308 x 1.5

D

danyboy

Member
Anybody ever played with 308 x 1.5 caliber before ? I can't find any info anywhere on this caliber. I grabbed a rifle in this caliber from an estate but the children of the deceased never found the reloading gear used for it. The owner competed with it . Supposed to be the ancestor of the 30BR. I tried a 6BR new brass, which should be the same distance from the head to the shoulder, and the bolt only closed half way. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan
 
First, if you haven't already done so.....remove the firing pin and ejector (if so equipped) for a better feel of what's going on.

The chamber/brass dimensions of today's Lapua stuff is certainly different than the wildcat original 308X1.5. The area(s) of issue will be: case back end diameter, shoulder diameter and case head to datum line. Any/all of these areas will be where the problem is.

As a first step, using Dykem or a black Magic Marker, color a new Lapua case completely and try to chamber it until you meet bolt resistance. The case will show the area(s) of issue.

Posting a pic of the case will help. -Al
 
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Here's is what I remember about the 308 x 1.5 is it is te precursor to the 30 BR.

Since the case was made from either a 308 Winchester or a 300 Savage, the walls were thicker, hence less powder capacity . If I am not mistaken, Ralph Council fooled with it back in the mid '90's.

If you had the Dies, you could probably run a 30BR case in the Dies and fireform them in with the correct Trim to length.

Another option would be to take the barrel off and run a 30BR reamer in the chamber.
 
Today was a good day.
First, I marked a case with a felt pen, as suggested earlier in this post, and realized I had 2 parallel notches at the base of the case, about 1/8" long. I did a chamber cast to find out what the heck was wrong. Chamber looked fine without any dents . Probably happenned because I had forgotten to get the cartridge from underneath through the magazine (Mauser action).
Then, I decided trying to form a brass from a 308 win using a 308 to 6br first and 2nd forming dies from an RCBS forming 308 to 6BR 5-die kit.
Trimmed it to 1.5", tried it out in the chamber and the bolt closed smoothly. I found 308 x 1.5 sizing dies on the net after looking for days. Bought the set minutes after it was advertised. I intend to get a neck sizing die custom made. I don't have any data but if I can't find any, I'll try 30BR data from starting at minimum charge -10% and see what happens. Fireforming it will most likely change its shape but maybe not by that much; probably just change the shoulder angle from 30° to 20°.
The twist rate is LH, 1:12. The action is a Mauser and I don't like to have to stick the cartridge in the magazine in order to help it get in the chamber wright. If I remember well, some guys told me before there was a way to fix the bolt head (rather modifying the extractor) in order to just push the cartridge in the chamber with the bolt without having to get it in the bolt head from underneath. This is something I never liked about Mauser bolt heads. I could then make a floor plate and remove the magazine.
Thanks to all for your tips.
danyboy
 
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Found the problem

Turned out, case necks were way too thick. Trimmed them and now chambering is much easier. Having a 1:12 twist would require a heavier bullet than 30 BR and case body thickness is too thick, making it impossible to get enough powder. I put this project on ice for now and working on my 30BR instead.
Thanks for the tips.
 
jackie schmidt said:
Here's is what I remember about the 308 x 1.5 is it is te precursor to the 30 BR.

Since the case was made from either a 308 Winchester or a 300 Savage, the walls were thicker, hence less powder capacity . If I am not mistaken, Ralph Council fooled with it back in the mid '90's.

If you had the Dies, you could probably run a 30BR case in the Dies and fireform them in with the correct Trim to length.

Another option would be to take the barrel off and run a 30BR reamer in the chamber.
Click to expand...

I have the 308 x 1.5 RCBS resizing die set as well as the RCBS 5 die forming set to convert .308 to 308 x 1.5 .
 
danyboy said:
i have the 308 x 1.5 rcbs resizing die set as well as the rcbs 5 die forming set to convert .308 to 308 x 1.5 .
Click to expand...
have 2 new barrels for panda 0ne a 30 short and 1 30 and half oly test fired with 125 gr. Ad 748 pd.for sale. 1 814 335 0450 bill brawand.
 
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