Shot the Mauser today. Thought I would share what I did to get it loaded up. I have tried several times to neck up 30-06 with a number of different caliber dies. Did not have any luck they were all rather crooked and nasty looking. I know other people do it but it sure didn't work for me. I went to Ken Howell's book DESIGNING AND FORMING CUSTOM CARTRIDGES FOR RIFLES AND HANDGUNS, which I highly recommend, and he talks about having the same problem and goes on to recommend fire-forming. I had Unique on hand so I loaded new 30-06 brass with 11 grs Unique, a bit of tissue, filled the case with cornmeal and then put a bit of bullet lube on top to hold it all together. Pointed the gun straight up and presto, perfectly formed cases. I also tried it with new 9.3x62 and it worked fine also.
Here is a picture,left to right
new 30-06 brass, new 9.3x62 brass, formed case from 9.3x62, once fired 10.75x57 formed case, loaded 10.75x57 formed case
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Not much shoulder is there. But it seems to me that a tapered case, with even the slightest bit of shoulder, formed to fit the chamber, should headspace fine as long a one strictly leaves the sizing die well off of the shellholder. There certainly isn't any margin for error or carelessness! I like to feel a bit of resistance when I close the bolt. That tells me that everything is snug in the chamber.

I have several bullet available that I use in my 404 Jeffery
Left to right
362 gr flat nose cast from Mountain Moulds, 350 gr NEI cast, 350 gr Woodleigh, 350 Barnes, 400 Barnes
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I'm thinking short-range heavy cover thumper for deer, elk and black bear. I really want to use the cast bullets, especially the first one shown, the flat nose from the Mountain Moulds. I believe the jacketed bullets will not open up well at lower velocities.

I went with a modest load of H4895 to start. No need to hot rod this.So here we go ready for a trial run.
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Here is a picture of my first group (yes the date is off by one day). Everything seemed fine, cases primers etc. The rifle is light and certainly lets you know when it goes off, but not too bad. I have taken a bit of game in the past 20 years with peep sights but it has been a long time since I tried to settle that front bead in the small notch of an open sight. It will have to be a short range situation with my eyes! Given that I was quite pleased with this result.
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So that's what I've done so far. With a bit more work, I think the old Mauser will be carried in the woods this fall.
I welcome any and all thoughts on my loading process.