am I trying to take too much? I want to take these old .308s down to .224 and the same length as a .223Rem just as an exercise before I start trashing expensive brass. I am using copious amounts of Redding Imperial Sizing Wax. I am surprised at how easy it is to get the first few crunches in, then I guess I lose all sense of restraint-- and crush the hell out of them. Any helpful suggestions are heartily appreciated...



After messing with it a bit, I found that if I took just small bites and moved the outside piece up half a turn after each inner die was used, I get the result shown to the right. Am I doing it correctly? I have used eight of the nine dies to get this far. Outside neck diameter is now 0.222 inches. That's the end of the line for this one. Comments appreciated...

well brew,Im not sure what it is your trying to do ,but from my limited expirence forming brass,if your using brass that has been fired in the original chambering,it is much harder to get it to change shape.Virgin ,unfired brass is much easier to work with.

Oh,and copious amounts of lube may be a problem ,also.

I see your other post now.

The test brass I am working with has been fired at least once. I formed these with no annealing whatsoever. I have no idea what annealing is. Isn't that what you do in church?

Take the case by the rim and stick the neck into a blowtorch flame. When you drop the case it has been annealed

You dont need the brass to glow just to get past tha annealing point of @300 degC, and your unprotected fingertips are perfect temp gauges.

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Don't go spoiling a perfectly good thread with too many facts.

I don't get it. I would have thought as much information as I could supply would help with the discussion...

brass becomes work hardened when fired ,or resized.when the shape is changed ,it can cause cracks when sized,or when fired.Annelling ,heating,will relieve the hardening,and allow easier reforming.Like I say,I am no expert,having only one wildcat ,and that is an improved case,so I have only done a small amount of case reforming,since I can fireform easily.Even that is much more difficult with used brass,as opposed to virgin brass.Once fired is usually ok to work with,so get a handful and expirement.

You can have a neck that looks like a wash board but if tightly chambered and fired at sufficient pressure it will form just fine. You may have to trim to length after fireing. roger

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Brass becomes work hardened when fired or resized. When the shape is changed,it can cause cracks when sized or when fired. Annealling,heating, will relieve the hardening, and allow easier reforming. Like I say, I am no expert, having only one wildcat,and that is an improved case, so I have only done a small amount of case reforming, since I can fireform easily. Even that is much more difficult with used brass, as opposed to virgin brass. Once fired is usually ok to work with, so get a handful and experiment.

Great info. Thanks!