Reloading Imperial or IVI Brass

B

bigbull

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Hey Guys, does anybody have any experience with 308 brass from both
IVI and Imperial, I know that the company is one and the same but how
different is the brass for reloading purposes.

Is it the same capacity, durability, consistency etc.?
Cheers
BB
 
I would say no. Loaded lots of both and load lighter with the military brass. For target loads I use the ivi brass with 10 grains of unique and a 160 grain lead. Will also use the ivi brass to replicate service loads for M1A. Commercial brass is mostly lighter and I use it for bolt guns. Lots of info on the net regarding using military brass for reloading
 
The difference would be if the IVI brass was 7.62 brass, or 308 brass, that plant made Remington brass also, when it was Dupont. Or, Is it IVI/Imperial and Dupont Imperial that you have?
 
Some of the last of the Imperial headstamped brass prior to IVI taking over and the IVI brass was poorly annealed. Out of a box of 20 you would normally have 3 or 4 rds split the necks. I would anneal the once fired brass before resizing it and it worked fine. If you didn't anneal it close to 1/2 would split on the first reload.
 
I have used lots of Military IVI brass in both 7.62 and 5.56 with no problems. You do have to swage the primer pockets to remove the crimp.
I always liked Imperial and Dominion ammo and brass as well, never any problems with any of it.
Back in the day everybody around here used Imperial or Dominion.
 
Over a lot of years, which included the meat hunting era in northern Canada and the glory years of shooting after WW2, Canadian Industries Ltd, (CIL) made what was arguably the best factory loaded ammunition in north America, under their Dominion brand, followed later by what they named Imperial.
One reason I make this statement is that Jack O'Connor, the most famous gun writer of all time and a great pusher of Winchester products, once wrote in his column in Outdoor Life Magazine, that Dominion was such good ammunition that he would recommend that US hunters going on long guided hunts in western Canada, buy their ammunition in Canada.
When IVI took over the company, including the name Imperial, their ammunition stamped Imperial IVI, was the worst rifle ammunition I ever used.
 
H4831 said:
Over a lot of years, which included the meat hunting era in northern Canada and the glory years of shooting after WW2, Canadian Industries Ltd, (CIL) made what was arguably the best factory loaded ammunition in north America, under their Dominion brand, followed later by what they named Imperial.
One reason I make this statement is that Jack O'Connor, the most famous gun writer of all time and a great pusher of Winchester products, once wrote in his column in Outdoor Life Magazine, that Dominion was such good ammunition that he would recommend that US hunters going on long guided hunts in western Canada, buy their ammunition in Canada.
When IVI took over the company, including the name Imperial, their ammunition stamped Imperial IVI, was the worst rifle ammunition I ever used.
Click to expand...

Seems to me that IVI had a batch (at least one) rejected by the CF because it was so badly inaccurate
 
I reload IVI and due to the smaller internal capacity of the 7.62/308 brass I drop the load by 1.5grains compared to my RP casings and get an almost exact same response from my remmy 700
 
Is this correct,
Imperial 308 brass is lighter brass and IVI 7.62x51 is heavier brass?
I need actual experiences guys not heresay or rumors.

I am trying to ascertain if manufacturers like CIL/IVI actually made different brass for
military use or used commercial brass and crimped the primer pockets and sealed
the primers/bullets with a laquer.
BB
 
The brass IVI made for the military is a "thicker/heavier" brass. It was made that way to handle the duress that it would be put through. The brass is meant to run through a gas operated automatic weapon. Not all chambers are identical and thus the thicker brass will function on all of the service weapons with minimal expansion which leads to fewer "hard extractions", also most military ammunition runs "hot", the thicker casings can take the abuse...
 
H4831 pretty much took the words out of my mouth regarding Dominion / Imperial / IVI. After using CIL Imperial ammo for years with great satisfaction, I had some IVI Imperial .308 Winchester factory loads (from the early '80's I believe) that had such thin brass necks that when reloaded they would not hold the bullet tight enough to keep the bullet in place. I more recent years I worked for SNC-Lavalin, an engineering firm that did consulting work for IVI. I am aware of a large lot of 7.62 Nato military ammo that was so substandard that it was scrapped.
 
A question about IVI brass?
Just a question about IVI brass, I noticed they don't allow people to sell it in the exchange I've seen lots for sale at gun shows is it illegal to sell?

"Ads for IVI components will be immediately removed from the equipment exchange forum and banned from the forum"

Only dealers can sell it ?
 
bat119 said:
A question about IVI brass?
Just a question about IVI brass, I noticed they don't allow people to sell it in the exchange I've seen lots for sale at gun shows is it illegal to sell?

"Ads for IVI components will be immediately removed from the equipment exchange forum and banned from the forum"

Only dealers can sell it ?
Click to expand...

It's about the acquisition of the brass. If you buy it from Crown Assets, you sign a form stating that it will not be reloaded.
 
OP.......regarding your original question......yes IVI military stamped brass is heavier than Dominion stamped brass in the same cartridge (308). It is difficult to say how much because different lots of Dominion/Imperial cases vary in weight as do different years of IVI. I load and use both quite a bit in 308 and necked down to 243. I segregate the headstamps but don't really do anything else different. The same load shoots to exactly the same place, what can I say.
 
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