Reloads or factory.. Need advice

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jeremy403

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So I got my hands on some old reloads in 6mm remington. My plan was to pull them all to get the brass. There are several pieces mixed in among them which I suspect could be factory rounds. They are all RP stamped and have brass colored primers. The load data on the box says cci 250 large primers were used. My question is did cci ever make brass colored rounds and am I safe in assuming they are factory or do I just go and pull em?
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A neck .103" shorter wouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't use them for precision reloading but they'll work fine for hunting rounds. Might get some soot in the chamber neck.
I've seen some pretty old looking CCI primers at gunshows and they where the same nickle plated style they are now. I don't know if they ever made non-plated primers (bare brass) but I've never seen any.
I'm with Spawn-Inc; if there's only a couple dozen, just pull them for the brass. I wouldn't have an issue reusing the primers with a starting to mid load of a known powder (not what you pulled out unless you can confirm what it is) as fouling rounds or just for plinking.
 
Alright I will pull em all. My next question is how much below min trim length is unacceptable. My book says trim length should be 2.223". Most of it looks pretty good I'm guessing the 2.180" will be ok but what about the 2.077"?
 
As long as there is sufficient neck left to hold the bullet properly it should be fine but as lutnit said I would just use the short ones for plinking.
 
When you are standing on your hind legs shooting at a dear in hunting season you could have the most perfect reloads in the world and still miss.

The brass you have would be fine for practice, BUT I have brass OCD and would prefer buying new brass and knowing its complete history and how it was loaded.

The only range pickup brass I use is once fired Lake City brass that still has a crimped primer. Or the brand cases I use that I see fired by someone who doesn't reload and know they are once fired. These are the type cases for my AR15 and M1 Garand that throw perfectly good brass away and not the type I use in my more accurate bolt actions.
 
Well, it wouldn't be the internet if we didn't get different opinions.
The loading information written on the box looks like it is from a careful reloader, and it is a very light load.
Therefore, I would just shoot one and see if it showed signs of light pressure to match the information. I it looked OK, I would shoot them all.
Bruce
 
H4831 said:
Well, it wouldn't be the internet if we didn't get different opinions.
The loading information written on the box looks like it is from a careful reloader, and it is a very light load.
Therefore, I would just shoot one and see if it showed signs of light pressure to match the information. I it looked OK, I would shoot them all.
Bruce
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I agree with Bruce on this one. I might just pull one round and weigh the powder charge to see if it matches the data on that box. [pull one of the ones with nickel plated primers]

If the powder charge does match the weight stated, it is a very mild load, and will be fine for plinking around with.

A 6mm Remington, with a decent load of H4831sc behind a 100 grain bullet will flirt with 3200 fps in a 24` barrel.

Regards, Dave.
 
I see I cannot be the first to say try them.. I would try them without a second thought... If they were hot, I would take them apart..
 
I am frankly shocked at the number of people who are saying go ahead and use them. I would trust no one's reloads except my own. And if I make a mistake and blow up my gun (or worse) it's my fault. Had a good buddy buy some 45 Colt reloads at a gun show, one of which destroyed his single action Colt. That was lesson enough for me. It's commercial ammo or my reloads or nothing. Saving a few dollars by shooting these reloads aren't worth you gun or destroying your good looks.
 
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As I recall, Remington uses/used brass coloured primers. Never seen anything but silver for reloading.
The loading information written on the box may have nothing whatever to do with those cartridges. Never, ever, ever shoot other people's reloads.
Pull at least the silver coloured primers. 36.0 is a mid range load, but you have no idea if that is actually what is in there. Case mouths look like they need chamfering and deburring too.
A neck .103" shorter is way under the trim-to length of 2.225". So is 2.180". Nothing bad is going to happen though. Rimless case.
 
ted_dent said:
I am frankly shocked at the number of people who are saying go ahead and use them. I would trust no one's reloads except my own. And if I make a mistake and blow up my gun (or worse) it's my fault. Had a good buddy buy some 45 Colt reloads at a gun show, one of which destroyed his single action Colt. That was lesson enough for me. It's commercial ammo or my reloads or nothing. Saving a few dollars buy shooting these reloads aren't worth you gun or destroying your good looks.
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I would not shoot gun show reloaded revolver ammunition, either, especially in a Colt SA!
There is no built in, visible safety margin in revolver ammunition. Meaning, there is no way of looking at, or giving a better examination of the fired revolver case, to estimate the pressure. That's because standard velocity revolvers operate at pressures too low to stretch, or mark the brass, in any way. You could shoot twenty loads completely normal, but the same loaded number twenty one could blow the gun up. I have seen it happen.
A bolt action rifle is completely different, operating with a great built in safety factor. It takes a huge overload to even lock up the bolt.
But yes, to be completely safe on the reloads in question, it would be a good idea to take one apart to examine and weigh the powder. Actually, I too, would likely have done that before I fired one!
Bruce
 
like H4831 said pull a few randoms to check if it matches data which it should on tag and if they chamber in you rifle have fun and if not then pull .
 
Thanks H4831 and Eagleye I actually did take some apart last night and weighed the bullet and the charge to verify if what was on the box was correct. I also measured and shook all of them to verify there was powder in them. There was one box marked target loads with bullets that were seated really long them I will pull for sure.I think the rest should make for a nice evening of plinking
 
If it's not a factory round or if I didn't reload it myself. I pull the bullets. If I screw up a firearm with a overly hot load I have nobody to blame but me.
 
I wouldn't be worried about an overly hot load, I'd be worried that it had the correct type of powder. There have been a couple of threads on here where people have loaded a rifle case full of pistol powder by mistake and utterly destroyed their gun. And this happened to experienced reloaders. You have no way of knowing if the person who loaded those rounds had a brain cramp at some point.
 
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