going from 5.56 to 300-221

[RWBlue]

By posting on a couple other boards I think I figure out a way to make this work without adding too much to my kit.

Starting off from once fired 5.56.
1.Run brass through Redding FL sizer (no neck expander), on Rockchucker press with Lee brass holder
2.Use Redding trim die, and dremmel to cut the majority of the excess brass off.
3.Use Wilson trimmer with 221 Fireball case holder to trim to perfect length.

At that point I can proceed to load like I would a non-wildcat cartridge.

Right?

[pug]

There might be some slight variation in case length between sized without expander and with so you may want to not final trim to exact length until you have run the brass through the FL die with expander. This may have been what you meant.

[RWBlue]

Ah, ha, so this would be better

Starting off from once fired 5.56.
1.Run brass through Redding FL sizer (no neck expander), on Rockchucker press with Lee brass holder
2.Use Redding trim die, and dremmel to cut the majority of the excess brass off.
3.Run brass through Redding FL sizer (with neck expander), on Rockchucker press with Lee brass holder
4.Use Wilson trimmer with 221 Fireball case holder to trim to perfect length

[pug]

I hate absolutes but that looks good. After steps 1 and 2 you are going to still have a primed case with a neck size of .304". The Redding die uses the expander to support the decapping pin so it will need to be installed to deprime the case and also to expand the case neck out to .306". Make sure you run the stem and expander down so it clears the neck sizing part of the die. I actually had a little problem on that last step with my first Redding 300/221 FL die that caused me some trouble but after a replacement stem from Redding all was fine. The sizing with expander should be as smooth as without. If any bind don't force it and readjust. All this is assuming you have a 300 Fireball chamber that lets you shoot 223 brass without turning the necks down (.338 chamber neck). If you have a 300/221, 300 Whisper or 30-221 your neck diameter (possible .335" chamber neck) with bullet seated may be a press fit in the chamber which is very bad for high pressure. You could of course could do a chamber cast and measure the actual chamber neck dimension or you can coat the cartridge neck with a marker or layout fluid and insert it in the chamber and see how much gets scraped off (if any). Then of course there is the age old "stick it in and see how tight it is" method but because of minimum spec cut chambers that is not a good telltale. Keep your brass length to the short spec unless you actually measure the max case overall length with a gauge.

[RWBlue]

My barrel is a noveskerifleworks barrel, so we will see if the chamber is big enough.
I have some reedsammo subsonic and some corbon supersonic ammo on the way.
Additionally I will make a dummy round and test it out.

[jarhead1086]

Thanks guys, I see a couple things that I would've figured out the hard way. My last question is what case lube do you use to neck down. I like the Hornady One-Shot for ease, but sometimes I end up using the old fashioned gel during heavier sizing like when using small base dies on military brass. Cleaning the gel off in the tumbler ruins the media in a hurry.

PS- RWBlue- Is your Noveske a 1:6.5 twister?

[RWBlue]

Originally Posted by jarhead1086

RWBlue- Is your Noveske a 1:6.5 twister?

Accordning to John it is a 1 in 7.5". I have a feeling that my barrel is a "project barrel" I didn't want it with a pinned gas block.

[RWBlue]

Originally Posted by RWBlue

Ah, ha, so this would be better

Starting off from once fired 5.56.
1.Run brass through Redding FL sizer (no neck expander), on Rockchucker press with Lee brass holder
2.Use Redding trim die, and dremmel to cut the majority of the excess brass off.
3.Run brass through Redding FL sizer (with neck expander), on Rockchucker press with Lee brass holder
4.Use Wilson trimmer with 221 Fireball case holder to trim to perfect length

It works. I have a 300 Fireball dummy case at this point. I trimmed it a little short (1.515). It took me a long time. But I now know I can do it.


jarhead1086, Imperial sizing wax

[jjmcrowell]

Originally Posted by jarhead1086

Thanks guys, I see a couple things that I would've figured out the hard way. My last question is what case lube do you use to neck down. I like the Hornady One-Shot for ease, but sometimes I end up using the old fashioned gel during heavier sizing like when using small base dies on military brass. Cleaning the gel off in the tumbler ruins the media in a hurry.

I use the one-shot lub also, seems to work fine.

I now just take my brass and use dish soap and hot water to clean off the lube, then I throw them in a pan and bake them at 200 degrees for awhile to evaporate the water. Sounds strange but works for me.

[jarhead1086]

Thanks all for your replies. I have an idea to modify a Possum Hollow case trimmer for .300. They datum off the case shoulder so you just stab the case in with your fingers until it quicks cutting and you have your length. What would be real nice is to part off on the lathe holding with the bottoming collet and while its still spinning in the chuck to stab the trimmer over the case neck for the final precise cut. This was my plan from the beginning but others mentioned that a full length resize after the rough trim was necessary to fully square things up. I have used a .223 Possum Hollow trimmer before I got my Dillon trimmer (which won't work w/o a lot of mods) and it worked fast and accurate. Maybe Possum Hollow would make a batch for us to save that effort too?