6mm BR from cheap military brass?

[TaperPin]

Has anyone formed cases for this little guy? I have read numerous reports of guys just running annealed 308 brass into the 6br die, but that seems very very unlikely.

I don’t mind paying for decent brass like Lapua for accurate hunting loads, but this is going to be my primary plinking cartridge this year and a decent amount of loaded ammo is needed for weekend long prairie dog shoots and just to have around for plinking. The price of 500 pieces of brass about made me choke - literally close to $700.

I have some military brass that’s essentially free for the taking, so I’m going to see what kind of accuracy can be produced with small primer Lapua vs the large primer military. I remember forming dies used to be everywhere, but others must be thinking the same thing and forming dies are few and far between. A factory set of forming dies seemed to include 4 dies, so I’m making up a hodgepodge collection that hopefully works. I was able to find 6mm and 7mm forming dies, but for 30 cal, 35 cal, or .375 nothing close.

The shoulder is more narrow and less of an angle with 308 and 358 win, but I ordered regular sizing dies and the poorly thought out plan is to cut 1/2” off them with a grinder. They are just too narrow and will need to be honed .010” or so just so the die will clear the majority of the body - or leave them and blow the body to full size on first fireforming.

The first stage I’m trying a cut down 375 H&H die - it would benefit from a little widening at the shoulder. I wasn’t going to use 5 dies, but the factory forming set uses 40 cal as the first stage. It just seems reasonable to go in more steps to match the used die’s available to be and maybe avoid annealing more than a couple times. The gentle shoulder angle of the H&H seems to be a good choice for squishing down a lot of brass. Idk

I’ll probably get tired of messing with them and eventually buy the correct forming dies. Lol

Forming will probably be the easy part - reaming the necks might be the real hitch in this plan.

 

[dog]

You are talking about a lot of work for mediocre brass in the end. Lapua is generally worth the price because of its longevity and consistency.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I know of one guy who did that to form .308 brass into .243. He claimed it worked great. I'm a bit skeptical as I never actually witnessed him doing it and I have never tried as I have enough .243 brass to last my lifetime.

I was just rummaging through some brass I got in an estate sale and it turns out I have 20 new Lapua cases in 6mm BR. You are welcome to them if interested. PM me and I'll send them.

 

[Bowfisher]

If you have more time than money, go for it. For me, it wouldn't be worth it, that's too much brass work. You're going to have to anneal at least twice and do some neck turning. I would pick up an extra day of work and buy some used 6BR off Accurate Shooter, but that's just me.

 

[wind gypsy]

Agree with others, seems like a lot of work. Keep your eye on snipershide classifieds. Google search shows some once fired lapua or 500 ct lots of peterson for under $1/ea that sold fairly recently there.

The cost per firing of BR is appealing because the brass will last forever and the low powder cost per rd but there just isn't a cheap brass option i'm aware of.

 

[TaperPin]

I was just rummaging through some brass I got in an estate sale and it turns out I have 20 new Lapua cases in 6mm BR. You are welcome to them if interested. PM me and I'll send them.

Thanks, that’s a really nice offer, but you should keep them for someone local to you - I’m swimming in Lapua and military brass.

If you have more time than money, go for it. For me, it wouldn't be worth it, that's too much brass work. You're going to have to anneal at least twice and do some neck turning. I would pick up an extra day of work and buy some used 6BR off Accurate Shooter, but that's just me.

Agree with others, seems like a lot of work. Keep your eye on snipershide classifieds. Google search shows some once fired lapua or 500 ct lots of peterson for under $1/ea that sold fairly recently there.

The cost per firing of BR is appealing because the brass will last forever and the low powder cost per rd but there just isn't a cheap brass option i'm aware of.

You guys are right - the time is way more expensive than the cost of factory brass, but I have a young helper who has never formed cases before so this is as much a learning exercise as it is a busy work project for him. Lol

 

[wyosam]

As others have stated, likely not worth it. However, sometimes extra time at the bench isn’t a bad thing. I wouldn’t mind having a similar project. I’m not shooting enough right now to stay busy in my man cave.


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[TaperPin]

As others have stated, likely not worth it. However, sometimes extra time at the bench isn’t a bad thing. I wouldn’t mind having a similar project. I’m not shooting enough right now to stay busy in my man cave.

This is my first 6br - a 243 has always been my plinking rifle, but this will be fun doing something new.

It’s a good learning project for my helper, but it’s quite self serving for me - it’s a plinking/practice gun, but also a loaner - if one of our kids borrows it and 50 rounds it’s not guaranteed that all the brass will return despite their best intentions. It’s a shortcoming of mine to be visibly disappointed if Lapua brass is wasted, internally disappointed if name brand brass doesn’t make it back, but missing military brass doesn’t register.

I had considered making a 223 my practice cartridge, but our kids are quite good at shooting large amounts of 223 - if they borrowed a rifle and 50 rounds, the rifle may be returned without being shot and the ammo would end up being shot out of a random AR. *chuckle*

 

[wyosam]

This is my first 6br - a 243 has always been my plinking rifle, but this will be fun doing something new.

It’s a good learning project for my helper, but it’s quite self serving for me - it’s a plinking/practice gun, but also a loaner - if one of our kids borrows it and 50 rounds it’s not guaranteed that all the brass will return despite their best intentions. It’s a shortcoming of mine to be visibly disappointed if Lapua brass is wasted, internally disappointed if name brand brass doesn’t make it back, but missing military brass doesn’t register.

I had considered making a 223 my practice cartridge, but our kids are quite good at shooting large amounts of 223 - if they borrowed a rifle and 50 rounds, the rifle may be returned without being shot and the ammo would end up being shot out of a random AR. *chuckle*

Haha, same reason I have a bunch of good brass, and also some moose hunting brass. Chances are very high spent brass is ejected into a swamp never to be seen again.


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