Thread: 260 Rem Neck up or Down

My brother shoots a 260 Rem with Lapua brass. Trouble is there is very little Lapua brass around at prices that you can justify so the other option is to expand 243 brass up or neck down 7-08. The question is what is the better option?

Thanks
Jeremy

Looking forward to the answer to this! Also is it as simple as buying the above brass and running it through your full length sizing die followed by measuring and trimming case if required?

As far as i am aware necking down is a little more desirable than necking up if you have a choice, more chance of donuts forming when necking up, as part of the shoulder is formed into the base of the neck when necking up, often causing the base of the neck to be thicker and needing neck turning to remove it.

A couple of the cartridges i reload i do both and have more trouble with the ones i neck up.

I size up .243 cases to 7mm08 no problems with donuts or any other strange things happening, even easier if the .243's have been fired they are half way there,
donuts are only a problem when neck turning, if you are going to do a lot of .243 cases would pay to get a Lyman M die to expand them much easier than the expander button
in the FL die

I have a set of Sinclair expander mandrels so its no problem going up from 243. I have necked .404 Jeffery down to 330 Dakota in several stages so can manage the 7-08 down to 260 its only a small step. Either way you will end up with slightly thicker of thinner neck wall thickness.

The Lapua 260 brass is well worth buying.

You will always eventually get donuts with Lapua brass necking up, the shoulder is thicker brass than the neck.

Not a problem if you can throat the cartridge appropriately otherwise it can be problematic.

I beg to differ on the 308 case neck down, I have done it to military cases. So no head stamp issue as it only has a year and brand name. Yes I had to neck turn the cases, but I have the gear to do it anyways.
I have lots of time for little projects like that and turning the cases into 260 rem was an enjoyable process and to me not a waste of time.
It groups well too and I had no issues with consistency.
As always its horses for courses, if you can get it and afford it buy what you want / like to shoot. The other advantage I see is that when I fire a round and work the action to reload the rifle, I'm not looking on the ground for $2 worth of brass..... I've seen a lot of shooters do that.

If you are buying 708 Lapua cases to start with though I dont see it being that gooder of an idea. Possibly if you already have 708 Lapua cases, flick them off to buy the 260 Lapua.

The only issue with necking down .308 to 7-08 is the necks end up short. They still work and shoot OK but there's the -possibility- of a carbon ring building up in the exposed neck region of the chamber. This would cause issues for later chambering of std length cases.

Originally Posted by 6x47

The only issue with necking down .308 to 7-08 is the necks end up short. They still work and shoot OK but there's the -possibility- of a carbon ring building up in the exposed neck region of the chamber. This would cause issues for later chambering of std length cases.

& down to 260 will make it even worse.

Not to mention Military cases are big & strong, they have limited internal capacity so pressures can get pretty high & if a slower powder is used it probably won't fit in....

a bit of intresting info here as i was considering necking down some rem 7mm08 brass as i have a hundred of them. but probably easier just to buy the .260 lapua brass when i need some,

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

& down to 260 will make it even worse.

Not to mention Military cases are big & strong, they have limited internal capacity so pressures can get pretty high & if a slower powder is used it probably won't fit in....

Yep case capacity is diminished, I got about 52.5 grains capacity compared to a 260 case that typically ran 55.5. electing to use a faster powder (2208) and light projectiles ( 120 Grain ) meant it all stayed within safe parameters. The case length was ok as these were fired cases from 308 and as a now newly made 260 case were within tolerances. If that makes sense

so with factory rem 7mm08 brass would i be ok with sizing the 7mm08 to .260 without neck turning, i want to try it but i dont want to get a stuck case in my dies or stuff them in any way.

Originally Posted by tonyd

so with factory rem 7mm08 brass would i be ok with sizing the 7mm08 to .260 without neck turning, i want to try it but i dont want to get a stuck case in my dies or stuff them in any way.

As long as you lube it properly you wont have any trouble with your dies.

You only need to neck turn if the loaded neck is too big for your chamber.