Necking up 270 Winchester brass to 35 Whelen?

badaxeriverman

Beginner
Sep 29, 2024
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I just acquired about 116 pieces of ones fired PMC brass in 270 Winchester. I don’t own a 270. I do own a couple of 30-06 and a 35 Whelen. My plan was to neck them up to 35 Whelen. I think I did this years ago with about eight or nine pieces of 270 brass and some 280 brass I found at the range. If I remember right, I think I annealed the cases and then ran them up through my fl 30-06 die. Then through my fl 35 whelen die. None of the necks cracked. I am just wondering if my necks are still gonna be thick enough or if that’s too big of a stretch?
 
It's worth a try since you have them. Annealing like you mentioned would be a good idea. Maybe try a 1/2 dozen and see how it works.
 
Yeah I decided to pass on the 270 brass that was going to be given to me figured it's going to be too big of a stretch in the necks are going to be too thin by the time I get done even if they don't crack. I'm pretty sure I have some 30 out 6 military casings laying around in my stash that don't have a head stamp on them saying what caliber they are so it'll be less confusing when I expand them to 358 and not being marked for caliber. Figured that's too big of a pile of brass to worry about to end up wrecking when someone else could probably use it way worse than I could.
 
Something similar to what you're asking in relation to thin necks. I used 243-win brass for making 35 rem account of making the necks thin so that once formed the outside case diameter with seated bullet wouldn't be too big and to keep from having to turn case necks. So, I believe necking up from 270 to 358 would be too much. As stated above you could try one and see what results you get just for experience's sake. Dan.
 
I use Redding dies for 35 Whelen and for the 35AI. I have used 270 brass and 280 brass to make both and my dies have a tappered neck expander in the 35whelen/AI and annealing the necks first is always best before resizing. The 270/280 brass is longer than 30-06, I have lost a few but they were old brass and loaded 10-20 times so I figure that was do to old age. When fire forming 30-06 brass the necks will shorten untill it is fire several times so don't trim the 270 brass is longer so the necks shouldn't be short after sizing, do not trim before sizing any of the brass, triming should be the last step if needed.
 
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