Necking down brass for 25-06

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Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by 308cool » 07 Apr 2017, 3:41 pm

Hi,
I've recently purchased a new 25-06 and broken it in with some factory ammo but I'm now going to start reloading for it. However the main issue is, Lapua does not make 25-06 brass and norma has a backorder of 4500 packets of 25-06 brass and is only fulfilling 1000 of those with a shipment in late June, so realistically I doubt I will ever find it in stock and will have to always back order it. I've heard too many bad stories about other brass companies, and to be honest, norma is cheaper when bought in 100 packs compared to Hornady and Nosler. So I'm wanting to buy some brass from related cartridges and neck it down to 25-06. Would it be better to do this with .270 or .30-06? Also what is the process involved? Do I simply just put the brass in my 25-06 neck sizing die and thats it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
- Browing X-Bolt .25-06 / Meopta Meopro 4-12x50
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by Bent Arrow » 07 Apr 2017, 5:19 pm

Can't help with your question, but what rifle did you buy? Ahh scrap that, it's on your signature............ How's it shoot?
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by 308cool » 07 Apr 2017, 6:24 pm

bentaz wrote:
1491549860245-560435627.jpg
1491549812326-39562884.jpg
1491549903848369257513.jpg

Thanks a lot for that. That sounds simple with just a bit of trimming involved!
Only thing is I've just done a bit of reading and some people say its possible to get necks too thick which would mean I'd have to get a head turner. This has kind of scared me about attempting this with my little reloading experience. Maybe since this is my first time reloading I should start off by doing something a bit more beginner friendly then trying to reform my own brass and get 25-06 headstamped brass.
How does sako brass stack up to norma and lapua?
Cheers
- Browing X-Bolt .25-06 / Meopta Meopro 4-12x50
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by 308cool » 07 Apr 2017, 6:46 pm

bentaz wrote:Na just have a crack mate, 270 will give you thinner necks, but i wouldnt be two concerned.
I have done similar with 303 necked down to 303-25 with no problems.

Alright cheers,
might go 270 then as its easier to trim then neck turn.
Thanks
- Browing X-Bolt .25-06 / Meopta Meopro 4-12x50
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by Cooper » 07 Apr 2017, 7:20 pm

270 brass does sound the easiest. If you have to reform it. I'd would still check the neck thickness. I thought Sako brass was make by Norma.
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by 308cool » 07 Apr 2017, 10:41 pm

Thanks for the help guys, I will buy a neck turner regardless of wether I use 30-06 or 270 and trim the necks. However, how do I find out what I need to neck turn the cases down too? Ive kept the brass from the factory ammo I fired in the gun and the OD of the necks is 0.290".
If I buy a neck turner, should I also buy the concentricity gauge?
Cheers
- Browing X-Bolt .25-06 / Meopta Meopro 4-12x50
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by straightshooter » 08 Apr 2017, 10:32 pm

I have made 25/06 from Remington 270 and Norma 30/06.
The Rem 270 formed without problems but then needed a lot of tedious trimming. The batch I used seemed a little soft in the head area and had a problem satisfactorily handling full power loads.
The Norma 30/06 when reformed didn't need trimming and behaved as normally expected when loaded. However they did need an intermediate necking to 270. When going straight to 25/06 I got collapsed shoulders. I did learn a trick and that was to anneal just the top portion of the neck which then allowed resizing to 25/06 in one pass. I then did a full anneal of the neck.
I would recommend using 30/06 brass if you aren't worried by a bit of annealing.
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by 308cool » 09 Apr 2017, 3:03 pm

straightshooter wrote:I have made 25/06 from Remington 270 and Norma 30/06.
The Rem 270 formed without problems but then needed a lot of tedious trimming. The batch I used seemed a little soft in the head area and had a problem satisfactorily handling full power loads.
The Norma 30/06 when reformed didn't need trimming and behaved as normally expected when loaded. However they did need an intermediate necking to 270. When going straight to 25/06 I got collapsed shoulders. I did learn a trick and that was to anneal just the top portion of the neck which then allowed resizing to 25/06 in one pass. I then did a full anneal of the neck.
I would recommend using 30/06 brass if you aren't worried by a bit of annealing.

Sounds like a plan, annealing looks much easier/cheaper then neck turning.
One other possible thing I thought about is, once I FL size 30-06/270 to 25-06 and the neck thickness increases, would then neck sizing the brass with something like the lee collet neck sizer (25-06), shift that thickness into extra length in the brass so all I'd have to do is trim it a bit?
Cheers
- Browing X-Bolt .25-06 / Meopta Meopro 4-12x50
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by straightshooter » 10 Apr 2017, 8:16 am

308cool wrote:Sounds like a plan, annealing looks much easier/cheaper then neck turning.
One other possible thing I thought about is, once I FL size 30-06/270 to 25-06 and the neck thickness increases, would then neck sizing the brass with something like the lee collet neck sizer (25-06), shift that thickness into extra length in the brass so all I'd have to do is trim it a bit?
Cheers

Everything depends on which type and brand of brass you use.
270 starts out a 100 thou longer than 30-06 or 25-06 so that means a lot of trimming. 30-06 should need just a cleanup trim.
The increase in neck thickness is insignificant. You need a tubing micrometer to accurately measure neck thickness, a vernier can't measure the inner curve of the neck accurately.
I have had no problems in my custom 'tight' chamber and you shouldn't have any problems if yours is a normal commercial chamber.
I haven't bothered with neck turning as accuracy has been completely satisfactory but if you wanted to, an 80% coverage cleanup skim to make the neck uniform in thickness won't hurt although you also might not see any gain.
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by BBJ » 10 Apr 2017, 1:30 pm

308cool wrote:Only thing is I've just done a bit of reading and some people say its possible to get necks too thick which would mean I'd have to get a head turner.


The same could be said of any necking down. Go from a larger to smaller neck and they'll be a little thicker.

As long as you're not doing some ridiculous step down from an overly large case it won't matter. Might me a pinch tight seating the bullets first time after the neck down, but the necks will stretch and thin with firing and find their norm.

Use the closest case you can find to go down from and it'll be sweet.
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Re: Necking down brass for 25-06

Post by <<Genesis93>> » 10 Apr 2017, 5:34 pm

As mentioned, 270 and 280 (64.52mm) are longer than the 25-06 and 30-06(63.35), so going down from 270/280 would be a smidge easier but trimming WOULD be necessary as they would exceed the minimum CHAMBER of the 25-06(and 30-06) which is 63.55mm...

Though the neck might be a bit thicker and need attention....
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