Is .308 PMC Brass Military or Commercial?

MJL

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I know that military brass has a smaller volume so when working up a load, you should start about 10% below the minimum powder charge noted in the loading books.

The PMC that I am about to start reloading has both .308 and 7.62 NATO on the box, thus my question.

Any ideas ??
 
The idea that military cases have lesser volume than commercial and need to be downloaded is a rule of thumb. I find with .233/5.56 cases, for example, that they are pretty close to all the same, except for some overseas military surplus I picked up somewhere that are actually significantly greater capacity than normal. On the other hand, Canadian IVI 7.62 is somewhat smaller than FC commercial, and I download them by 1 grain to get about the same ballistics, which is a reduction of 2-3%.

The truth is every factory and every production line makes them a bit differently. The only sure way is to weigh some cases. I usually count out ten cases and weigh them on a digital scale. It helps to have as many different headstamps as possible, then you can see just what kind of difference is significant.
 
sorry to hijack for a second; I have been collecting 7.62x51 military brass with swaged primers. I have heard you can punch those out and chamfer the swage-marks out so that they accept regular primers. Is this true?
 
Do you have a picture of the bottom of the round ? can tell you than.

If it is real military ammo good luck with the primer.

I dont have time to get a picture up, but the headstamp has

PSD

across the top and

0 8

across the bottom.

Primers were lacquered in place, have not tried to pull one yet.
 
military brass

back in about 1492 i bought .308 i asked leader off local cadets if he could get me some military brass got about 1000 been using ever since exellent brass lasts much longer than commercial brass
 
de-priming military brass

sorry to hijack for a second; I have been collecting 7.62x51 military brass with swaged primers. I have heard you can punch those out and chamfer the swage-marks out so that they accept regular primers. Is this true?

The drill for de-priming mil. brass is as follows;
Look into the case mouth using a light-Berdan primers will show up as two(2)
small flash holes-discard !
De-prime single flash hole cases using a dedicated de-prime die-(Lee @ 10.00)
this de-prime pin is virtually indestructable . Ream the mouth of the primer pocket with a Lee case mouth chamfer tool or a primer pocket swedger die to remove the crimp. I use an RCBS. I use both methods depending on the volume of cases to be processed.
If you are shooting an auto loader, in particular an M 14 or Garand the Military brass has a much stronger case head and this is a good thing ! Use CCI # 34 primers-tougher/primer cup,resists sticky firing pins!
 
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PMC is commercial, made in Korea. Don't think it has crimped primers or is the same dimension as milsurp. If you have an American commercial case, weigh 'em both. Milsurp will be a bit heavier.
"...if he could get me some military brass got about 1000..." Not through the CF he didn't. Brass had to be turned in. If he got you IVI brass through the CF it was stolen.
"...Is this true?..." Yep. It's a one time nuisance. Milsurp brass is a bit thicker than commercial brass so you have to reduce the powder charge by 10% and work up.
 
PMC 45ACP 44 MAG primers are boxer ,are not crimped my guess their 30 cal will not be crimped.
 
Very definitely crimped boxer (not Berdan) primed.

Spent the afternoon with a Lyman tool taking the crimp ring off ...
...and have the blisters to show for it .... :mad:



Thanks for the input all ...



But as for the myth that PMC is Commercial not Military brass ....

BUSTED :D :D :D
 
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