Uncle Norm
Well-Known Member
In anticipation of my new .260 that James (jagerSA) is doing for me, I bought a new set of Redding .260Rem dies.
I had sought some advice from one of our members so didn't anticipate any problems with forming some of my Norma .243 cases into .260Rem.
I got five .243 cases that had not been touched since being last fired, cleaned, flared the mouth and lubricated the case and the inside of the neck.
The .260 FL length die would not enter the neck without using excessive force .
So I removed the stem and looked at the expander ball. I noticed that the leading edge of the Redding expander ball has a knurled section to enable it to be tightened onto the rod that holds the de-capping pin. This knurled section was binding fiercely on the mouth of the .243 case and there was no way that it would enter and pass through to reform the neck.
Whilst I am an experienced home loader, I have never formed brass from one cartridge into another.
So it looks like Murphy's Law has struck and I have got the wrong dies for this particular job. One of our members has advised that he has no problem in reforming .243 to .260 using RCBS dies but I don't fancy the additional expense of buying another set of dies.
Perhaps I need to forget this idea and buy a hundred Lapua .260Rem cases ? Anyone got any better ideas or even some .260Rem brass for sale ?
I had sought some advice from one of our members so didn't anticipate any problems with forming some of my Norma .243 cases into .260Rem.
I got five .243 cases that had not been touched since being last fired, cleaned, flared the mouth and lubricated the case and the inside of the neck.
The .260 FL length die would not enter the neck without using excessive force .
So I removed the stem and looked at the expander ball. I noticed that the leading edge of the Redding expander ball has a knurled section to enable it to be tightened onto the rod that holds the de-capping pin. This knurled section was binding fiercely on the mouth of the .243 case and there was no way that it would enter and pass through to reform the neck.
Whilst I am an experienced home loader, I have never formed brass from one cartridge into another.
So it looks like Murphy's Law has struck and I have got the wrong dies for this particular job. One of our members has advised that he has no problem in reforming .243 to .260 using RCBS dies but I don't fancy the additional expense of buying another set of dies.
Perhaps I need to forget this idea and buy a hundred Lapua .260Rem cases ? Anyone got any better ideas or even some .260Rem brass for sale ?