almost had a BAD day :(

Wow, those look really bad! I wouldn't shoot those if you paid me to pull the trigger. I wouldn't think those would even chamber, do they?

GS

I'm with gamestalker here. I'm not sure they would chamber. Either way they certainly don't look right!

I reloaded my first 20 rounds ever today and even at my novice, I agree with you he must be on somethin!

Pending epic thread alert

I'm no expert on necking down, but it looks like he tried full length sizing with .308 die then necked sized with a .270 die. I wouldn't shoot them.

I wouldn't shoot them either and have to agree I doubt they would chamber.

There is nothing wrong with necking down 308 brass for the 243, but obviously those were a poor attempt and a bad failure, just pull em apart and reuse what you can.

You could pull them apart and run the brass through your FL die though, then trim and load em up!

Load em in the gun. Hammer on em till you kin lock the bolt. Then hand the gun off to Troy Landry, tell him it's a special gator load for one that's over 18' long. Can't be no shorter, or it will destroy the whole gator. And the man that shoots it will be forever referred to as the eternal king of the swamp. Shewt im, Troy. Shewt im. I'm tired of your alligator mouth! At the same time get the camera crew to shout "Hey y'all. Watch this!"

Mark them with a marker to see where the problem is. They may just need fire formed. Just remember they were loaded by someone else.

Load em in the gun. Hammer on em till you kin lock the bolt. Then hand the gun off to Troy Landry, tell him it's a special gator load for one that's over 18' long. Can't be no shorter, or it will destroy the whole gator. And the man that shoots it will be forever referred to as the eternal king of the swamp. Shewt im, Troy. Shewt im. I'm tired of your alligator mouth! At the same time get the camera crew to shout "Hey y'all. Watch this!"

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A bit off topic, sorry. I noticed the other day CCI has Troy's name on some .22lr ammo.
ammo designed for use at point blank range ? or is Troy in some competitive shooting circuit i've never heard of ???

Hey! Y'all take it easy on Troy the Gatorman. I'd just like to see him put Liz on the line so that she could start hollering at him to Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! You're going to loose that alligator!

What's the deal with guys who "toss in some ammo" with a purchase, but don't bother to tell you they're reloads?

I had a guy do this to me also. Nice guy, and I don't think he was trying to do anything shady, but he sweetened a deal with a few twenty-round boxes of ammo. (I didn't bargain for them, nor did he ask for more money. He just said "here", and tossed them into the deal.) They were all in factory Remington boxes, with the individual rounds stuck in the plastic carriers.

When I got home, I pulled out a couple to take a look at the bullets, and something just didn't seem right. Finally, it dawned on me. Reloads. I appreciated his gesture, but I sure would have liked a heads-up.

Those were obviously loaded by someone who doesn't know how to reload. There is nothing wrong with necking down a 308 to 243, (I do it with my 260 all the time) but when done properly the only evidence is on the headstamp. I doubt those would even chamber in a 243. But the big issue is if he didn't know better than to do that or wasn't paying attention enough to catch that, what else did he screw up? Like instead of using 40 grains of 4350 he put 40 grains of Bullseye in those. That is some scary stuff right there.

I'd mark them with some black marker and see if and where they contact the camber. If they are tight and contact the shoulder...shoot em to fireform the brass. Are you sure its a standard 243 chamber or an AI? I fireform Dasher cases all the time out of 6mm br cases. I the picture below, where I stop neck turning, is the false shoulder and its is the only place that touches the chamber. The bullet is jammed as well. So in essence, I'm shooting with roughly .100" of headspace! Same thing can be achieved by expanding and necking down. Not good for my application because my chamber is a tight neck and my brass needs turned to fit.

On the other hand, I know a guy that purchased a sporter Sako on gunbroker which specified it was a 270. He and I take it to the range to shoot and have difficulty removing cases. I compare the cases and they look like a Ackley Improved chamber. Someone had the gun rechambered and was not marked nor advertised as so. Perfectly safe if you fireform proper brass, but not a good idea to shoot factory brass for fireforming.

The old rule about NEVER shooting another guy's reloads applies. Just don't do it. Life's too short. Pull the bullets, do it right.

Like said above, there's nothing wrong with necking down 308 brass to form 243 cases but that was not done correctly. I agree, pull them and start over...

The 243 was made from a necked down 308.
Those were obviously not full length sized in a 243 die.

You could pull the bullets, size the brass and rebuild them, or for 5 rounds just chuck them.

Sizing 308 down to 243 is the same game as sizing 30-06 down to 270. It can be done and is done regularly, however it needs to be done correctly. When full length sizing always adjust the die in the press such that the shell holder hits the die at full up. IOW the upstroke is stopped by the two parts coming together and stopping motion. The absolute max the shell can be sent into the die, then you are full length sizing.

If you look at your reloads, the neck sizing doesn't go all the way to the shoulder. His don't either, but they were sized 308 first. You will probably need to pull them, size so the shoulder is set back, shoot them and then set the shoulder to proper HS for the rifle.

The major problem I see here is not that they won't fit (they probably won't) but that if they do fit the neck diameter will be too great to release the bullet and create too great of a chamber pressure. 308 cases sized to 243 MUST have the neck reamed. Inside or outside.
Saw it happen one time to a very expensive German bolt action. Blew the primer, stuck the bolt and the case. Gave the guy a good lecture. Don't know if the gun survived. He never came back.
I use 30-06 for 270, 7mm for 6mm Rem and 308 for 243. I would not think of doing it without neck reaming

I have room around the case necks of the 308 that I sized to 243 & I didn't ream.

JerryND said:

308 cases sized to 243 MUST have the neck reamed. Inside or outside.
I would not think of doing it without neck reaming

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Certainly a good idea as the brass could get pretty thick, but depending on the chamber it may not be necessary. I certainly wouldn't start fire-forming with max loads but many factory chambers are cut with a bit of extra tolerance. My Ruger that is chambered in 260 has some extra room around the neck and will fire 308 brass with no reaming. But I would not bet your life on having an over-sized chamber. All my fire-forming is done at min loads and I check the brass specs before I put them in a batch for full power loads. Now if you have a very tight tolerance chamber you can certainly have some issues with necking down 1.5 mm but many of the factory rifles out there are cut with some extra room and brass may only need trimming and not reaming.