30 caliber to 375?

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Fyrstyk

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I have a Contender barrel chambered for the 375 Winchester round. Brass for this round is scarce, and when found, expensive. I have over 1000 empty 30-30 cases. i would like to reform some of these to 375. How many neck expansion steps should I make to achieve this goal? Do I anneal before or after reforming? I have expander buttons for .312, .338, and .357. Will that be enough? I realize the 30-30 brass is thinner than 375 brass, but my loads for the 375 are not excessive, so I don't think there should be a problem. Your thoughts?
 
Anneal before, possibly repeatedly, and use very good lube.

I'm not sure there's enough meat on a .30-30 case to expand that far. . .
 
Fyrstyk,
edwardware has given you good advice about annealing. BUT... I've done a lot of case forming for wildcats and when necking up if you get the brass too soft below the neck line you will end up collapsing the brass when trying to run an expander through there.
My son was given my Grandfather's Marlin 375. You are right in that jacketed bullets and brass are tough to find and not cheap. I remember when I was searching for brass there was a place that made hydro-formed brass for the 375 Win from 30-30 brass. I can't even begin to think of the name. But I would search for that to where they do the work for you with hydraulic pressure. If you can find these guys, maybe work out a deal to trade in your 1000 30-30 cases and get credit towards some formed 375 brass.

If you do decide to neck up yourself... use the Hornady expanders. They are tapered on both ends. Use some 400 to 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and polish those neck expanders smooth to reduce friction. And don't be afraid to lube them! I would go as far as using the leftover STP from the bottom of a bottle you put in your vehicle. Yes you will have to soak them in dish cleaning detergent to decrease them when done. But it does work better. I use that lube method for neck turning improved 338 Lapua Mag brass.

Another suggestion instead of using a bunch of different neck expanders out of die sets.... you can buy neck expanders for neck turners also. And they have generous tapers built into them to aid in stepping up.

https://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=sinclair+neck+expander+mandrels&ksubmit=y

Steve
 
I have a Contender barrel chambered for the 375 Winchester round. Brass for this round is scarce, and when found, expensive. I have over 1000 empty 30-30 cases. i would like to reform some of these to 375. How many neck expansion steps should I make to achieve this goal? Do I anneal before or after reforming? I have expander buttons for .312, .338, and .357. Will that be enough? I realize the 30-30 brass is thinner than 375 brass, but my loads for the 375 are not excessive, so I don't think there should be a problem. Your thoughts?

By all means, I would encourage you to try it but I predict the cases will split at the mouth either during neck expansion or at the first firing.

I have turned 30/30 cases into 357 Herrett cases but they're a bit shorter than 375 Winchester cases so most of the area that is weakened is cut off. Going to .375 would also be more of a challenge.
 
I may just have to bite the bullet (so to speak) and order some brass from Midway. Just was hoping to put the 30-30 brass to use, but I may just try to trade it off for something else I need.
 
I've run .30-30 brass through my .375 Winchester dies to make brass for light loads. I just lube them up and run them into the die, and using once fired brass, I may lose one out of 50 or so.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I've run .30-30 brass through my .375 Winchester dies to make brass for light loads. I just lube them up and run them into the die, and using once fired brass, I may lose one out of 50 or so.

Hope this helps.

Fred
You are able to neck up the 30-30 brass in one pass to 375. That sounds great to me. What lube do you use? Do you have any special procedures for this case change? I would sure like to use the once fired 30-30 brass that I have, and I wouldn't mind losing 5-10 cases per 50 if it works. I am going to give it a try, i just don't want to get a case stuck in the die.
 
The .30-30 is such a thin case they size up easily in one pass through the sizing die and expander. I just spray them inside and out with Midway spray lube, since I bought a bunch of it on closeout several years ago. It's actually labelled Winchester, but it was made by Midway under license.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I have a can of Hornaday "One-shot" . It should be a pretty good lube. I'll have to give it a try, and i will report back on my success or failure.
 
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