22 ARC - forming from fired 6.5 Grendel brass

[98Z5V]

Do's and Do Not's...

Working with a Hornady 22 ARC die set here, and a Lee Factory 22 ARC Crimp Die - they are both available now. I have good news and bad news, depending on how much you reload, and how far you want to get into a 22 ARC, if you decide to.

So, first 10 Grendel cases I tried, they were straight up, fired Grendel cases.  Ran them through the 22 ARC Hornady deprime.resize die.  I went 10 for 10 and crushed them.  This is how they came out.

Smashed the shoulders straight down, before the neck-down was even complete.  Half way through necking them down, it just smashed shoulder into the case.  No Bueno.

So, I annealed 10 more, first, and ran them through the 22 ARC die.  It was a little better, but not a great success rate - I smashed 7 out of 10.  Even going super-slow with the ram on the press.  Didn't matter.  But 3 came out good!!!  

Needed a different game plan, for sure.  I have a pretty good supply of fired Grendel brass to convert, but not enough to lose 70% of them trying to convert them over.

So, I set up two presses, one with the 6.5 Grendel deprime/resize die, and the other with the 22 ARC die - NOT annealed.  Ran them first through the Grendel die, to get the fired Grendel brass back to it's basic size - and deprimed.  Right into the 22 ARC deprime/resize die - without the strain of removing the primer that was already popped out - it's only necking it down in this process....  10 for 10 success rate.  All 10 went through both dies perfectly, came out the other side perfect, as 22 ARC brass.

Next test was annealing first - sent 10 Grendel cases through the Annealeez 3 machine, ran them through the 6.5 Grendel die, then through the 22 ARC die.  10 for 10 again.

So, that's the deal, if you're converting Grendel brass to 22 ARC brass - you need to pass that fired Grendel brass through a Grendel resizer die first - THEN, neck it down in the 22 ARC resizer die.  It'll work, every time.

Now, here's that bad news I was talking about - if you're gonna acquire fired Grendel brass to convert to 22 ARC, and you DON'T already have Grendels to feed, and reload for...  You need to buy a Grendel deprime'resize die to pull this off.  Or, smash Grendel brass trying to pull it off with just the 22 ARC dies...  

 

 

 

[Magwa]

would it help if you deprimed all cases with a stand alone decapping die? just wonder is the neck sizing ball added to the strain on the brass? interesting glad you did get it figured out.

[98Z5V]

On 4/6/2024 at 5:45 AM, Magwa said:

would it help if you deprimed all cases with a stand alone decapping die? just wonder is the neck sizing ball added to the strain on the brass? interesting glad you did get it figured out.

Not with annealing it first, brother, and trying to run fired Grendel straight into the 22 ARC die.  All were crushed...  and right out of the annealing machine, too.  Brand-new, in terms of work-hardening, et al.

Since this isn't really just "reloading brass," and more of "converting brass to another caliber," I'm fine with running the fired Grendel brass through the Grendel die first, then running it through the 22 ARC die to final form it.

All this stuff is only "converted brass" at this point, and all of it needs to be shot, and fire=formed in the chamber.  THEN, it'll be "real 22 ARC brass" at that point.

Tell ya what, though - this is WAY easier than making .300 BLK cases out of 5.56 brass!...  

Edited April 7 by 98Z5V

[Magwa]

15 hours ago, 98Z5V said:

Not with annealing it first, brother, and trying to run fired Grendel straight into the 22 ARC die.  All were crushed...  and right out of the annealing machine, too.  Brand-new, in terms of work-hardening, et al.

Since this isn't really just "reloading brass," and more of "converting brass to another caliber," I'm fine with running the fired Grendel brass through the Grendel die first, then running it through the 22 ARC die to final form it.

All this stuff is only "converted brass" at this point, and all of it needs to be shot, and fire=formed in the chamber.  THEN, it'll be "real 22 ARC brass" at that point.

Tell ya what, though - this is WAY easier than making .300 BLK cases out of 5.56 brass!...  

Rgr That 300 BLK is a pain but at least it is 30 cal. and does not need to be necked so small as 22 ARC...

[98Z5V]

On 4/8/2024 at 4:36 AM, Magwa said:

Rgr That 300 BLK is a pain but at least it is 30 cal. and does not need to be necked so small as 22 ARC...

I'm 100% success rate so far just by running the fired Grendel through a Grendel die first, then straight into the 22 ARC die, annealed or not.  I'll anneal them all first, just to make that process easier on the brass, and hopefully make it last longer. 

[Jeff300]

On 4/10/2024 at 8:42 PM, 98Z5V said:

running the fired Grendel through a Grendel die first, then straight into the 22 ARC die,

If you had new Grendel brass would you run it through a Grendel sizing die first before the 22 ARC?
 

 

[98Z5V]

On 5/6/2024 at 10:09 AM, Jeff300 said:

If you had new Grendel brass would you run it through a Grendel sizing die first before the 22 ARC?
 

 

I'd risk it, and make a pass with brand new, unfired brass, straight into the 22 ARC die, and see what happened.  I'd try a sample size of 5, and if all 5 didn't come out perfect, the rest would get the Grendel sizer first, then the 22 ARC sizer.