3006 military brass

[beerbelly]

I have not loaded any military brass, but my understanding is that the only thing is that the primers were crimped and you have to remove the crimp. That a few turns of a pocket reamer and you are good to go. I hope that is right I bought 500 of them. I know some of you guys know for sure.

[necchi]

You got it right, 

[stimpylu32]

That's perty much it in a nutshell , one other thing to take into account is that most Mil. spec. brass is a bit heavier and thus the case cap is slightly reduced , in a case the size of the 06 it can be as much as 3 full grains , so remember to work up your loads starting low .
 
stimpy
 
PS -- don't take too much material with the reamer , just enough for the primer to fit . 

[Catfish]

It can be done that way, but it is much better to use a swedger. Dillon makes a primer pocket swedger that is great, but not cheap. RCBS also makes a die set to do it in your reloading press. I haven`t check on the price of them in years, but would recomand you go that way. AND, like Stimly said, the cases hvae alittle less volume. I`ve loaded 1,000`s of rounds in mil brass and there is nothing wrong with it, after you get the crimp out.

[calvon]

If you happen to have a Wilson case trimmer, they make primer pocket reamers in both sizes and they work well, removing the crimp and creating a tiny rounding to facilitate the entry of the new primer. Run the reamer in until it bottoms out and you're done. Quick and easy.

[beerbelly]

I got my brass and started checking it out because of what stimply said about the difference in volume of the military brass. Well according to my scales the military brass ( I think Korean stamped K A) weighs 2.7 grains less than my civilian brass, yet holds 3 grains less powder!  I find that some what confusing. If it is thicker, I would think it would weigh more ,not less than the civilian brass. But it defiantly holds 3 grains less powder. 
 I trimmed both cases so as to get an accurate weigh.

[Larry L]

You're assuming that all rifle brass is of the same formulation- it's not and that's why you have a difference. You need to know that the original loading in that brass was corrosive. Make sure to wash it in soap and hot water real good before reloading any of it as the salts used in the original priming system will still be in the brass. Tumbling will only remove some of it. Otherwise, the Korean brass that you have works as good as any of it. But a note for you, had you been able to find match military brass there would be no primer crimp and no need to service the primer pocket for reloading. I bungled my way into many thousands of rounds of it years back and have a ton of it that I use for the wildcats I have.

[stimpylu32]

I got my brass and started checking it out because of what stimply said about the difference in volume of the military brass. Well according to my scales the military brass ( I think Korean stamped K A) weighs 2.7 grains less than my civilian brass, yet holds 3 grains less powder!  I find that some what confusing. If it is thicker, I would think it would weigh more ,not less than the civilian brass. But it defiantly holds 3 grains less powder. 
 I trimmed both cases so as to get an accurate weigh.

A lot of times the case's from Europe's eastern block as well as the far east were not designed to be re-loaded , thus the brass is heavier in the head & web areas of the case while the body and neck areas are very thin , as the chamber will hold the pressure and the head is made to withstand the forces of being extracted in full auto weapons .
 
In these case's you may very well end up with a lighter case that still has lesser case cap . than a standard Comm. peice of brass .
 
stimpy

[D Fischer]

I used a lot of military brass over the years. Never have I swedged the first primer pocket. Cut out the crimp with my deburring tool and load it.  Never had trouble that i know of with seating primers. Used 5.56, 308 and 30-06 cases. Have a whole bunch of 1949 FA cases in 30-06 right now. Good cases but I've never got the accuracy from them as from commercial. But certainly good enough for hunting. Had a bunch of LC Match 308 cases years ago and they were good but I wouldn't call them great. I would not turn down a bunch of mil stuff if offered but I don't go looking for it anymore either.

[beerbelly]

Well I wash by Korean brass with the K A head stamp. I started out at 43.2 grains of IMR 4895. Hornady book starting load. moved up to 43.5 and was getting some pretty fair groups foe me. but when I wen to load for the third time I saw this crack in the shoulder after loading. May have been there before loading. I had loaded these five rounds at 44 grains. The other four looked ok so I fired them. after firing I found another case with a cracked shoulder. [/size]So I guess my cheap brass isn't going to be so cheap after all.[/color]

[hillbill]

anybody else have the experience that crimped mil primers can be hard on decapping pins in your sizeing dies?

