.308 military brass

Guest · Feb 24, 2003

frostyduck
Member
Posts: 8
(2/2/03 6:43:04 pm)
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Greetings powder pushers. Am curious if anyone has shared this experience. Have a nice batch (I thought) of military 308 brass that a friend passed on to me (he was without a 30 . Already tumbled, ready to make babies. He had also on a small base RCBS die. Just about needed a 3 ft. cheater on the press handle, and stuck about the third case in the die.

Blamed the small base, waited and finally purchased a regular die,...that brass must have gotten ahold of a good dose of Viagra or something, it is too danged hard to run through the die. Have moved on to factory brass and have no problem. Anyone have any ideas about the reason for this???

armedandsafe
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 73
(2/2/03 10:06:37 pm)
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I have run across this in brass from machinegun firing, but not in 308. The old Browning 30-06 machineguns would get hot enough and spit brass fast enough that the spent brass would be very over-sized down near the base (rim.) I learned to use alot of lube and work the brass into the resizer in stages. Lift it until it squeaks, drop it, lift it until it squeaks, etc. I use silicone lube for that, as it is less likely to leave oil dents in the shoulder. Then MAKE SURE you anneal the neck.

Armed and Safe - not just a theory

frostyduck
Member
Posts: 9
(2/3/03 11:52:28 am)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: .308 military brass
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Thanks A and S,

Interesting reply to my inquiry. I have enough other brass that I'll take the easy route unless I run low and need this 'tuff' stuff. I can understand the abnormal heat causing a change in the makeup and who knows where this came from, other than my friend did some competitive shooting and I assumed this component had a fairly 'clean' history. It sure stumped me at first....was sure it was the S.B. die!! Thanks for your interest. Load on Friends-------

inplanotx
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 124
(2/7/03 10:52:31 am)
Reply | Edit | Del 308 brass and SB dies
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I have run across this problem before with military brass. As armedandsafe stated, I would bet the barn that this was fired in a machinegun. A quick and dirty way to reloading this stuff is in two stages. First would be to resize in a normal .308 full length die. The second would be to then use the SB dies on the full length sized cases. You would only need the SB dies if using the brass in a semi-auto rifle. However, after this I would watch the brass for case seperation very closely. That shiny ring around the base is a dead giveaway. Happy shooting!

stash247 · Apr 11, 2006

If it has a military headstamp, in my world it already is in a separate bin. I rub every case with a fingerfull of STP oil Treatment, then resize. No issues.

Bernie109 · May 11, 2006

Normally, a light coat of lube is used, for military brass, you need to put a heavy coat of lube on the case. Make sure that you don't over lube the shoulder or you will get "Oil dents".

Switching to Dillon carbide dies and Dillon liquid spray on case lube solved all of my problems.

Hanover67 · Jun 4, 2006

I used to use Military (LC Match) .308 brass for high-power reloading, but I got it from the Marines I was paired up with at matches so i knew it had been fired from M-14's. I did get a batch of RA arsenal brass that wouldn't go through my RCBS dies. After dealing with a couple that stuck I discarded them. The other commenters are right, brass is so cheap, why deal with problems?

Nut behind the stock · Jun 18, 2006

I've been there and done that myself. I had several cans of 7.62 that I shot out of a M60 and resused the stuff for M14s.

The brass was more difficult to resize than commercial.
The problem is two fold;
1. the brass is made to be stronger than commercial and
2. It got shot out of a generous chamber and was most likely extracted while still under partial pressure.

I had short case life with the stuff. Mostly split necks. That is a good idea about using two stages to resize the brass, once full length resized and then small base. The case runout would probably be better too.

I've learned that the "sniper rifle" competition crowd will reload their cases in a similar manner but the step down they use is with neck bushings if they need to reduce more than .003-.004 thousandths. They say this significantly helps in runout control at the neck.

Just one more tool of knowledge to throw in the mental toolbox.

stash247 · Jun 19, 2006

If the M-60 was ever in spec, it ought to stay there, what with the constant replacement of bolts, and barrels, from fatigue to the locking shoulders, so chamber dimensions ought not to be an issue!
"Work hardened" necks can be; anneal every case, upon acqusition, and every six sizings, and split necks will be but a memory!
Think about it; you are loading ammo, for the military, and it only has to work once! Would you spend a extra nickle, per thousand rouns, to make the brass more reloadable, if that is not in the contract???
My .17 Hornet was a total loading failure, from the standpoint of brass, until I got out the gas; now 20 times thru the press is mundane, and this is military brass, as well!
Formed, after annealing, a large lot of 7mm.08 cases, from LC64 Match Brass, simply because I had it, so it was cheap; still shooting all but three cases, and they were my errors, in a progressive press.

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The Ammo & Reloading Forum	Converting once fired military 7.62X51mm to USEABLE 308 or 7-08 brass	Jun 17, 2015
The Ammo & Reloading Forum	reloading 308 military brass	Feb 25, 2015
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The Ammo & Reloading Forum	Preparing military brass for reloads	Feb 9, 2013
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