Thread: 7x64 forming brass

So, thanks to @Hazzid, ive had a play at forming 7x64 brass from .280 rem.

Long story short, it works, just full length resize a .280 rem case in a 7x64, trim, and off you go. Having not formed brass before, sizing does take some effort and therefore stuck cases are a possibility.

Incidentally I also learned that stuck cases are much easier to get out if you put the offending die in the freezer for a couple of hours. One that wouldn’t budge (tap and socket method) came out no issue at all....

Is it worth the hassle? Probably not, but at least I know you can do it in a pinch!

Still a little bit of fire-forming to push the shoulder forward by a millimetre or so, is that right ?

Not with .280, yes for .270. The .280 shoulder seems to be far enough forward, in fact I had to make sure the die was bottoming out or else they wouldn’t chamber (also measured with a comparator).

Invest in some Imperial die wax that will solve the stuck case issue

Originally Posted by Puffin

Still a little bit of fire-forming to push the shoulder forward by a millimetre or so, is that right ?

Sorry, specifically at the shoulder-body junction if I recall correctly from having compared the dimensions of both in the past.

With the neck-shoulder junction getting pushed back, and more taper added, lots of surfaces there where it will matter that the press bottoms out! I'm thinking that in the process of reducing the above dimensions maybe brass gets pushed into the shoulder-body junction to fill this small void. In theory it should be there, so this is something that can only be known by trying it out and inspecting the sized cases. I would be interested to hear if you noticed any sign of this - like a slight accumulation of the sizing wax just around the very outside extremity of the shoulder?

Good tip - I did notice a little bit of lube just on the end of the case body. I’ll measure with my headspace comparator using the next size or two up and see what I find. It’s not easy to eyeball them I find.

I was using Imperial sizing wax, but also nickel cases. Also my fault as I simply did something dumb. Cleaned die and a bit light on the first case. Next time though I’ll freeze the die before I go any further - it made a big different. Thermal expansion of brass is 1.5 times that of steel - as I now know!