so my dad came across about 800 308 fmj rounds and about 100 are match rounds. this is what i have been told, that brass is good to reload. It is Canadian rounds. i was wondering if this brass is any good to reload or is there a way to tell if it is bad brass? i haven't seen the ammo yet to tell you more. Any tips would be awesome. thaks guys and gals
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military rounds
- Thread starter plumeja
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g0rd0
Well-Known Member
I have used that brass with great success.
A few points to remember,
1.the primers are crimped in place so, you will need to get a strong decaping die and you will have to remove the crimp. There is a primer pocket crimp remover die out there but you may have trouble getting 1. If that is the case you can cut the crimp out with a debur tool
2. they may have a slightly smaller case capacity so, as always start low and work up
But before you punch out that primer look inside and check that there is only 1 flash hole not 2. There is some british brass out there and it is no good to you. The primers the brits use are Boxer (they donot have an anvil, the anvil is built into the brass) and therefor usless
A few points to remember,
1.the primers are crimped in place so, you will need to get a strong decaping die and you will have to remove the crimp. There is a primer pocket crimp remover die out there but you may have trouble getting 1. If that is the case you can cut the crimp out with a debur tool
2. they may have a slightly smaller case capacity so, as always start low and work up
But before you punch out that primer look inside and check that there is only 1 flash hole not 2. There is some british brass out there and it is no good to you. The primers the brits use are Boxer (they donot have an anvil, the anvil is built into the brass) and therefor usless
mtwarych
Well-Known Member
OP,
If you are not sure whether the brass is boxer or berdam primed, DO NOT use an impact puller to pull a live round to find out.
I know what it is like to compose and type at the same time, but, to us, our reloadable brass is boxer primed.
The stuff we can't reprime without special tools is berdan primed.
If you are not sure whether the brass is boxer or berdam primed, DO NOT use an impact puller to pull a live round to find out.
I know what it is like to compose and type at the same time, but, to us, our reloadable brass is boxer primed.
The stuff we can't reprime without special tools is berdan primed.
g0rd0
Well-Known Member
Right, my mistake on that
I love working with military brass.
I've loaded a few thousand rounds using NATO brass. I've used South Korean, Lake City, Tiwanese, WCC, and a few others. I've not had any issues.
Most of the surplus/used 7.62 NATO ammo out these is MUCH cheaper than buying new commercial brass. I've purchased 500 used brass for $49 before. The brass that I've purchased was belt fed machine gun ammo, so you will need to do a full length resize on each and every round. You will need to chamfer and deburr the mouths. I chamfer the primer pocket since it makes inserting new primer so much easier.
You will want to separate by headstamp and year. Although they supposedly built to the same specs, the brass can differ slightly between maker and years. If you are looking for plinking rounds, it's not that big of deal, but you will want to go to the effort of separating if you are looking for range rounds.
You will also want to reduce the powder charge since the case walls are thicker than commercial brass, which leads to a reduced internal capacity compared to commercial brass. Start 10% lower and work you way up.
I've loaded a few thousand rounds using NATO brass. I've used South Korean, Lake City, Tiwanese, WCC, and a few others. I've not had any issues.
Most of the surplus/used 7.62 NATO ammo out these is MUCH cheaper than buying new commercial brass. I've purchased 500 used brass for $49 before. The brass that I've purchased was belt fed machine gun ammo, so you will need to do a full length resize on each and every round. You will need to chamfer and deburr the mouths. I chamfer the primer pocket since it makes inserting new primer so much easier.
You will want to separate by headstamp and year. Although they supposedly built to the same specs, the brass can differ slightly between maker and years. If you are looking for plinking rounds, it's not that big of deal, but you will want to go to the effort of separating if you are looking for range rounds.
You will also want to reduce the powder charge since the case walls are thicker than commercial brass, which leads to a reduced internal capacity compared to commercial brass. Start 10% lower and work you way up.
