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Forming .375 brass from ?x 30-30 with pics

12K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  fingers284 
#1 ·
So I am getting set up to reload very slowly. My New Old Stock Hornady dies came in the mail, I bought $2 of bullets at a show, and I had some ancient 30-30 cases appear.

Tried to fully expand them and destroyed 3 cases in a few seconds. Neck split or buckled case. Then I did this. My partially expanded 30-30 brass next to geniune .375 brass. Is this safe to use with light loads (assuming I find cast at the next show).

Of course I could buy real brass and real bullets, where is the fun in that when I can use up junk while looking for a .377 Lyman expander plug. Plus, I can freak out the guys at deer camp, with my alternative to crimping.



 
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#3 ·
Yeah that makes me nervous just looking at it. :eek: When making a big step up in sizing it is a good idea to do it in stages. Example...run your brass thru a 32 sizing die, then a .35, before the final .377 die. Lube the inside lightly with a neck brush and you won't crunch as many cases.
Good Luck
 
#4 ·
Here's a better idea..........put about 6 grains of Bullseye in your primed 30-30 brass, add cornmeal or instant oats to fill the case, add a TP wad on top, then go outside and point the gun skyward as you load the shell. Pull the trigger, and you have a fire-formed case, ready to trim and load.



This is the efficient (lazy) way to do it. I should know, I'm both! 8)
 
#6 ·
Instant oats, pot of cowboy coffee and that TP sounds like a great way to start camp to me. ;D DP
 
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#9 ·
Very cool PJ!, how full is "fill the case"? up to where it necks down? How tight do you pack in the TP? I may just do that because I'm a bit short on brass for the 375. Mr fixit
 
#11 ·
A better wad? Use a bar of soap to make your case forming over-oats wad. Just add the powder, then the oats, leave about an eighth inch in the neck above the oats and then jam the cart case neck into the bar of soap. Give it a twist and a perfect soap wad is created! A bar of paraffin candle wax works almost as good as soap too.

I used to make lead shot, snake loads for my .44 Mag pistols like that with soap wads. Take a .30-40 Krag or .303 Brit case, then cut them off slightly less than the cylinder's length. Prime the case, add 6 or 7 grains of Unique, then a paper wad, then some lead shot, stick the case mouth into the soap for a nice wad to seal it all up, and then fire it to fire-form the case to make it a perfect fit. It will then hold a little more lead shot the next time you reload it.

Yep, soap wads are old tricks.
 
#13 ·
I did all my fire-forming at the range, took all the stuff with me. Bullseye, Cream of Wheat, primed brass, a funnel, and the proper Lee scoop.

Scoop the proper powder charge into each case, pour in Cream of Wheat to top it off, point the gun up, load the round and fire. Voila.

Then enjoy fireformed brass and the aroma of scorched Cream of Wheat. The bacon flavor smells great! 8)
 
#14 ·
The three photos I done while making this taper die. I have in the past made up an eliptical expander for my expander 38-55 expander die. Lube the 30-30s and one stroke does it.

Easiest way to obtain an expander is for Lee dies, you buy an expander decapper for a .375 H&H and put it in your .375 or 38-55 die and lube the inside of the case neck of the 30-30

The tapered expander I made from the old die, I have made many 30-30s into .375s in one stroke by lubing the inside of the neck. This is what you need to do to do yours without splitting. Else do some intermediate expanding.

Good luck.
 

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#15 ·
If your brass has been fired 9 out of 10 will split when you shoot them,unless you anneal them first.When I fireform 30/30 AI from 30/30 that have been fired,they split unless they are annealed first.After I had the 30/30 AI turned into a 30/30 cowboy I annealed 30/30 AI brass that had been fired 5 times and made it back into plain 30/30 brass again.Some of it has been shot 3 more times.After you anneal the cases you won't loose many necking them up to .375 or fireforming them.Otherwise you'll likely loose most of the cases.
 
#17 ·
dgslr said:
If your brass has been fired 9 out of 10 will split when you shoot them,unless you anneal them first.
Nine out of ten? Bullpucky. I have yet to lose a single case to splitting. Annealing is helpful, but not always required. If your brass is old or work-hardened, then yes. But just because it's been fired doesn't automatically mean it's going to split.
 
