30-6 reloading questions

If I were you, I'd find an experienced shooter/hand loader and get him/her to look over the brass.

Obviously you need to get rid of the damaged brass, but there are other considerations and my opinion is you need some expert help.

How old is this stuff and how was it stored? If it's all uniformly corroded I'd pitch the lot. It might not be reloadable even if it's not damaged. Some primers are just a royal PITA to get out of the case.

Should be a date on the mil brass. And maybe measure them before you resize, and put the oversized ones off to the side?

OK, first, it's .30-06. Pronounced 'thirty ought six' I got sick of the calls every fall at the gun shop from some old fuff (not the Old Fuff! ) that went like this:

'Ya got any clips for a tree o six?'

'Pardon me, Sir, but do you mean any magazines for a thirty ought six?'

'That's what I said, d*** it, a tree o six!'

'Which model, Sir?

'TREE O SIX!'
(Trying to keep my cool)
'Sir, I can think of about thirty different rifles that take a magazine in thirty ought six caliber. Do you know which model rifle you need the magazine for?'

'A f'n tree o six! whaadya, stupid or sumpin'?'

I hung up at that point. There was no use continuing. My guess is he wanted en bloc clips for an M-1, probably the only 'tree o six' he's ever known/seen/used.
But I'll never know. that was thirty years ago, and I pretty sure he's dead. That was the worst one, but if I had a dollar for every old-timer that called it a tree o six or three o six, I'd be well off.

OK, rant off. Sorry. ku4hx has the right idea. Personally I'd keep any newer commercial brass, then have a more expreienced reloader look the military stuff over.

'When in doubt, toss it out' is my motto with brass, particularly with common calibers such as .30-06. Brass is cheap, or free, in your case; your face (or worse) isn't.

Agree with all above... toss it.
(especially as the OP's been told a history of failures -- for whatever reason)

As to pronunciation and/or spelling (the fun part):

Spelling:
30-06, or `06 for short

Pronunciation:
"Thirty-ought" six; or just "Ought" six; or even "Oh"-six will do in any company of aficionados.

The military ammo will have the initials of the ordnance plant that made it, and the last two digits of the year it was made.

Here is a list of U.S. ammo plants who may have made 30-06.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_headstamps#US_Arsenals

Like this St. Louis Ordnance Plant stuff, made in 1943.



As far as old GI brass being dangerous?
Not necessarily true at all.
I'm still using WWII brass in 30-06 & .45 ACP with no problems.

It is some of the best brass you can get normally.

If it dates to before WWII, I wouldn't trust it.

But if its newer then that, and not obviously corroded, Choot'm!

The loaded ammo, I would not trust, as I think that is where the problem was.

I would pull the bullets, de-prime it resize it, and start over with a known safe load.
( You do not have to fire the primers to safely de-prime it.)

rc

"...'Ya got any clips for a tree o six?'..." Sounds very French Canadian. snicker.
Like RC says, milsurp brass old or not isn't necessarily dangerous. Might need the primer crimp removed though. Any that split were likely just very old. Brass gets brittle over time regardless of who made it. Since you have 4 or 5,000 cases weed the milsurp out to start.
More stead stamps are here. http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=headstampcodes

Determining the age of the brass will not tell you if it is safe to reload. You could have a case from WWII that is fine and one that was manufactured last year that is about to have a head separate. If it were mine: deprime on press (live or spent primers), clean brass if needed, carefully inspect each case looking for corrosion, splits, cracks or bad dents/creases. Take a long straightened out paper clip with the very end bent over in an "L" shape (small enough to fit down the case mouth) to use as a feeler gauge to check for signs of impending case head separation. You are looking for a crease on the inside of the case usually just above the head. The paperclip should catch in the small groove/indention if there is a problem. Toss the ones that don't pass inspection. I bet you end up with a lot of good usable brass. The other thing to look for once you start loading the brass that passes is loose primer pockets and also crimped primer pockets on military brass. If it has a crimp, you will need to either ream or Swage the crimp out in order to seat a new primer properly. If a primer seats with unusually light resistance, then you should consider scraping the case.

As for the loaded ammo, I would not shoot it either. Just not worth the risk IMO. Pull the bullets and possibly re-use, deprime and toss the primers and powder. Inspect the brass as above. Good luck.

Can't add nuttin' to RC's post, good info. About 75% of the "ought six" brass I use for reloads for my Garand is military surplus, mostly LC (form mid fifties up) and a lot of HXP (mainly 70s manufacture). My 308 Winchester uses a lot of LC 7.62 military surplus brass. I haven't experienced any case failures yet.

If you have a lot to pull, a collet puller is best.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/680804/rcbs-collet-bullet-puller

Just a bunch?
You can get by with a hammer impact pullet.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/630146/rcbs-powr-pull-impact-bullet-puller

If you don't care about marking the bullets, you can run them up in the press and grasp the bullets with pliers or side-cutters and let the ram pull them out.

No, primers wont go off when you de-prime them with a reloading press die.

It takes an impact to set them off.
Just don't try to pound them out with a punch & hammer and you will be fine.

rc

I'll chime in.

Vertical splitting and messed up firing pins doesn't sound like old bad brass. When brass does this, it's usually due to the load being over the top. Most times when brass gets loaded numerous times and has reached the end of it's life span, it will almost always develop thinning in the web region, thus case head separation become the issue. That and necks splitting and primer pockets getting loose.

Now brass can corrode and then the zinc will leach out, that could cause failures in unusual places also.

if you have more than 10 or 15 cartridges to pull down, I would pick up a collet puller, much faster. And don't worry about depriming on the press, they won't go bang.

GS

Some of the brass.
LG 62 MN
LG 62 Match

Click to expand...

That is LC, (Lake City) not LG, and it is NM for National Match made in 1962.
Great brass!

RA H 18
RA 18

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Remington Arsenal 1918.
Toss it.

FA 28
WRA CO 18

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Frankfort Arsinal 1928.
And Winchester Repeating Arms 1918.
Toss it.

WW Super 30-06 Sprg
No Date??

Click to expand...

Relatively new commercial Winchester-Western.
Good stuff.

Yes, that is a collet puller, if it has the .30 caliber collet.

Rc

Since .30-06 is

available all over the place, I'd s*** can the military stuff and buy some once-fired commercial brass. It's cheap.

entropy said:

OK, first, it's .30-06. Pronounced 'thirty ought six' I got sick of the calls every fall at the gun shop from some old fuff (not the Old Fuff! ) that went like this:

'Ya got any clips for a tree o six?'

'Pardon me, Sir, but do you mean any magazines for a thirty ought six?'

'That's what I said, d*** it, a tree o six!'

'Which model, