Making .300 BO brass

[M1A4ME]

I had some spare time today (and the dogs appreciated being out of the pen) so I got a jug of ruined .223 brass - split necks/shoulders - and sat down with the tools for the first step.

The cordless drill, the Lee case trimmer cartridge holder and a small tubing cutter.  I forgot to take pictures of the brass before/after so all I have is the tools.  I just clamp the brass rim in the Lee shell holder, set the tubing cutter on the brass just below the start of the shoulder and start the case turning.  It cuts funny.  Meaning you really don't have to bear down on the knob that tightens the cutter wheel against the material being cut.  I guess a combination of the thin case wall (compared to most copper tubing) and the wobble of the drill and the Lee shell holder combine to make cutting pretty quick with minimal tightening of the knob.



I cleaned the brass already and hopefully tomorrow I'll get it run through the .300 BO sizing die and then back to the vibratory cleaner to remove the resizing lube.  Then I'll trim it to length using the Lee case trimmer stuff shown in the picture.  Then it'll get primed for the upcoming .300 BO pistol load development work.  I'm disappointed that my new Lyman lead bullet reloading manual doesn't have load data for .300 BO so I'll be looking at my Sierra loading manual and surfing the web.

[larryflew]

If you do any amount it's definitely worth buying one of the little chop saws and the jigs sold on Feebay. You can do hundreds an hour and all are exactly the same. I barely have to do a final trim other t h an smoothing the case mouth.

[copemech]

You must like doing this as I would never. I step on that stuff all the time where I shoot. There was a bunch laying around on the ground last weekend, I thought about picking some up but I don't use it.

[M1A4ME]

The brass I had was maybe 30 or 40 cases that had been accumulated over the last couple of years.  We shoot more .223 than anything else and when I run across one with a cracked neck or shoulder I drop it in the can/jug reserved for future .300 BO brass.

It's tough to toss out usable stuff, tough for me.  When I was a kid and we tore down an old shed/building we drove out all the nails in the pieces of wood and then had a nail straightening/sorting session to put the nails in old coffee cans my grandpa had staged in his little shed at the woodpile.  We cut the rotted/split ends off the wood and stacked it up under a cover made of old railroad tin (the metal sheets that were on the old boxcars) or old mine belt, so it could be re-used later.  What was unusable was then cut/split up for kindling for the cook stove and heating stove.  Very little got thrown away.

As an old guy that dad used to work with would say sometimes.  Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.  I guess you had to live through the depression to understand why/how those old guys operated.  I didn't, but I was raised by people who did.

[copemech]

The brass I had was maybe 30 or 40 cases that had been accumulated over the last couple of years.  We shoot more .223 than anything else and when I run across one with a cracked neck or shoulder I drop it in the can/jug reserved for future .300 BO brass.

It's tough to toss out usable stuff, tough for me.  When I was a kid and we tore down an old shed/building we drove out all the nails in the pieces of wood and then had a nail straightening/sorting session to put the nails in old coffee cans my grandpa had staged in his little shed at the woodpile.  We cut the rotted/split ends off the wood and stacked it up under a cover made of old railroad tin (the metal sheets that were on the old boxcars) or old mine belt, so it could be re-used later.  What was unusable was then cut/split up for kindling for the cook stove and heating stove.  Very little got thrown away.

As an old guy that dad used to work with would say sometimes.  Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.  I guess you had to live through the depression to understand why/how those old guys operated.  I didn't, but I was raised by people who did.

Well, I am an old guy too, with similar parents and upbringing. I am practical but I have learned not to waste my time on junk, as life is too short.

I try to be a good environmentalist. I recycle!

I have no need for 300BO. I think it is a fad thing. Get a  AK if you want something like that and load them up if you just have to be HUSH!

[M1A4ME]

I jumped on the .300 BO thing several years back.  Loaded up some ammo, went to the range a few times, had some issues (some people say they use pistol primers but I won't use them anymore) with perforated primers, failure to function and poor accuracy. 

I stopped using pistol primers, I found some loads with a couple different powders that functioned correctly in an AR15.  I never was happy with the groups.

The rifle was cleaned/lubed well, put in a case and set in a corner for a couple years till I pulled it out and removed the lower for a .223 build.

I'm working on all this brass for a .300 BO pistol my youngest son has.  He's hoping for better accuracy, he's hoping the Hearing Protection Act gets passed.  He's planning on knocking down a deer or two behind his house with it, quietly.

He's going to get all my brass and the powder I bought for the cartridge and he can work on it (getting it to work, getting it to shoot groups he's happy with.)

My "short" .30 is a SIG 556R.  I get better groups from it with Wolf FMJ or HP than I ever got from the AR15 in .300 BO.