Due to the heat and impending rain, I needed something to pass the time. In the neverending question to make life cheaper, I was thinking about the 7.5 Swiss. The other weekend I found some 8mm Mauser brass at the range and tried size it down, but the whole neck split. So today I decided to see what else I had in my pile of brass that I dont load (yet) and got looking at the 30-06. Chopped it down to a little over the shoulder, lubed up good, and ran it through the sizer. Trimmed it down the rest of the way and it chambers in the rifle. The rim is a bit smaller, but it still extracts just fine. I only did one because I didnt want to waste a bunch of brass if it wasnt gonna work and I used too much lube and the shoulder has a slight wrinkle, but it chambers nicely and looks like it will take a .308 bullet without neck turning.
Even though it looks exactly like 7.5 Swiss brass now, not wanting to hurt me or my rifle, I put the thing on the caliper. The case head on GP11 measure out to .495" and the reformed 30-06 measures .465". I've read plenty about fireforming cases to adjust the shoulder, but never the rest of the body.
Any opinions on the safety of shooting this thing? Bad idea because it is a military chamber? Maybe safe for lead loads only? Dangerous in general? I can wait for Wolf to come out with their reloadable ammo, but I'm sure 06 will still be much cheaper if it works. Dont need any replies telling me not to be cheap or anything like that because that isnt what this is about. Besides getting free range brass, it's also alot easier to get ahold of than Swiss brass if I need more, and it might be an option for others that dont wanna spend as much on 100 pieces of brass as they did on the rifle they shoot it out of
Just wanna be able to enjoy this great gun a bit more.
Randy