Found Brass

Sluggo_m14

Sluggo_m14

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I found about 30 308 cases at a local pit today, looking at them they seem to be for the most part new- so I was wondering if there any specfic tests/ inspections or measurements that can made to determine if they are OK to use or is it pretty much a unknown risk?
 
pretty much an unknowen risk. i have brass thats 14x fired, shows no signgs of case head speration, or work hardening (i anneal) and they look pretty much new

i do how ever pick up unknowen brass, as it still works good for making dummy rounds etc and you dont have to saccrifice good knowen brass, use them to make a "die setting" round for each of the bullet types you use in that calliber
 
Chances are this is factory once fired brass, shot by a non reloader. I pick up gobs of it and just go right ahead and load and use it. If it is old used up brass you can see that it's dull and will have been trimmed and chamfered which factory brass never is. Old brass is easy to see, many details that as a reloader you should be able to ascertain. Factory new once fired brass is easy to see.
 
What is the headstamp? If it's surplus, it may be Berdan primed (2 flash holes) and not reloadable.
Pics would help.
 
all of my 223 is range pick-up and all my 8mm mauser is reworked 270win or 30-06 range pickup....not a single issue. Then again i use a single stage press and every single piece of brass gets handled by me and looked over.
 
Like C-FBMI said....Easy to tell reloaded brass from factory loaded once fired brass....Primer color is also an indicator....Silver primer for reloads and brass color for factory loaded.

C-FODW
 
Lastgun said:
Primer color is also an indicator....Silver primer for reloads and brass color for factory loaded.

C-FODW
Click to expand...

That's not really true and shouldn't be used as an indicator. Winchester component primers are brass and could be found in reloads. Most factory ammo I see has silver (nickle plated brass usually) primers including Remington, Federal, Hornady, Barnes, and others.

The only way a primer can tell you if it's a reload or not is if it's a crimped in primer and the crimp burr hasn't been removed. Usually hard to tell without removing the primer though so not the best sign either.
 
Lastgun said:
Like C-FBMI said....Easy to tell reloaded brass from factory loaded once fired brass....Primer color is also an indicator....Silver primer for reloads and brass color for factory loaded.

C-FODW
Click to expand...

Forgive the brief hijack, Lastgun or should I say Oscar-Delta-Whiskey what kind of bird do you fly? C-FBMI was my T337B Cessna now I've got a PA32-300 letters are C-GDXI and she's affectionately known as Dixie.
 
" Then again i use a single stage press and every single piece of brass gets handled by me and looked over."

The key to good reloading.
 
Hey you guys, I started out with Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, and all these fancy words they use now are confusing.
 
H4831 said:
Hey you guys, I started out with Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, and all these fancy words they use now are confusing.
Click to expand...

H4831, they standardized the current phonetic letter words sometime ago, for correct radio transmisson. Do not know when but I was required to learn them when I started flying back in '79 and I know the military used the same words in Vietnam. The police forces though, had their own for many years and possibly still do. You can look up the proper military / flying ones on the internet.
One of my ex-fathers in law was in Korea in the 50s and he was taught the same as todays with a few exceptions.
 
most likely once fired. i would keep shooting them until they breaks/cracks or if you do target practice for accuracy, untill you get bad accuracy. i know lots of people do exaggerate stories a little bit like the gun will explode but i find thats far from the truth, for .303brit i usualy get about 7 reloads before the brass snaps off at the head when extracting the shell, then i just use a bore brush or a screw driver to pop the peice out. the way i look at it why let a piece of brass go to waste for nothing if you could still get a few shots out of it, but do what ever you feel safe doing.

if the brass has a crack anywhere on it then it isnt worth reloading though.
 
c-fbmi said:
H4831, they standardized the current phonetic letter words sometime ago, for correct radio transmisson. Do not know when but I was required to learn them when I started flying back in '79 and I know the military used the same words in Vietnam. The police forces though, had their own for many years and possibly still do. You can look up the proper military / flying ones on the internet.
One of my ex-fathers in law was in Korea in the 50s and he was taught the same as todays with a few exceptions.
Click to expand...

I am a Ham radio operator, so I am well aware of the current phonetic alphabet. Was just trying to be funny.
When I got my private pilots licence in 1949 they were using Able, Baker, Charlie and they were still using it when I got my Commercial early in 1953.
They got away from it in 1956, but it was not identical to the modern. Some words were different, for example M was Metro. It gradually changed to what they use now.
 
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