.243 to .22-250?

[firsttimeelkhunter]

Anyone know about resizing .243 brass to .22-250? I read somewhere that people do this, but will a standard 22-250 FL die do it? Thanks

[halcon]

My personal opinion is it isn't worth the effort . I also don't like shooting brass with the wrong headstamp on it . I do know they make a resizing die for 308 to 243 so I would assume the other might be available also .

[firsttimeelkhunter]

Just wondering b/c I have about 75 pieces. Been buying brass on e-bay and will sell the .243 if its a big PITA to resize it!

[driftrider]

Why would you want to go to all the trouble of reforming one common cartridge case into another common cartridge case? Quality 22-250 brass is cheap, popular and readily available. Do you have a special reason you want to do this?

As for whether you could do it with a FL die, I couldn't honestly tell you. I don't think that this is done very often for the reasons mentioned above. The dimensions of the two are pretty different except for the common rim and head diameter. So I suppose that it's possible, but you might have more problems than if you were just resizing a neck for a wildcat (i.e. 25-06 to 6mm-06).

Mike

[driftrider]

I'd just deprime it, clean it up and resell it. .243Win is another caliber where brass is a dime a dozen (figuratively speaking, of course ).

Mike

[firsttimeelkhunter]

That's the plan at this point. I just remember reading somewhere that it was easy to do and I'm in the process of acquiring brass for a p-dog hunt/shoot. I'll sell it and buy the 250's! Thanks

[Vapodog]

you've made a good decision!!!

[BigBob .30-06]

Ryan,

It so happens that I make my .22-250s from .243 cases. I start with a Redding die that I've adjusted so the reformed cases have exactly the headspace measured with a RCBS Precision Mic on fire formed cases. Usually these cases still are hard to chamber so I run them into a Redding Body die that sets the junction of the neck-shoulder back, while retaining the same datum measurement. I then trim the cases for length to the length of my chamber as determined with a Sinclair case length gage. Cases are then run into an expander die to expand the neck so it will accept a neck turnning mandrel and turn the necks to the point that the case neck, with a bullet seated, is a diameter .0015" smaller than chamber neck diameter. This allows the neck enough room to expand and release the bullet, and spring back to a diameter that requires a minimun of sizing. All sizing from this point on is done with a Redding Competition sizing die that uses a sizing bushing. Primer popckets are uniformed and deburred and culled by weight, then fireformed. Once a load is determined, any case that has an unexplained miss is junked. Cases are carefully rotated in use. The last time I did this, I ended up with 340 some odd cases out of 500.

Now for the bad points about doing it this way.

This gets expensive real quick.
It is a whole lot of work.
It takes a lot of time.
I spend a lot of time looking for any case that is dropped.
It takes special effort to be sure no one tries to use my cases.
I keep a 20 gal. garbbage can for scrap cases to sell to the recycle plant.

The good points.

The finished product is truly mated to my rifle.
The case necks are long enough to allow me to seat the bullets to the lands.
I quite often get five shot groups that measure .125" (1/8") c/c.

Is it really worth it? I don't know. I like doing it. I'm retired and this helps pass the time. Every once in awhile I'll get a five shot group that is a out of round one hole group. Any pdog out to 450 yards dumb enough to stand on its hind legs, usually doesn't do it again. The kill average is just about 50% out to 550 yards. After that it goes downhill pretty quick.

I hope that this answers some of your questions. Good luck and God Bless.

[firsttimeelkhunter]

Thanks! For the sake of time and expense, I'll problebly stick witht eh 22-250 stuff for now. Now, If it would just get a little warmer!