Blank cartridge face, no headstamp

Cerdan

Cerdan

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Just curious, have any of you guys come across a totally blank cartridge face, and what do you make of it? What does it all mean??

Here's my short story: I got an incredible deal when I bought my Remington 700P MLR in .338 Lapua Magnum a few years ago. It came with a bonus 400 rounds of handloaded ammunition. Yes, I'm well aware of the dangers of shooting other peoples' handloads, this isn't the issue -- and besides, the cases alone are worth their weight in gold.

Most are loaded in Lapua stamped cases, but 50 or so are loaded in cases with no headstamp. Totally blank. What reputable manufacturer would use 21.5 grams of brass to make a case and not print its name on it?

Any info or insight would be appreciated.
 
There have been cases of ammo deliberately made without markings, but those were by government arsenals and for political (plausible deniability) reasons. Never heard of .338 that way and the QC suggestion rings true.
 
None, but measure the case length. Should be 2.724". That'll tell you if it has been turned for who knows why. Then forget about it and go shooting. That noise you heard was a black helicopter. snicker.
The other people's reloads thing applies to their reloads in your rifle. Not so much a rifle that came with ammo. I'd still pull 'em though.
 
ted_dent said:
I doubt it. Removing metal from the outside of the case heads would result in shallow primer pockets. I think poor QC is the likely culprit.
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If the primer pockets were uniformed, the pocket depth likely wouldn't change. The lettering on a case head isn't very deep usually, and squaring up the case head doesn't result in the removal of much material; but it was just a thought.
 
sunray said:
None, but measure the case length. Should be 2.724". That'll tell you if it has been turned for who knows why. Then forget about it and go shooting. That noise you heard was a black helicopter. snicker.
The other people's reloads thing applies to their reloads in your rifle. Not so much a rifle that came with ammo. I'd still pull 'em though.
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And case length is always to spec . . . :rolleyes:
 
I have one experience with QC - among a set of new .348 Winchester casings I bought about 3 years ago was one stamped .270!
I was reforming the brass to 12.7x44 (~.50-70 Govt) anyway so the headstamp wasn't really critical for me.
 
I ran into a guy at a gunshow one time selling totally unmarked 303B and 7.62NATO unfired, unprimed cases. He said they where from test batches on new machines before they installed the die to add the headstamp. They passed QC in every way but had to be tossed because they didn't have the headstamps. They where from the IVI plant in Quebec by his claims. For what he wanted for them I just walked away.
 
I have seen the odd remchester case with no headstamp. I've also seen a lot of military brass with no markings whatsoever.

My guess would be that someone ordered a large quantity of brass intending to put their own headstamp on it, and never did. Someone like Nosler or Graf.
 
Interesting, thanks for the responses. The Lapua and unmarked cases have the exact same dimensions and weight, they definitely seem to come from the same manufacturer.

The QC thing makes sense, though it would make more sense if I just had a couple of blanks, not 50.

LUTNIT and MiG25's theories (test runs or subcontracted cases) seem even more likely.

sunray said:
The other people's reloads thing applies to their reloads in your rifle. Not so much a rifle that came with ammo. I'd still pull 'em though.
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Yeah, I tend not to trust other people to have the same focus and attention to detail as I do, heh. But I couldn't bear the thought of burning so much good powder in the back yard, so I decided it would put my mind at ease to inspect a sample of the lot. I measured 30 or so to check for uniform OAL, pulled the bullets to check for consistent powder loads, and in the end, I was satisfied the guy knew what he was doing. Also, he didn't shoot pistols, so I'm relatively sure none of those big .338 cases are filled to the brim with Bullseye. :sok2
 
I just made two 308 cases that have a 243 stamp on em :p

Was testing out reforming the cases with my new press... figured I'd try it out as I'll never shoot 243 and didn't have any spare cases to use as dummy rounds to set the die height.... had to see how much leverage this new press has and it didn't disappoint... though my table did. almost broke the damn thing, and that's with an inch of wood as the table top and 3 inches of wood on that as a base for the press (though the base doesn't cover the whole table, it's about 7.5" wide by 12" long, but 3" thick!)
 
I would be worried. Stamping the marks into the head is often counted upon to cold work the head, increasing the strength. If the heads are intended to be blank, fine, they can incorporate some kind of bulk upset to work the brass. But if the cases were intended to be stamped and accidentally weren't, then they might be soft.
 
I have a bunch of 30-30 without any markings on the head and have seen a lot of 303 without head stamps........don't know why?
Boomer.....them stamps are deeper than one thinks, I was making 40-72 and 38-72 cases for a couple of my 95s and taking 15 thou off rim thickness didn't completely obliterate the 405 headstamp...........just redeepend the primer pockets on my RCBS case prep station.
 
My only QC issue was with a new factory-sealed bag of Win. 264 Mag. brass.
It contained not only the 50 properly head stamped pieces it should, but also 2 pieces of properly head stamped 300 Win Mag.
 
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