Necking down .280 Rem to 25.06 ?

[dmills]

I have been collecting 30-06 and .270 cases at the range for use in my 25-06 Handi Rifle. Recently, a guy was shooting .280 Rem factory ammo, so I collected his cases also, knowing that the .280 was based on the 30-06 cartridge, like the .270 and the 25-06.

I have read that the ".280 Remington is an offspring of the .30-06 with its shoulder angle moved forward to prevent it from being accidentally chambered in a rifle of .270 Winchester caliber."

I resized, trimed case, and seated a test bullet. Action on the 25-06 would not close. So am I correct in concluding that the .280 will not resize to 25-06? Conversely, can you resize 30-06 to .280, using a .280 full length die?

Thanks, Don.

 

[LHB1]

You can resize any of the following cases to .25-06 IF you have a sturdy press and full length sizing dies: .270, .280, 7mm-06, 7mm Express, .30-06, BUT you may need to trim the case length and/or ream the neck thickness. That being said, I always preferred to buy new ammo or new brass in the correct caliber to start with. That way, the brass had never been fired in any other rifle chamber. Just one or two less headaches to worry about.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[hoghunting]

On firing, the brass also becomes hardened. It is much better and easier to neck up or neck down unfired brass. 25-06 brass is easily obtainable. Just buy a couple hundred new cases and load up.

 

[griz]

You should be able to do it. To find out what is keeping the test round from chambering, you could color the shoulder and neck are with smoke or a sharpie, and see what is hitting first. My guess is you didn't size down far enough on the shoulder, but it is just a guess.

 

[Ol` Joe]

Trim your cases.

The 280 has a max case lenght of 2.540", the 25-06 is 2.494". You also are likely getting some lenghtening from necking down the case. Cases grow when necked down and stay the same/shrink when necked up. Necks also can thicken when necked down.
I would do as the other posters suggested and just buy proper headstamped brass. The price isn`t bad and there is no playing around with them.
JMO..........

 

[koja48]

I only use new brass or once-fired factory brass (fired in my rifle). Never tried necking-down, nor do I intend to . . . just my preference, I reckon.

 

[Grumulkin]

"I only use new brass or once-fired factory brass (fired in my rifle). Never tried necking-down, nor do I intend to . . . just my preference, I reckon."

You have never really lived as a handloader or paid your dues until you have necked up, necked down, reconfigured or otherwise messed around with cases and got them to work for something they weren't originally designed to work for.

 

[koja48]

You have never really lived as a handloader or paid your dues until you have necked up, necked down, reconfigured or otherwise messed around with cases and got them to work for something they weren't originally designed to work for.

Reckon I'll skip that aspect of handloading life & just save those dues . . .

 

[highlander 5]

25'06 brass is plentiful,why go thru the hassle of reforming a case that is commercially available? Now if you had a rifle that brass was hard to come by or non existent that's another story.
Case in point several years ago I had an 1885 Browning SS rebarreled to 40/65 Win ,no brass available at that time so I made the cases from 45/70 Govt brass took a bit of time to reform the cases but it was worth it and 1 month later Starline started making empty brass and not long after that PMC made loaded ammo Go figure

 

[dmills]

Thanks for the replies. If I decide to try again with the .280's, I'll blacken the neck and shoulder to see where the problem is. I suspect that Gris is correct in that the die was not run deep enough to reshape the shoulder.

Some of you may not have read the statement in my original post that I had trimmed the cases, so it is not case length causing the problem.

For those of you whose only advice was to use new brass or only 25-06 brass, those replies don't really address the question. I understand and respect your opinions, but do not agree. I have purchased sufficient factory ammo and am reloading that after shooting from my rifle, only. I have also purchased new 25-06 brass and and reloading and shooting that. I have picked up 30-06 (plentiful) and .270 (not so much) from the range when I know it is once fired because I want to experience resizing brass. It may well be proven to be too much hassle in which case I'll stop resizing.

 

[koja48]

Then please accept my humble apology. I don't re-size, have never resized, won't advise on a subject with which I am not intimately familiar. I offered my opinion, only. Good luck & enjoy your .25 . . . it's a fine shooter.

 

[GooseGestapo]

DMills
Another thing you might want to check is the thickness of the necks. As others stated, sometimes the necks thicken when necking down and won't fit.

I've actually used this to my advantage. I found that the PMC .308 necks run rather thick and I formed some 7mm08. I then turned the necks down to where they just fit my Remington Mod7. Accuracy is the best of any of my brass.

Another thing is that in the reforming process, the brass has a bit of "spring" to it and your .25/06 die may not be taking it down quite enough to allow it to fit after the "springing" back up.

I ran into this with a new RCBS die in .257WbyMag that I was using to form 7mmMag brass into .257wby. I eventually had to turn down the base of the .257 die about .008" to get the reformed cases to chamber. But, again the result was worth the small effort. $1.25 brass cases for "free" or almost.

Keep on trying, you'll succeed, and learn something in the process.

 

[dmills]

GooseGestapo, I think it is not the neck size causing the problem. The case chambers all except the final 1/6-1/8 inch. I agree with you that it is probably a problem with the case springing back (in the shoulder area).

And Koja48, absolutely no apology needed. I did not intend to sound critical of you (or anyone else for having or giving the opinion). Just wanted to get my .02 in on the topic, since it was raised.

 

[CZ223]

Adventures in case forming

D Mills, I had a 25-06 and let me say that I wish I had never sold it. It is one of those calibers that I will have again. I have re-formed cases from both the 270 and the 30-06 and have had no problems with either. I have never used the 280 and I think that you have honed in on the problem anyway. When reforming from 30 caliber down to 25 caliber I would use a 270 die first then complete the process with the 25 cal die. While it is a little more labor intensive it seemed to be easier on both me and the case. I found my loads using reformed cases to be as accurate as any of my factory cases. I did this more as a means of saving money. Free 30-06 cases are plentiful around my local range if you hit it right. I have picked up in excess of 300 rounds of once fired at one time. It sure beat spending $25 (app.) a hundred on them. I don't know which bullet you are using but I had great success with the Sierra 117gr BT and H4831 although I don't recall the exact amount right now.