Forming 220 Russian brass to 22PPC

F

Fritz D

Guest
I ordered a small quantity of Lapua 220 Russian brass and would like to form it into 22PPC, for use in a Sako A-1 22PPC USA. I have a Forster 22PPC F/L Bench Rest die, and an outside neck turning attachement for my Forster case trimmer (I still need to get a .224 mandrel). I have a Mitutoyo combi-mike with round anvil for measuring case neck thickness. Could someone please describe the steps involved in reforming these cases?
 
22ppc

Fritz,

Just run them through your F/L die and load and shoot. It's that easy. You shouldn't need to neck turn them to fit your chamber but check the first one you load to see that it will chamber, then when you have fireformed them see if a projectile will slide into the neck without to much interference. If it slides in easy then you wont have to neck turn them.

Steve
 
Be careful.....220 russian brass is thicker in the necks than the sako/norma usa brass. I have a way of checking USA chambers. Here is one way to do it.


One, FL a 220 russian, long seat a lubed bullet(dummy round) (this is for killing two birds with one stone) then take a black magic marker and cover the neck of the brass. Chamber it. The bullet should be pushed back into the case to show Jam length, plus, take a look at the mark on the neck and see if it is being rubbed off any around the circuferance. If everything looks good, seat the bullet .005 deaper (same unloaded round). put another coating of marker on it and chamber again, it should chamber easier this time. Check for rubbing again around neck. If everything is ok that time. Load a round with a low charge of powder (like 27.0 grains of V133) and shoot it. With the shot brass, see if a bullet will slide in the neck. You do not want to have to push it into the neck, if it slides in with a little sloppiness, your good to go, if you have to push it in the neck, then your going to have to neck turn just a little off. If you see rub marks around the neck above, you have to neck turn a little.


There is also another a couple of other ways. 1. make a chambe cast 2. fireform WITHOUT a bullet and using pistol powder a couple of times with the same case, then see if a bullet will slide in the neck. This can be a dangerous method if you are not experienced or know what your doing.

Hovis
 
Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to neck turn the cases for sure. I full length sized a case and tried chambering it without a bullet, it chambered with a slight drag on the bolt. I then made up a long seated dummy round . . . it will definitely not chamber. I managed to get the bolt closed a bit, but it was WAY too tight. The black magic marker was rubbed off around the whole neck. The neck on this round measures .2535". A few weeks ago I made a cerrosafe cast of the neck portion of the chamber, it measured .254" (the very end of the neck measured .2535".)
 
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