#18 ·
That's because of the smell, PJ. Who's gonna "split" with the smell of bacon cookin, not me. ::) ;D I agree, I have fireformed 7-30 waters brass from 30-30 brass and have never lost a case, and that is harder on the brass than blowing it out straight. With the 7-30 case, the shoulder is blown forward while maintaining a neck, thinning out the shoulder area. DP
 
#19 ·
papajohn said:
Nine out of ten? Bullpucky. I have yet to lose a single case to splitting. Annealing is helpful, but not always required. If your brass is old or work-hardened, then yes. But just because it's been fired doesn't automatically mean it's going to split.

I put over 5000 rounds thru my Marlin 30/30 AI and fired brass always split when I tried to fireform it without annealing.New unfired brass doesn't split.In the TC Contender 30/30 AI carbine barrel the shoulder is .050 farther forward then the Marlin and it is much harder on brass then the Marlin I loose a couple out of every 100 new brass when fireforming for it.The 14 in Contender AI I have has a shorter chamber then either of the others.Its more brass friendly then the other two.
 
#21 ·
Hipshot said:
Is it necessary to use new TP to cover the cream of wheat or CAN YOU GO GREEN and use recycled TP ? ;D
Hipster, you can use anything that floats yer boat, provided you're at least 50 miles away from me and downwind! ;)
 
#22 ·
You could use plain cream of wheat if you use bacon fat to seal the end. Might add some pepper to season the bore while you're at it. ;D
 
#23 ·
Alright, after a few pm's to PJ I went ahead and properly annealed (I hope) 40 30-30 cases. I did go to you tube and watched a few vids there as well, "proper" annealing in ones eyes is not so in someone elses it seems. Opinions went from a darkish blue color to cherry red and then into the water. I did 20 cases somewhat close to the blue tip of a low flame, and another 20 with the case about an inch from the blue flame. I will tell you this, after annealing the metal is VERY malible (sp) and if over heated you can crush the case with your thumb and fore finger! I did that purposely to the case you see in the following pics.
After annealing I put them through the sizer with the pin for punching the primer out extended quite a bit so as to not resize the cases at all, I chambered a few in the 375 and all seems well, one has to be careful about sending that soft metal up into the sizing die however, this one didn't quite make it and I dinged the mouth. This is also the same case I referred to above about overheating, that pic follows thes two.
Red arrow is the original ding, green from the thumb


I was able to reform this case which did a 32" dive from the work bench to the floor by using the sizing die just enough to round it out again.

First batch of cases held close to the blue flame

2nd batch held about 1" from the blue flame

So now I've got a few crumby vids to show of how I did the annealing in a very ugly setting ::) the point being was to see the case change color, I'm sure that I will find out if I did good or the metal is too soft when I reload for the .375 win. Hope this helps someone, BUT more importantly I hope someones pipes in if it's wrong! Clicking on the pics with the flame should open the vid, in the last one take note that the flame is more centered in the middle of the neck instead of towards the tip. Mr fixit


2ND batch here,
 
#24 ·
I have been using a drill and a propane torch for 30 years or so like your did in the pic's.I just do it to the point that they change colors.One way to see what it takes to just discolor the cases with little chance of over heating them is to hold the case in your fingers.If you don't burn your fingers the case head didn't get over heated.I've made 444 case's from 30/06 case's that way.There is a marker,similar to a grease pencil, that you can buy at a welding supply that are temp specific.They come in different temp ranges.You mark the case neck and when heat is applied tells you when that temp range has been reached.I don't remember the correct name for them or if they change color or the mark melts.A senior moment I guess.I have one somewhere that I used to use for annealing case's.If I find it I'll add the correct name.
 
#25 ·
I had asked a welder at work about what temp range (read color) the brass should be, he said go to the welding supply store and get temp sticks, sounds about what you're describing. Only question is How hot is hot enough? Hey Old Welder....Where for art thou?? ;D ;D Mr fixit
 
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