How I make whisper brass ...

[WhisperFan]

This is how I form Whisper brass. It is pretty easy, and I have never split a neck. The reason is I am not trying to expand a .22 caliber neck to 30 caliber .... rather I am down-sizing the former case wall of the .223.

A - a .223 case

B - I cut off the .223 case at the neck. I have used a Dremel tool held in the hand. I have also used a cut-off tool mounted in a drill pess with the table set to the correct height. Then just hold the base of the case on the table push it into the cut-off wheel and rotate. That method is really fast.

C - A photo of the .223 after the old neck has been removed.

D - I then trim to 1.350" I have seen a wide variety of OAL case measurements. I have seen 1.350" all the way up to 1.400" .... I have found 1.350" works well for me (your mileage my vary)

E - Then I press it into the sizing die, creating the new neck and shoulder. I use Redding dies, I do not use the smaller (7mm) expander ball, as there is no need to since I am sizing 'down' and not sizing 'up'.
I find that this operation lengtens the case a little - so I trim again.

Then I chamfer the inner and outer edges, clean the primer pocket (ream the primer pocket if I am using mil-spec brass). If you have a tight chamber, you might want to neck turn to the proper brass thickness, but I don't need to for my rifles. Lastly, I toss the brass into the tumbler to remove any resizing residue.

Sounds like a lot of work, but the Whisper is still considered a wild-cat and wild-catting a cartridge takes time and effort. But it only needs to done once (per cartridge).

After that, I neck-size only for bolt actions, and full-length size for semi's

[Scalce]

So for step E, are you using the tapered 308 expander or just downsizing the neck and leaving it as is?

Also, have you thought about adjusting your method so you do not have repeat steps multiple times like trimming?

[oregonshooter]

I was bummed out today that I would have to use Redding's 2 step sizer die instead of SSK's Hornady die (they won't sell it to me) but this makes a lot of sense if it works well.

What is your outter thickness running?

At 1.350" before sizing, do you get any growth after sizing?

[WhisperFan]

Originally Posted by oregonshooter

What is your outter thickness running?

At 1.350" before sizing, do you get any growth after sizing?

.0138" with a piece of commercial brass I checked.

I get a little growth ... maybe 5 to 7 thou .... I suppose I could live with it and take care of it after fire-forming ... but I like to make it uniform.

[oregonshooter]

Originally Posted by WhisperFan

.0138" with a piece of commercial brass I checked.

I get a little growth ... maybe 5 to 7 thou .... I suppose I could live with it and take care of it after fire-forming ... but I like to make it uniform.

Ok that's what I figured the 1.350 over 1.355 was about. I will be doin the same, thanks for posting this! Seems obvious but I didn't uink of it. :)

[Scalce]

Originally Posted by oregonshooter

I was bummed out today that I would have to use Redding's 2 step sizer die instead of SSK's Hornady die (they won't sell it to me) but this makes a lot of sense if it works well.

What is the Redding 2 step sizer die in reference to compared to the SSK Hornady die?

Are you saying that you would only have one step with the SSK die or you would just prefer it over the Redding?

[oregonshooter]

That's my understanding (one step) from reading this thread... http://www.quarterbore.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3543

[Scalce]

The two steps for expanding, which is what I think you are referring to, are for bringing 221 Firebrall brass up to a 30 cal neck without splitting or crushing it.

You don't have that issue when using 223 brass as you are necking down from the 223 case body.

Both dies have the same amount of steps when forming from 223 brass.

[WhisperFan]

Originally Posted by Scalce

So for step E, are you using the tapered 308 expander or just downsizing the neck and leaving it as is?

Also, have you thought about adjusting your method so you do not have repeat steps multiple times like trimming?

When I form brass for the first time, I use the Redding Full-length resizer with the .30 caliber resizing ball.

The only step I do twice is trim. Since I really hack off the old neck, and you see what it looks like after, in step C ... I don't want to send it up the sizing die like that. I guess I could trim to a length that would account for resizing, but I don't mind trimming twice.