Necking up cases

[HunterCO]

Well where to start first off a friend buys a gun in some podunk town hardware store for a good price. It's a Remington model 35 chambered in .358 winchester. He can't find any ammo so me the resident gun nut gets a call after all other options have failed.

I research it and in 1955 winchester necked up a .308 to .358 as a brush gun and it flopped. They no longer make brass for it. It is a nice gun pump action with a magazine. I decided after searching on the net for ammo and found some companies that neck up .308 and load ammo for it at $40-$80 dollars a box I could do it my self.

I have been loading for almost 20 years but this is the first time I have done anything like this. So far so good if any of you have ever done anything like this and can give me some pointers I would apprieciate it.

Here is where I am at so far, I necked up some brass found out one thing it better be good brass other wise sometimes it splits the neck. I went through all my .308 brass and found some Lake City it worked great.

Here are some before and after pics.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/HunterCO/358win003.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/HunterCO/358win002.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/HunterCO/358win001.jpg

This is a pic of the gun it is a nice gun has an OLD Leopold scope on it but is in great condition.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/HunterCO/358win004.jpg

Now to figure out what load to start out with I am thinking of going with a 200-225 grn bullet and either IMR 4064 or 4895.

[Marlin]

Nice looking rifle. You could try Anealing the brass, Heat the neck up untill it just turns red, then dunk it in cold water real quick. It's suppose to soften the brass to make it last longer. I have done it with some of My .45/70 brass.

[HunterCO]

Thanks

Marlin I will have to give that a try and see if it helps.

[w748]

Have done .223 to 7mm TCU and 30`06 to .35 Whelen before Remington brought it out as a factory option. Anealing the necks will help but is`nt necessary. Start with new or cleaned once fired brass and dip the necks in powdered graphite after lubeing. Never split a case neck this way except when I tryed some nickel plated .223.
Good luck and have fun. I had a Savage 99 in that chambering once, a very fine and underated cartarage.

[HunterCO]

Well some corrections after looking at the gun it is a Remington Gamemaster 760 that was chambered in REM 35. Somebody had it re-chambered to .358 WIN.

I took it up saturday and played with it and found a really good load. 48.0 grns of IMR 4064 CCI 250 mag primer and a Hornady 200 grn. SP. At 100 yrds. it holds a 1" group and the average chrony reading was 2520 fps. that is close to 30-06.

This is a compressed load I have never done any compressed loads before either but it worked great. I had a great time learning something new talked to a gun smith and did a lot of research. I must also say after looking at the ballistics of a 35 REM I can see why they had it re-chambered.

[Marlin]

I have a compressed load for the .45/70 You might like to try, You being a flywieght though, We might have to tie You to something [roll]

[2ndChildhood]

Nice looking rifle. You could try Anealing the brass, Heat the neck up untill it just turns red, then dunk it in cold water real quick. It's suppose to soften the brass to make it last longer. I have done it with some of My .45/70 brass.

Nice rifle indeed, when can we meet it in person?

I would let brass air cool for the softest final result. Or you could slow cool in an oven for even softer.
Water quenching will restore some of the hardness if air cooled makes it too soft. Oil or sand quenching for medium hardening.
This is shade tree mechanic-level heat treatment. You can read up on it to get specifics of quench rates vs hardness for various compositions of brass.