FL resize of 257 Wby

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  • floatingboy

    Active Member
    Apr 19, 2014
    128
    Lisbon, MD
    Hey all. I'm new to reloading, so I'm still calibrating my expectations. I've resized a couple of different calibers so far with no real issues (once I knew what I was looking for).

    Fast forward to a lot of "once fired" 257 Weatherby mag brass I bought, a mixed lot of Norma and Weatherby. I full-length sized them with a Hornady Match die. The end results are great, it's just the getting there that sucked.

    Here's what I had to do for each case:

    -Coat with Redding size and die wax
    -Run it up until it felt jammed, about 3/4 of the way into the die.
    -Pop it back out (with force) and wipe the shoulder as all the wax would build up there
    -Run it back in the rest of the way to full seating in the die, still with a fair amount of force
    -Pull it out and wipe off the wax and apply a new coat of wax
    -Run it all the way up again, this time with ease, to get the shoulder back the final few thousandths.

    Some were harder than others, but all were tough. Some I could get it all the way home on the first try, but most I could not. I don't have a massive press (MEC Marksman), but it's not a wimp, I don't think. And not only could I not get it fully inserted the first pass, even when I did get it to on the second pass, it would NEVER fully size the shoulder. I could even back it out and run it back in several times. Only when I would remove the case, wipe it off, add new wax and run it one last time would it finally get there. It really wanted that "remove, wipe, re-wax."

    I did kind of suspect that the expander button was pulling too hard and lengthening the case a bit. Especially because only on the last time through would it go in and out with total ease. I polished it fairly well, maybe not to mirror shine, but it's not rough.

    And in a surprise contrast, the new 7mm Rem Mag brass that I bought to convert to 257 resizes very easily!

    Which leads me to wonder, is this an annealing thing? I tried candle annealing a couple of cases and it didn't make a lick of difference. Maybe I didn't heat them sufficiently.

    Interested to hear your take. Thanks!
     

    madmantrapper

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 6, 2009
    1,528
    Carroll County
    I set my cases in about 3/4 inch of water and heat with torch til now quite red. then knock them over with torch tip in to the water. Makes them very workable.
     

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