Fire forming issues

[Rich Coyle]

I guess that's the way they all do it. Hornady wanted my cases also.

 

[J E Custom]

I have found that If I size the cases .002 to .004 thousandths Longer than the chamber (Like the Ackley's) they can be used with hunting accuracy and save the trouble and components in addition to barrel life.

If the round is held in place by the case, there is no need to seat the bullet against the lands for fire forming. Middle/medium loads for the parent case will do a nice job of fire forming. If you want/need to use full house loads for the type of hunting you do then these fire forming loads can be used for varmints or targets.

J E CUSTOM

 

[L.Sherm]

I agree JE. all my varment stuff I just load into the lands that need fireforming and shoot its suprising how accurate they can be. My hunting stuff I fireform then reload seated off the lands.

 

[Rhovee]

If you don't do a false shoulder on this your going to have major issues with your brass. Case head separation, etc. false shoulder followed by jamming bullets 15 thou is what I would do. This is why lots of people do 7-300 wsm or 270-wsm chambers.

 

[bigred1]

I don't mean to hyjack this thread, but what about resizing from 300WSM to 325WSM.
I have a 325 and just thought that all I'd needed to do was run some 300 brass into my 325 die. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[25WSM]

Just a few light additions to know here. If you are doing a bunch of fire forms with a tight false shoulder or a heavy neck tension make sure you keep the lugs on your bolt lived offer. The pressure of closing the bolt on these swipe the grease off the lug and they can begin to gal. Another tip I learned long ago is 2 firings to get a full form is better than one heavy load. If you do a medium load and wipe a light film of oil on the cases when you fire it the case will push forward from the firing pin hit and then the preasure will bring it back to the bolt before the walls grip. Then the case can expand up top near the shoulder more and not through the web where it causes issues with separation. Cases done like this have about 90% formed shoulders now with just a slightly rounded body /shoulder junction. These can then be loaded how ever you want and are good to go. Hydrolic dies are great and so is cream of wheat method. I have never tried cream of wheat in anything bigger than a 6BRA. Can't help with that one. Works great for a first form in the small stuff. Personally on ppcs and bras I just fill it with the powder and no bullet and touch them off and they are ready to go. Where your ears they are loud like live rounds. Shoulders can be moved quite far so a 300 to a 7 is not the problem but correct procedures make it a simple task.
Shep

 

[Brush4646]

Just a few light additions to know here. If you are doing a bunch of fire forms with a tight false shoulder or a heavy neck tension make sure you keep the lugs on your bolt lived offer. The pressure of closing the bolt on these swipe the grease off the lug and they can begin to gal. Another tip I learned long ago is 2 firings to get a full form is better than one heavy load. If you do a medium load and wipe a light film of oil on the cases when you fire it the case will push forward from the firing pin hit and then the preasure will bring it back to the bolt before the walls grip. Then the case can expand up top near the shoulder more and not through the web where it causes issues with separation. Cases done like this have about 90% formed shoulders now with just a slightly rounded body /shoulder junction. These can then be loaded how ever you want and are good to go. Hydrolic dies are great and so is cream of wheat method. I have never tried cream of wheat in anything bigger than a 6BRA. Can't help with that one. Works great for a first form in the small stuff. Personally on ppcs and bras I just fill it with the powder and no bullet and touch them off and they are ready to go. Where your ears they are loud like live rounds. Shoulders can be moved quite far so a 300 to a 7 is not the problem but correct procedures make it a simple task.
Shep

A light film of oil on the case is the key.

 

[chav0_12]

I don't mean to hyjack this thread, but what about resizing from 300WSM to 325WSM.
I have a 325 and just thought that all I'd needed to do was run some 300 brass into my 325 die. Any help would be appreciated.

That should work fine, the only difference here is that the 7mm WSM has a shorter neck, slightly longer body so you can run into issues here. The 325 and 300 should be the same length and you shouldn't run into any issues. Nosler makes some really good 325 brass though so I personally wouldn't even mess with it because I don't think there's a need. I have a bunch of that Nosler brass for my 325, it's pricy but it's been great brass.

 

[nicholasjohn]

Theres other ways also if your worried about barrel life, as stated above a hydraulic. forming die from Whiddens or the cream of wheat method.

I tried the cream o' wheat method years ago with a 30-06 Ackley, and it didn't work very well. Please explain how you are doing it. I'm sure there is a trick to it, and I was doing something wrong. I took the method out of a book by Ken Howell, and it seemed like it should work, but the shoulders were all round ( like a Weatherby shoulder.) Fire-forming with bullets worked great, and I've read here that the Whidden hydraulic dies do, too. I guess they make the case a little long in the shoulder, and then push it back to correct headspace dimensions in a body sizing die, and this is how they get the shoulders squared up. Clever fellows ……….

 

[Sam Summey]

Seat your bullet longer. Your case floated forward in the chamber with the firing pin strike. Ideally, so the the rifle seats it the last few thousandths as you close the bolt. That way the case is held against the bolt face the entire time.

Bump the bullet into the lands enough to "firmly" hold the case head against the bolt face. You don't have to worry about excessive pressure, you are using minimum loads in an overly large chamber, it'll work out.

 

[25WSM]

I think the cream of wheat is perfect for small case as I stated before but just a case of powder up to the neck shoulder was also good and less messy and one less step. I would think on larger cases more powder and less cream of weight would be needed. I needed did it myself. And I sure would not do an 06 case full of bullseye. Repeat . I would not do it myself. I'm sure someone will have a good ratio for you too try. I would just do 5 grain increments of bullseye with cream of wheat till you hit 90% formed and call it a day. But really cheap bullets you will never use and medium loads will get you there with very little work and it's long been the standard for wildcatters. I wonder how many fire form loads po ackley fired over his life?
Shep

 

[bigred1]

That should work fine, the only difference here is that the 7mm WSM has a shorter neck, slightly longer body so you can run into issues here. The 325 and 300 should be the same length and you shouldn't run into any issues. Nosler makes some really good 325 brass though so I personally wouldn't even mess with it because I don't think there's a need. I have a bunch of that Nosler brass for my 325, it's pricy but it's been great brass.

Thanks I was a little worried about using the brass I just resized.

 

[L.Sherm]

I give up on the cream of wheat long ago also. I was doing it on small cases my fingers got wore out stuffing toilet paper tight in the neck.
Then I tried just reducing my load and jamming the bullet into the lands and I was surprised how accurate they shoot, for the last 15 years that's all I do it's worked great for me in probably 3,000 cases

 

[L.Sherm]

only difference here is that the 7mm WSM has a shorter neck, slightly longer body so you can run into issues here.

It's no different than AI ing a case.
One thing I do also, I anneal my cases before fire forming and I thing that helps the forming process.