Reduced Capacity Brass

[daveinsvaz]

A while back I was interested in reducing the capacity of my 6.5X55 to that of the 6.5 TCU.
I took 6.5 Swede brass, opened the neck to 375. Cut off the neck of a 223 hull. Remove the primer of the 223 hull and drill out primer pocket to almost maximum size. Don't make it a complete cylinder, as you may need a small ledge to assist in driving the 223 brass into the hull. Put modified 223 case in expanded 6.5X55 hull. Resize the 6.5 Swede brass. Use 6.5 TCU reloading data.
I used the same idea on 308 brass to make a poor man's 300 whisper. But you have to add an additional step. Cut the 223 hull off at the extractor grove. It works very well on the old Spanish '93 Mausers you may feel cautious about full 308 loads.
Expect to loose up to 10% of modified brass, if it's more than once fired.
Dave
Sierra Vista, AZ

[michael30.06]

I like the idea of a pre-formed sleeve inside the brass. So I changed my plan somewhat.
I part filled cleaned and deprimed 30.06 cases with builders glue, the stuff you fix drywall on with. It doesn't shrink when it cures and is strong without being too flexible or brittle. Then put 2 layers of aluminium foil round a 6.5mm rod and pushed it into the part filled case, untill the glue came out of the primer hole, then this was blocked and the rod pushed in farther untill the rest of the case was filled solid with glue. I pulled out the 6.5mm rod leaving an aluminium tube straight down the centre of the case.
These will take a few days to cure so once I am sure they are solid I will clean out the necks and hopefully work out a consistent load.
The hotmelt glue was a dead end just too soft and flexible.
Lead filled cases are very time consuming to make, but probably would be the most robust . However only shooting will tell.

[Artful]

Originally Posted by daveinsvaz

I took 6.5 Swede brass, opened the neck to 375. Cut off the neck of a 223 hull. Remove the primer of the 223 hull and drill out primer pocket to almost maximum size. Don't make it a complete cylinder, as you may need a small ledge to assist in driving the 223 brass into the hull. Put modified 223 case in expanded 6.5X55 hull. Resize the 6.5 Swede brass. Use 6.5 TCU reloading data.
I used the same idea on 308 brass to make a poor man's 300 whisper. But you have to add an additional step. Cut the 223 hull off at the extractor grove. It works very well on the old Spanish '93 Mausers you may feel cautious about full 308 loads.

Expect to loose up to 10% of modified brass, if it's more than once fired.

Dave
Sierra Vista, AZ

Dave, did you anneal the brass before expanding the neck - and why didn't you just shorten the brass at the neck end more for the 308 case?

[Bigfoot]

I was talking with a fella in Washington state that makes case inserts on a lathe for cat sneeze loads in a 45/70. He glues them in with Locktite so they can be removed with heat when the case life is over and installed into fresh brass. He PMed me a drawing and a photo.

[HUNTER2]

Started working on a 375-06 imp with a 1-8 twist. TrailBoss is working out real well with a 350 gr. bullet. With the rifeling being stripped - is the bullet being over sized, hardness, gas checked? Have had to go with a softer bullet for it to "slug up", and the gc will definately help.