[LaOtto222]

I have always used a decapping rod out of a Lee Hand kit. It is substantial and have not broken it yet. I just drill a small hole in a wood block center the case over it and pound it out with a mallet.

If you are having cracked cases in the neck/shoulder area, I would anneal them. Chances are they were not annealed properly to start with. I am not sure what you are shooting these in, but with a bolt, I would only neck size. It saves the life of the case and I think it helps the accuracy some too. The accuracy because the case fills the chamber better thus is centered to the bore better rather than set in the bottom of the chamber.

Good Shooting and Good Luck

[beerbelly]

I am loading for an M1 Garand.

[jim36]

Back in the late 50's, while living in Mphs. Tn. There was a junk yard on old Thomas street. He carried some militiry trucks and misc stuff  etc. He had a few barrels of mil. 30 06 and M1 carbine brass. As I can recall (hard to do now) I paid around a nickle a pound for that brass. I bought a large amount of it and gave it to every friend that wanted some. I have only a few pcs left. It was some of the best reloading brass around at the time. I don't recall having to do anything to the primer pockets. After reading some of the above post, I just had to post this.
Those were the "GOOD OLE DAYS"  I'm sorry to say but there will be no more of the good ole days in our future.
                                   
                                                   Good shooting to you and may God bless this nation.
                                                                                                                            <")))><

[30calflash]

Well I wash by Korean brass with the K A head stamp. I started out at 43.2 grains of IMR 4895. Hornady book starting load. moved up to 43.5 and was getting some pretty fair groups foe me. but when I wen to load for the third time I saw this crack in the shoulder after loading. May have been there before loading. I had loaded these five rounds at 44 grains. The other four looked ok so I fired them. after firing I found another case with a cracked shoulder. So I guess my cheap brass isn't going to be so cheap after all.

 If it is doing ok with accuracy and safety, just toss them after the 4th reload. Into the brass bucket for the scrap yard, then you can put the cash towards some different brass the next time.

 A friend was in Vietnam and said many Korean soldiers there would pick up all the brass they found and bring it back when leaving. Crates of it. Probably some of the KA stuff that you are using.

[SHOOTALL]

anybody else have the experience that crimped mil primers can be hard on decapping pins in your sizeing dies?

yep so I got a lee tool that punches them out it broke also. I also got a swage from RCBS it's a pain to use. Got a RCBS case prep station it's great to ream primer pockets and camfer case mouth.
The splitting cases , you may need to aneal the cases military brass can be harder . Stimpylu32 had a good read on the brass , I would add that depending if alloy was added the weight could differ also and cause a stiffer case.

[30calflash]

I am loading for an M1 Garand.

 There's info out there for annealing, look at the options and see what is best for you.

 That said I've never annealed cases. There is some chance of over doing it and you can end up with soft brass. A too soft neck on a case may get damaged in feeding thru your Garand.

 And, you don't know how the KA brass will react to annealing. Every country has their way for manufacturing. These 30 cal cases were not intended to be reloaded.

 If it was inexpensive, try to get something like Lake City or other military made cases next time. Swage or ream the pockets and prepare as you have done before. I don't think the effort is worth it, especially in the Garand. In a bolt it wouldn't be as big an issue. IMHO.

[shot1]

If you are getting 3 firings on your cases out of an M1 Garand you have done well. The M1 beats the crap out of cases and stretches them a lot. I came across some LC Match cases years ago that had not been fired but had just been pulled down that I am still using and I toss them after 4 firings. Those that I use in my 1903A3 Springfields last a loooooooooog time.
My match load is this for both the M1 and 03: LC Match Case that has been match prepped by uniforming the primer pocket depth and removing the burr on the inside of the case on the flash hole. I trim my cases to 2.490 which is .005 under the max length for the case and .005 longer than the trim to length. The reason for doing this is I use a Lee Factory Crimp Die on my loads and this gives a bit more case to get a good crimp on. Powder is IMR 4895 and I use 48 grs. and use CCI BR2 primers which are Match primers and I have never had a single problem with slam fire with these in the M1 Garand. I use the Nosler 155 gr Match bullet C.O.A.L 3.334 and use the Lee Factory Crimp Die which helps keep the bullet in place through the slam bang cycling of the M1 but most of all it improves the accuracy of the load.

[beerbelly]

I have some RP brass that I have loaded nine times. I still can see nothing that would make me think they could not be loaded again. But i think I will not push it any further with them.