What going on with 260 Brass

[Ferret Master]

I have run into three bad lots of 260 brass. One lot of Remington 260 brass with flash holes off center and necks .005 off center and two lots of winchester 243 brass that the necks are .008 off center. I have neck turned the brass. I have not been able to find any Nosler or Lapua brass. Has anyone tried fire forming brass to reshape or reform the necks? Any suggestions for fireforming loads? I have used Winchester 243 brass in the past to make my 260 brass with good results but this new stuff is really poor. All suggestions welcome.

[Bob Mc Alice]

I am not suprized with your quality findings on the RP brass. I quit buying the crap long ago for the same problems. Take a few and roll them across a flat and level surface. Watch them roll un evenly and settle on the same heavy side. Concentricity issues usually run the entire length of the case. Also, loading life with RP is poor in my experience. I am disappointed to hear your seeing WW brass with that much wall variation. I use WW only for all my loading and rarely see over .002-.003 wall thickness variation. Most are half that. Neck turning is not required for my needs. Average case life is twice that of RP. Like all mass produced high volume products, glitches do happen and can slip through the quality control cracks until it is corrected. When you say .008 off center, you mean .008 TIR or .004 wall thickness variation. Correct?

Fire forming will not correct or reshape bad neck concentricity , only turning will. You can fire form with a mild starting load. But with the clock ticking on barrel life, you might as well fit cases to your chamber with the same load you will use for hitting targets.

[Ferret Master]

Bob
Unfortunetly I mean .008 after the neck has been turned when I roll it on my sinclar neck concentricty rig. The last batch of 500 Winchester 243 that I formed for 260 came in at .002 at the worst, 95% were only .001 after forming with almost no neck turning requiered. I have a custom chamber that need.013 wall thickness on the neck. By forming I mean opening up the neck to .264.
I hate to keep ordering brass in the hopes of finding a good lot. If anyone has a good lot number and or source I would greatly appreciate the tip.
Ferret Master

[Bob Mc Alice]

Understand now about your forming question. Many moons ago I read and tried with success case forming with a light charge of Bullseye under a full case of corn meal. A ball of beeswax held it in place. I opened shortened up .22-250 into .300 Savage in a Rem. 722 I had. Worked great. Was loud, though. Putting the barrel close to a 3/4 " pine board scrap broke it apart as it got hit with a compressed short column of corn meal. Another method is to use a long tapered expander mandrel like the one Sinclair used to sell.

[Ferret Master]

Bob
I use the Sinclar long tapered expander.

[Jerry G]

Just out of couriosity I checked a bunch of my 243 brass. The most consistent was Federal and I have gotten many re-uses out of them.

[ywltzucanrknrl]

Since it looks like you have to neck turn everything you buy, you could use 308 or 7x08 and size it down. That will expand your choices of brand and availability. But you will have to turn more off as the necks thicken when you size them down. A lot of 308 brass I've had in the past has been consistent when I put the mic to it and checked it on the Neco. Plus RWS, Lapua and others make/made brass for the 308 and they are good brass. Don't rule out Hornady brass, although I don't know who makes it. I bought some for my 223 and it checks out good, but I don't know if they make any brass for a 308 based cartridge that will work for you.
By the way, the last 500 rounds of new WW brass I processed for my 223 had at least two cases out of every 100 that had primers pockets that were so loose that I threw the cases away. But that said, I've had good luck with WW brass.

[Jerry G]

If your brass is trimmed to length, sized and neck turned, weigh it. If you have much variation in weight you will have that variation in case capacity. Not good for small groups.