Re-using CBC 7.62x51 brass

kjohn

kjohn

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
171   0   0
Location
SE Sask.
I have scads of this brass, so I have decided to use some. I drill a small hole in the primer, using the firing pin dent as a starter. Then use a deck screw with a good set of pliers to pry the primer out. I did batches of ten. I take the brass to the vise, set it on a small enough bolt to go in the brass and bottom out. I take a drift punch that fits in the primer pocket and beat the anvil flat. Back to the desk and drill one primer hole out a bit bigger, pretty well the size of a boxer primer hole. I set a couple of wee bits of red Loctite on the sides of the pocket, then set the brass on to a LR primer, put them in a tray mouth down and leave them over night. FL Resized and a little bit of bell on the mouth. 10 grains of 700X, 1/2 square of good old Kirkland butt wipe paper, seat a LEE 160 gr .309 cast bullet, gas checked, crimp with a LEE collet crimp die.

Yes, I know it's a lot of fiddling for brass that is readily available in boxer style. When (if) it warms up, I am going to record the velocity on my whizzer Garmin and keep track of the accuracy, or lack thereof. Probably at about 50 yards or so.

I have loaded other Berdan brass that has a pocket close enough to use a boxer primer and a bit of Loctite.

Edit: changed to bold brass
 
Last edited:
saskgunowner101 said:
So, these are originally berdan primed, but brass cases? Sorry for the dumb question.
Click to expand...
Yes, brass cases. Very solid cases. Back in the day, we bought cases and cases of the stuff. Shot it mostly in our FN's and FAL's. A warning came out that some of the CBC 7.62x51 was mistakenly loaded with a pistol powder that looked pretty much like the proper rifle powder. We were supposed to return the stuff. Maybe some people did return the ammo, maybe some ammo caused trouble, certainly to be expected with a rifle sized charge of pistol powder, to be sure. The stuff we still had was torn down, powder all dumped in a big bowl and stirred up, then reloaded. So far, I haven't heard of any trouble. One afternoon, four of us had three FN's/Indian Ishapores/Australian rifles, 20 round magazines, with one guy loading mags (taking turns loading). We shot off a whole case in just around one hour, all shooting at a rock about 100 yards off. We shot a good portion of that rock away. This was all CBC stuff before the recall notice came out!
 
That CBC brass is very good stuff. I refurbished a couple of cases back in the day when money was tight, just after a nasty divorce.

I purchased an RCBS BERDAN PRIMER DECAPPER and it worked, but slow and hard on the hands.

Then I took the same route you're travelling now, about as much fun as watching grass grow.

I didn't have a lathe or access to one at the time, but I had a very nice pedestal grinder and an electric hand drill.

I took an 8 inch length of 5/16 diameter brass rod, steel will work just as well, and chucked it up in the hand drill, then took it to the grinder and ground the rod to a diameter that would slip easily into the case neck, but wasn't sloppy.

Then, I found an Allen wrench which was small enough to fit into the Berdan flash holes, drilled the tip of the rod and press fit the Allen wrench stub into the hole.

make sure to drill the hole "off center" as much as the center of the flash hole is from the center of the case.

I cut off the Allen wrench so that only 3/8 inch protruded from the tip.

Then, it's quite easy to use one of the bases provided with a Lee Reloader Kit or even a shell head holder clamped in a table vice to rest the base of the case on and punch out the spent primer. The offset pin punch makes locating the holes easy. One tap with a small hammer and the primer is out.

Then, I did go through the trouble to drill out the center of the BERDAN PRIMER POCKET, from the neck end, to make the decapping process available on the press.

It's a lot of effort, but the CBC cases lasted a long time, and with reannealing at proper intervals, I was getting up to 30 reloads.

I liked using the CBC brass in my HBR rifles, because it was very consistent in weight and turning the neck thickness to fit my chambers was very smooth.

I was cautioned by a couple of knowledgeable shooters about getting too much "ignition"

Under real time conditions, with the ball powder I was using, W748, with the Berdan Primers I purchased from Silva, I didn't have any issues.

Some Berdan primers are the same diameter and depth as their Boxer counterparts. My CBC cases were close but a few thou larger and even if I used a sealant they would leak around the edges when firing. Didn't do any damage but the black carbon around them and on the bolt face made me nervous.

I was surprised the Berdan Primers ignited without the center anvil in the primer pocket, but again, no issues.
 
Is 308 brass getting that hard to find?

Edit: I see that you acknowledged this at the end of your post, carry on, have fun!
 
Last edited:
I fired off 5 of these yesterday (March 2). No accuracy report, I just fired them off at a clump of dirt in a field. Toilet paper went flying! I'm going to mark these five and use them for the test bed for future firings. There was a bit of soot on the base, but not an unusual amount. I'm interested to know how they will stand up.
 
kjohn said:
I fired off 5 of these yesterday (March 2). No accuracy report, I just fired them off at a clump of dirt in a field. Toilet paper went flying! I'm going to mark these five and use them for the test bed for future firings. There was a bit of soot on the base, but not an unusual amount. I'm interested to know how they will stand up.
Click to expand...
You need to invest in a dollar store bingo dabber for poor man targets.:LOL:

Soot on the base, as in primer pocket leakage, or did you mean soot on the case like a lower pressure reload?
 
saskgunowner101 said:
You need to invest in a dollar store bingo dabber for poor man targets.:LOL:

Soot on the base, as in primer pocket leakage, or did you mean soot on the case like a lower pressure reload?
Click to expand...
Kind of tricky right a this time of year to find a place to set up targets. I have a ton of paper targets. Likely a bit of primer leakage.
 
kjohn said:
Kind of tricky right a this time of year to find a place to set up targets. I have a ton of paper targets. Likely a bit of primer leakage.
Click to expand...
I guess maybe we have more snow left up here compared to the south this year? A 12 x 24 piece of plywood plunked down in a snowbank works good enough for how fancy I get, which isn't very. Can't wait to see some target results.(y)
 
In the mid-90s "Gold Cross" remanufactured ammunition was based on salvaged CBC ammunition. With 155gr Sierras it was good enough for most of us cheap skate DCRA shooters. I didn't and still don't handload, and my barrel was getting shot out. But, that was the next most available readily available ammunition after scrounged up assorted DA and IVI military ball.

The comment about blazing through cases with self-loading rifles is one of the ways the sabotaged powder charge situation was discovered. AFAIR, there are two vintages of CBC, but both became suspect. Apparently some of the well-heeled US full auto shooters found it would blow up their belt-feds and high capacity shoulder controlled rifles. Their lawsuits prompted the recall and recovery. It is still posted on the interwebs somewhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom