.243 necked to .260 rem

[Mangy Coyote]

Has anyone converted .243 brass to .260 ?
I just wanted to get some input. I ran a few through through FL .260 die. The brass sems a little thin, plus it looks like I have to trim a lot off to get it the right length. If you have done this conversion how many reloads are you getting out of the case? Is there anything i m missing in doing it this way? Thanks mc

[FLIGHT762]

I do it all the time. I have a tapered expander in the RCBS 260 die to neck up the 243 brass easier. I load for a hunting rifle and haven't run into the donut issue some report. I get good brass life. I haven't shot my brass over 5-6 times. No issues so far.

[Wrangler John]

Pretty standard cartridge conversion stuff, necking up, necking down. The 7mm TCU case being one. That involves necking the .223 Remington up to 7mm and full length sizing. Made thousands of them supremely accurate in a Contender, brass lasted as long as any. Lost a few in the process, split the neck, usually a couple every hundred or so cases. Only use new cases.

Necked 7mm Mauser down to .257 Roberts, .257 Roberts down to 6mm Remington, 6mm Remington up to .257 Roberts, all depending on what was abundant. .284 Winchester to 6.5x284 Norma, just because you found several thousand new cases online. Necked .30-30 to .357 Herrett then shortened the whole thing through form/trim dies. Used 7.62 x 39 cases with small primer pockets and flash hole to 6mm PPC. Then there are the .348 Winchester cases formed to .35-348 Winchester Ackley. Really, it's just too much fun. Squish 'em down, expand them up, ream the necks in a ream die where the new neck was part of the former shoulder, you are in charge of everything. Even form Ackley Improved cases in messy hydraulic forming dies so they didn't need fireforming. Remember, donuts are for eating and there are reamers to get rid of that brass ring - although some guys neck turn. Whatever you do don't ask about how or when to deprime.

[JTROKS]

Necking up to a larger caliber I suggest annealing the brass first before expanding and pushing the shoulder back. It prevents splitting and make it easier in working the brass. I've necked up 7mm WSM to 300 WSM. I did not see any thin necks, but the resizing couldn't be done with just one pass through my RCBS RS5. I'm thinking 243 to 260 will be easier. Necking down is more work most of the time due to the thickness of the neck may require turning.

[ocabj]

Back when I still had a .260 Remington, I was necking up Lapua .243 brass. But now that Lapua actually produces .260 Remington brass, I would just save myself the time and get actual Lapua .260 Remington brass.

[Mangy Coyote]

Thanks for the advice! I think im going to skip necking up .243 and buy factory .260 brass.