HELP 6.5 SAUM Brass from 7mm SAUM

[Deviant]

So I missed the first round of Bertram 6.5 Saum brass and they are sold out. I see they have 7 mm Saum brass in stock yet. I do neck turn a lot of my brass just for consistency and because I am OCD when it comes to my brass. But I have never necked down any brass to a new caliber. I also do not want to overturn the necks to where they are too thin and sizing the case over works the neck after firing which may be possible with 6.5 brass since I am using a non bushing full-length sizing die.

So would I be better off to just buy 7 mm Saum brass and run it through my whidden 6.5mm full-length Sizer die, trim to length and turn down the necks to .015 or am I missing a step or two?

 

[horse killer]

There are two good videos on you tube one made by George Gardner and one from Area 419 watch both and it will tell you everything you need to know

 

[orch]

hey There...
Definitely check out the two vids horse killer mentioned... there is also an old thread on snipers hide that George Gardner had posted on going in depth on their brass prep...

What reamer was used for your chamber? There are a couple different specs for the GAP reamers... ie tight neck, no-turn etc ... that may dictate wether you are actually going to need to turn or not..

I have been using nosler 300rsaum brass to make mine, necked down in two steps and turn to 0.015" and trim to consistent length (300 is shorter than 7mm rsaum so it ends up well short of my max oal on the chamber) I ended up using a Mason reamer so it isn't the same specs as the gap reamers, but that's beside the point..

If you don't know the exact specs on your chamber as far as neck goes I'd prep up one peice, turn to 15thou, load it, measure your loaded neck, fire it, measure fired neck, then size it in your non-bushing die without your expander and track how much you are moving the neck each step.... chances are you will find the non bushing die squeezes it down way more than you need (anything more than about 3 thou under loaded diameter and you will be moving the brass said amount with your expander) if you want you could turn the necks thinner so the expander doesn't have to push it back out as much, however that means ever firing it will be able to push it out that much more to seal on the neck of the chamber...
bushing dies allow you to get around that... if you are worried about work hardening brass annealing will definitely help, I aneal about every third firing and one of my lots of 50 brass is on its 15th firing and still going strong...

Orch

 

[Deviant]

hey There...
Definitely check out the two vids horse killer mentioned... there is also an old thread on snipers hide that George Gardner had posted on going in depth on their brass prep...

What reamer was used for your chamber? There are a couple different specs for the GAP reamers... ie tight neck, no-turn etc ... that may dictate wether you are actually going to need to turn or not..

I have been using nosler 300rsaum brass to make mine, necked down in two steps and turn to 0.015" and trim to consistent length (300 is shorter than 7mm rsaum so it ends up well short of my max oal on the chamber) I ended up using a Mason reamer so it isn't the same specs as the gap reamers, but that's beside the point..

If you don't know the exact specs on your chamber as far as neck goes I'd prep up one peice, turn to 15thou, load it, measure your loaded neck, fire it, measure fired neck, then size it in your non-bushing die without your expander and track how much you are moving the neck each step.... chances are you will find the non bushing die squeezes it down way more than you need (anything more than about 3 thou under loaded diameter and you will be moving the brass said amount with your expander) if you want you could turn the necks thinner so the expander doesn't have to push it back out as much, however that means ever firing it will be able to push it out that much more to seal on the neck of the chamber...
bushing dies allow you to get around that... if you are worried about work hardening brass annealing will definitely help, I aneal about every third firing and one of my lots of 50 brass is on its 15th firing and still going strong...

Orch

Great Advice Orch, Its getting chambered now but all I know is that it is a 6.5 RSAUM with a .081 throat I believe. I will call Snowy Mountain Monday and find out.
I actually want to turn the necks so I know they are consistent but I have never used Bertram brass and maybe its good enough that I don't need to.

Thanks, Al

 

[Deviant]

There are two good videos on you tube one made by George Gardner and one from Area 419 watch both and it will tell you everything you need to know

Thanks for the advice I will check them out.

Thanks, Al

 

[Deleted member 25294]

I use Norma 7saum brass and it's super easy to form it to 6.5.
I run it through a FL sizer, then an expander mandrel, trim, and neck turn.
I set my neck Turner to barely contact the case so that it's uniform, also use a pilot reamer to eliminate inside donuts.
Don't be intimidated, it's very straightforward