Forming 256 Win Mag from 357 MAX

[AlanF]

Do any of you guys have experience forming 256 WM brass from 357 Max?  If so, can you tell me the steps you used and any other pertient info?  I've read that the 357 Max brass is thicker/stronger in the web area.  Have you guys found this to be true in comparison to 357 Mag brass?  I would imagine that the cases need to be annealed - at what stage are you annealing them and what method are you using?  I've been considering getting Todd Kindler's annealing tip.  Anyone here have experience with it?  Thanks guys for wadding through this and offering you carefully gleaned knowledge...

Alan

[skb2706]

Never tried case forming with it but .357 max brass is indeed thicker in the web area than typical .357 mag brass. Probably require taking a few steps down instead of all at once. I have a few old pieces of max brass if you want to try it.

[iiranger]

In the old days, RCBS, now Huntington Die Specialties/RCBS custom shop (hntingtons.com )  had a booklet with the directions for case forming. All the form dies they stocked. And you could have one for asking and a stamp or You might hit the web site and poke around...  Other makers also make form dies. Ask and you might be surprised. CH4d.com is another of the oldest.

First you will have to shorten the case. Leave it a bit long. Then, as suggested, you will not make the whole "step down" in one pass unless you are the luckiest SOB around (in which case you should be in Vegas winning the money to buy form dies...). Any smaller neck that you can get the case into, should help. .36? .32? .30? .28? (Or buy a form die set if you can afford it...)  .357 /.357 Max body is the same diameter as the .222 family so you can use 7TCU maybe. Get a used die and cut it short enough... Yes, you will have to anneal. You can stand the decapped case in water over the head and heat the neck to light red (in a darkened room) and then tip over into the water... OR you can dip in molten pure lead. PURE lead (NOT wheel weights Alloys will not work. Melt lower temps). Not quite hot enough, but can work. Probably need to do it at least twice. Brass work hardens. Then you trim to length and shove into full length die and see if you have a case. Imperial Die wax is about the best lube going. Lanonlin (anhydrous = without water) is awful good too. Most drug stores will have some. If you have a case, as you suggest, the interior may not be the same as .357 so you want to check capacity and regulate loads based on same... LUCK. PS: this is called "work." I might do it for a rimmed .222 or .223, but for a .256 that is not chambered in guns that are too strong to start... I wouldn't...

[Reed1911]

Forming .357 down to .256WM is a simple chore. Anneal the mouth down to where the shoulder will be, lube and run into the FL die. That is the way we do it by the thousands, case loss is less than 1%.

[RugerNo3]

Forming 256WM from 357 Max brass will mean neck turning as well. Reloading data for the 256 is scarce today and very vague as no one lists COL with their data. Original brass from WW lasts very well and SAAMI specs for the 256 were originally 1000CUP less then 357 pressures. You won't gain anything from the MAX brass but work and 357 Mag brass is less money. Curious as to what you are loading for. I find very good once fired brass on ebay with the red sealed primers intact.

[Reed1911]

I should have read that a little closer, Forming fro .357 MAG is very easy, I've never formed it from MAX brass, never saw a need.

[AlanF]

I'm basically investigating the possibility of using 357 Max due to its thickness in the web and head area.  Don't know that I will pursue it but have read of others doing it with success. 

The rifle I am loading for is an E. Arthur Brown Model 97D I had built.  Had Dave Kiff set up the reamer for the 75 grain V-Max bullet.  Just in the beginning stages of load work, but have a fair collection of data both old and new. 

Reed, what brand brass do you use?  How do you anneal it?

Thanks for your thoughts and sharing your knowledge.   

Alan

[Reed1911]

Alan,

Why are you trying to use thicker webbed brass? The Mag cartridge has all the strength you need. The .256WM is not a high pressure cartridge and need not be pushed to any extreme limit, its performance is very accurate and quiet if you need more power you'll want to move to a larger capacity cartridge. We use Starline brass though as soon as Top Brass starts making .357 we will likely switch to them, they have been un-matched so far for extreme perfection in OAL and rim thickness. Annealing is done here by machine, but I've heard many folks really enjoy the kit that HDY puts out. Midway stock number 360-902. A long time ago I used a cake pan and a propane torch to do my annealing, it is slow but works well. If you want to forgo all of that we also just sell the formed brass.

[Graybeard]

No way I'd go to all that much trouble to form it when someone like Ron is already doing it and selling it at reasonable prices.

[Hopalong7]

   If you happen to have a .30Mauser die laying around( I know, everybody has one of those lying around ), it works perfectly as an interim sizing die.  Unlike Ron, I would lose some brass going straight to the .256 sizing die, but at the time I was pretty new at annealing.  Then someone told me to use a .30Lugar die first.  I didn't know what a .30Lugar was.  Then someone else told me that a .30Lugar and a .30Mauser was the same thing.  I don't know about that but I did have a .30Mauser die in a junk pile that I inherited from an Uncle...Voila...haven't lost a piece of brass since that I recall.  GOOD SHOOTIN', Walt 
       

[AlanF]

Ron I placed an order this morning for 100 pieces of brass.  Look forward to loading them up.  Thanks for all the info guys and I'll let you know how things go. 

AlanF

[Reed1911]

Got the order and it was on the way Monday morning.