7.62x51 IVI brass for reloading?

Drop powder charge by 2 gr to equal pressure with a commercial case.

I use either a Dillon pocket swedger or a countersink on my electric drill to take off the pocket crimp.

I prefer to use military brass in my M14s, because the military cases have harder heads.
 
I just weighed a few peaces and some weigh the same as my 308's others are 3-4 grains heavier. So the ones that are the same as regular 308 should have the same capacity?
Im not a bench shooter so as long as im working in safe pressure limits and geting decent groups im happy.
I guess ill sort by date stamp and then by weight possibly after.
 
Good morning,

I am going to start reloading. Was wondering, if the normal Austrian Military 7.62x51 can be reloaded NM? Is there special casings like the projectile for NM? Sorry if it is a bit off topic.

Thanks
 
3-charlie said:
Good morning,

I am going to start reloading. Was wondering, if the normal Austrian Military 7.62x51 can be reloaded NM? Is there special casings like the projectile for NM? Sorry if it is a bit off topic.

Thanks
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Look inside the case. Does the primer have 1 flash hole or 2? If 1, it is Boxer primed and reload just like the IVI brass. If 2, it is Berdan primed and not practical to reload.
 
When citing a 2 grain reduction in charge, what powder is being referenced?

Does IVI have considerably less capacity than say, Lake City? A recent google search on lake city capacity suggested a reduction more to the tune of 1gn of Varget, which is something like 2.5%.

Also, would it not be possible that some older cases were fired from the FNs?
 
thenerdboy said:
When citing a 2 grain reduction in charge, what powder is being referenced?

Does IVI have considerably less capacity than say, Lake City? A recent google search on lake city capacity suggested a reduction more to the tune of 1gn of Varget, which is something like 2.5%.

Also, would it not be possible that some older cases were fired from the FNs?
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The 7.62 IVI brass we get is all fired from MG's, it's waaayyy stretched out and take a really good amount to size it back to spec. The stuff I have weighed 30 grains more then commercial Winchester/Remington brass, basically 30'06 weight brass.
 
Hitzy said:
The 7.62 IVI brass we get is all fired from MG's, it's waaayyy stretched out and take a really good amount to size it back to spec. The stuff I have weighed 30 grains more then commercial Winchester/Remington brass, basically 30'06 weight brass.
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I found that the Lee dies with good lube (I use the paste wax, name forgets me right now, small tin) work great.
 
thenerdboy said:
When citing a 2 grain reduction in charge, what powder is being referenced?

Does IVI have considerably less capacity than say, Lake City? A recent google search on lake city capacity suggested a reduction more to the tune of 1gn of Varget, which is something like 2.5%.

Also, would it not be possible that some older cases were fired from the FNs?
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Depending on who made the 7.62 military cases the average should be a 2 grain reduction for all powders.

I have the Hodgdon's 26th edition reloading manual dated 1992 hardbound edition and the difference is 2 grains between commercial and military case with H4895. This manual lists standard .308 loads and military match loads using Winchester and military cases. And the difference again between the .308 data and military load data using thicker military cases is 2 grains less with all powders.

Example, using Quickload and a .223/5.56 case with 28.0 capacity and a case with 30.6 grain capacity the chamber pressure will vary 6,000 psi.

Just remember with military cases you have a stronger heavy duty case that will last longer if not abused by loading these cases hot.
 
thenerdboy said:
When citing a 2 grain reduction in charge, what powder is being referenced?

Does IVI have considerably less capacity than say, Lake City? A recent google search on lake city capacity suggested a reduction more to the tune of 1gn of Varget, which is something like 2.5%.
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My reloads for 168 SMK for my M14's came down a half grain of H4895 coming from PMC to IVI brass. There was an approximate guide I used from an M14 website calling for 1 grain of powder to be reduce for 11 (pretty sure) grains of case weight added. I want to say my PMC brass was ~176grs and the IVI is ~182grs. I think all the Winny brass I have on hand is about ~155grs.
 
Sized around 100 pcs today. some sure are blown out! Like .022 oversize at the neck. Not sure what they were shot from FN possibly but wow are they oversize.
Some are super easy to size, from 63-78 are easy, any from 81 are a #####...
 
Some info for interested parties:

I FL sized some vintage 1F 1978 IVI cases and loaded them to fireform. No issues sizing and the brass cleaned up really nicely. Used my lube pad, RCBS case lube and standard FL dies.

Brought them home and decided to weigh them to check H2O capacity against some commercial cases that I loaded/fired. To my surprise, the consistency of this brass was not not nearly as good as the commercial. Complete opposite of my findings with current production 5.56 casings. These 7.62 cases had greater weight variance and capacity variance than the others that I fired. I pulled the bullets from leftover rounds and will be loading the other brass; it's too bad because I spent a lot of time doing prep on these casings.

Also of interest, some rough calculations showed that a reduction in charge of only 1 grain would be closer to the other brass that I fired in this test. YMMV - work up and don't hurt yourself.
 
bsand said:
I found that the Lee dies with good lube (I use the paste wax, name forgets me right now, small tin) work great.
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Interesting- I tried the Imperial sizing wax on some X-Reload surplus brass, and it wouldn't budge.

I then tried LOTS! of spray lube and it worked fine, but yeah, you really have to put some effort into resizing that mg-fired stuff.

Since I bought it for my M-305, I also bought a small-base die to size them for that.
 
stevebc said:
Interesting- I tried the Imperial sizing wax on some X-Reload surplus brass, and it wouldn't budge.

I then tried LOTS! of spray lube and it worked fine, but yeah, you really have to put some effort into resizing that mg-fired stuff.

Since I bought it for my M-305, I also bought a small-base die to size them for that.
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you do realize that the m305 chamber is HUGE right. You'd be over streching the brass every firing using small base dies everytime.
 
bsand said:
What ever the belt fed 762 machine gun is, is what they were fired from.
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actually that's incorrect,there is a lot of 7.62 shot from bolt guns and high end .308 AR,by the sniper program,i get tons of it,and it's insanely great brass,the weight variance can be less than .5 of a grain if you take time to weigh a bunch of it,this stuff is pretty dam close to match brass,and lasts forever,
 
Wiskey1 said:
actually that's incorrect,there is a lot of 7.62 shot from bolt guns and high end .308 AR,by the sniper program,i get tons of it,and it's insanely great brass,the weight variance can be less than .5 of a grain if you take time to weigh a bunch of it,this stuff is pretty dam close to match brass,and lasts forever,
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+1

The IVI brass I thought would be mediocre machine gun brass turned out the be within a grain from the 09-11 headstamped stuff. Pleased to say the least.
 
thenerdboy said:
Also, would it not be possible that some older cases were fired from the FNs?
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Anything is possible, but frankly, expecting that it was shot through anything other than a nearly worn out belt-fed of one flavor or another, is pretty much like taste testing turds and expecting the next one will taste better. It might, but the odds...not good!

Unless you were there when the stuff hit the dirt, it all gets treated as if it was going to need the full treatment.

The FN has been gone a very long time. Lesse. I think we got our Famil on the new C7 about '85. That sound about right?

So to even really have a chance, you are looking for dates earlier than that. Except that there were a bunch more rounds being fed through the pigs than through the rifles.
When anyone had money for training use ammo...
 
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