Forming 25-35

[Gunplummer]

It has probably already been on this forum at one time, but has anybody formed 25-35 from 30-30 cases? I mean hands on, did it, did not read it somewhere or hear about it in a bar, actual experience. I surfed the net a little and anything I found was either negative or really vague in the process. I am hardly new to forming brass from other brass, but have never dealt with this cartridge.

[Clark]

I neck down in 10% or less increments per what Jim Leahy [James Calhoon] tells me the wildcat society journal tells him to do.

The outside of a 30-30 neck is 0.333" and 25-35 neck is 0.288".
The 30-30 FL die neck is ~0.326"
The 25-35 FL die neck is ~ 0.272"

10% less than .326" is .293"
10% less than .293" is .264"
10% bigger than .272" is .302"

So we need a neck die between .293" and .302"
Any 7mm FL die would do, but most are too long.
A 7mmBR die will work, or take a piece of 7/8-14 threaded steel rod, put it in the lathe, drill a 19/64" hole in the center [0.297"] and make a chamfer at the orifice and polish the inside of the home made neck die with sandpaper on a stick technology while the lathe is spinning.

1) Run the brass through the 30-30 die
2) Run the brass through the 7mmBR die or the 19/64" home made die
3) Run the brass through the 25-35 die
4) Trim the brass to 2.000"
5) Fire form with 5 gr Unique and 100 gr bullet. [12kpsi]

You could do all that. I have done all that.
I have also just put the 30-30 brass in a the 25-35 die, trimmed, and loaded up to 87 kpsi QL with real stiff bolt lift.
What confused me for a while as a rough 25-35 chamber. Make sure it is smooth.

[Gunplummer]

I have a 7-30 die and a 7x57 die. That should work. Years ago I had used (If I remember correctly) the 7x57 to make 7-40 krag cases. If you loose a couple cases, so what. Did you bother to anneal in there some where?

[Clark]

I did not anneal, but I got some ugly shoulders. But they were still functional.

I have just a few hours in building a rifle, forming the brass, and firing a few rounds..... but it is actual experience

[Gunplummer]

That is all I asked for. Thanks. This is one of those itches you get. I don't even have a barrel yet but do have a couple receivers laying around. I am tossing around the idea of a liner. I have other projects to finish, but if you slowly pick up the stuff you need it is less expensive. I find it best to have some source for brass before getting too involved in something.

[Mike Irwin]

I formed some .25 Remington from .30 Remington years ago when I was working for NRA. Very close to the same thing.

I annealed the cases and necks, lubricated it really well with Hornady One Shot, and went directly from .30 to .25.

I lost a couple of cases, but overall the results were OK.

[Gunplummer]

It does not sound unreasonable. I used to take .303 British right down to 6.5x50, but I did use new brass. I guess I will start gathering up stuff.

[Mike Irwin]

I've always found it to be a lot easier to make big jumps when reducing case diameter, but not when increasing diameter.

Necking up, say from .308 to .358, really requires at least one, preferably two, intermediate steps. Althought I have had decent luck necking up one step and then fire forming.