How to make .260 remington brass?

[Mr. Joe]

I just got a .260 remington and am going to reload for it of course.  I have basically an endless supply of .243 brass and .308 brass and am wondering which would be better for making the .260 brass and the process for doing so.  I figure i would have to run either the .308 or .243 brass through a full length .260 sizing die and check the length.  Am i way off base on this or is this a solid plan?

As a side note I was thinking that the .243 brass would be better as its closer to the 6.5 diameter and i would not have to worry about neck thickness problems as i would with the .308.

[Luckyducker]

I don't have any experience making 260Rem brass but have made a bunch of 264WinMag brass out of 7MMRemMag brass.  All I do is either run the 7Mag brass through my FL 264 die or my 264 neck sizing die and they are ready to load.  I don't know if 308 would give you thick necks or not, you might try a couple and measure the outside neck diameter and compare them to any 260 necks if you have any.  BTW, I don't know what lube you use for sizing but I would highly recommend Imperial Sizing Wax for this type of sizing as it is recommended for case forming.

[Lone Star]

I have made .260 brass from .308, 7-08 and .243 cases - so I do have experience.  7-08 is easiest - no tapered expander needed and the cases don't shorten as .243 brass does (the neck is short enough as it is!).  Neck thickness is least with the .243 and okay with the 7-08.  In my M700VLS I prefer to use Lapua .308 brass as the necks end up thicker and fit the large chamber neck on my particular barrel better.  If you don't want to mess with checking neck thickness, etc. then 7-08 followed by .243 would be best.


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[beemanbeme]

I prefer to neck up brass.  That way you don't have to worry about thick necks.  The only caution I could give would be to not make .260 brass from .243 if you have a .243 in the house.  It may be possible that a .260 round could be crammed into a .243. 

[Mr. Joe]

I dont have any .243s so that shouldnt be a problem.  I think im going to go with .243 brass as i said...i have an endless supply of it!

[skb2706]

Never tried it with .308 brass but I have done it several times with .243 brass. Don't even need a tapered expander. I just do it with my .260 size die.

+ one for Imperial Case lube

[Lone Star]

I get lop-sided necks and shaved brass when I expand .243 brass with my Redding .260 FL die.  It is a die problem that even ISDW doesn't solve.   A tapered expander would eliminate that problem.

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[wncchester]

As a rule of thumb you will get a little more neck consistency and a better chamber fit by necking down rather than up.  Why? Imperfect necks will stretch  more in an already thin or soft spot to make any existing inconsistency even more pronounced.  And most factory chambers are overly generous so a bit more thickness in the case neck can be an accuracy advantage.  I find Remington and GI brass is soft enough to refom a little better than Win or Fed.

I make .243 brass from .308 and it works fine, it should do well for your .260 too.  You should be able to form them in one step but it will be easier if you can  use a 7-08 FL sizer as a first step. 

The finished cases will last longer if you properly anneal them but over heating will damage the metal so learn how to do it right or don't anneal at all.