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forming 7-30 Waters brass

OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
edited February 2006 in Perry Shooter Competition Shooting and Reloading Forum
I've searched the archives & found a lot of information but I haven't seen an answer to my question. I will be buying a carbine barrel for my G-2 Contender in 7-30 Waters soon. I have a number of 25-35 Winchester cases (some are loaded) that were left over from a previous Contender barrel & I'm interested in making 7-30 Waters brass out of it. Can I simply fire-form the brass by shooting it in a 7-30 Waters chamber & then sizing in 7-30 Waters dies & trimming it? I realize the bullet won't touch the bore much, but will it hurt anything? Thanks.
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Comments

  • surekillsurekill Member Posts: 1,926 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    DON"T DO THAT!!!!!!!! 25cal at of a 7mm OUCH!
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  • OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A friend of mine accidentally shot a .300 Win Mag cartridge through a .300 Wby Mag rifle once. He was banging away at a coyote on the far side of a draw & didn't even notice at the time. When he picked up his brass one case had no neck. Other than that it looked like a .300 Wby Mag. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. I was thinking maybe it would be really low pressure with all that open space. What do you suppose it would do anyway? For some reason curiosity & cats comes to mind.
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  • OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    After I logged off last night I was thinking about this & I was wrong. It was not a .300 Win Mag he shot through a .300 Wby Mag, it was a 7mm Rem Mag he shot through a .300 Wby Mag. It's been 20 years ago, give or take. (Call it a senior moment if you like.) At any rate I suppose it's not a good idea to do something like that on purpose, but at $1.40 each for empty brass from MidwayUSA I was considering it.
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  • Tailgunner1954Tailgunner1954 Member Posts: 7,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    My question is, A) why wouold you waste a bunch of unfired 25-35 ammo and B) why would you pay that much just to et the correct headstamp?
    30-30 Win brass is so common it's practacly free (esp if you look in the trash can at the gun range). Do what Ken did in the first place, simply size, trim and load 30-30 brass with 7mm bullets
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  • mrbrucemrbruce Member Posts: 3,374
    edited November -1
    NOT A GOOD IDEA !!!!!!!

    Buying new brass will be lots cheaper than buying a new face.................
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  • rlnblkrlnblk Member Posts: 130 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tailgunner got it right. If you dont want to spring for the 7 -30 waters find some once fired 30 -30 brass and neck it down.When you neck the 30 cal brass down to 7mm it is a good idea to set your sizing die so your contender closes with a bit of resistance.This measure will prevent premature failure in the case web.
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  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    bag of winchester brass $12
    sizing die $15
    keeping your plastic surgeon without work,..priceless

    just take a bag of 30/30 brass and run it through the 7-30 waters sizing die with a good coat of wax.
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  • OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ok. I get it. Thanks.
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  • surekillsurekill Member Posts: 1,926 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    [?][?].....A good coat of WAX.....[?][?] What do you mean by this?
    I use case lube.
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  • sandwarriorsandwarrior Member Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm going to third everybody's motion not to do this. You won't get brass that's useable if you shoot 25-35 oout of this barrel.
    YOU WILL HAVE EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT IF YOU DO WHAT IS DESCRIBED ABOVE and form brass from 30-30 Win. Please do this and keep the common sense reputation of gun owners, shooters and reloaders safe.

    To expound upon this a little bit. You can firefom the case but you can NEVER fireform the neck. Even if you get lucky and don't kill/severely injure yourself, the neck won't ever come out like you want. That needs to be done with close tolerance equipment. When you fireform a case you are merely blowing out the brass 'bladder', but the pressure is still contained in the neck of the cartridge. Change this and you have no even containment of pressure.

    Something of note, the most warnings you see besides putting way too much of the wrong powder in a case are to look for bullet diameters. This also relates to neck diameter. This is probably one of the two most critical measurements to a case. The other being headspace. -good luck and stay safe
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  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Die Wax[;)]
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  • OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by sandwarrior
    To expound upon this a little bit. You can firefom the case but you can NEVER fireform the neck.


    Thank you. That's all I wanted to know.
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  • farfromnormalfarfromnormal Member Posts: 247 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Don't want to harp, but "rlnblk" has it correct. Start with new or once fired .30-30 brass. Using your 7-30 Waters sizer die, adjust it so that when you put the just sized brass in the chamber and close the action, there is a slight amount of resistence felt when closing the action. This will probably take several adjustments to get it right. From past experience, I can tell you that you will lose a number of cases when fireformed. Check them very close, they usually get pin holes near the shoulder. I have been using .30-30 cases for my 7-30 T/C Contender for years. Once formed, they last for quite awhile.
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  • OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    When I made the original post I had just looked at new unfired brass at MidwestUSA. It was $29 for a box of 20. I have since learned that I can buy a box of factory loaded Federal ammo for $21. This makes no sense to me at all but it's a fact. So, I'll buy four or five boxes of factory ammo & go from there.
    I won the bidding on some dies & they should be here next week. 23" 7-30 Waters Contender carbine barrels are supposed to be available by March 6th so I'll order the barrel & ammo together & I'll be good to go.
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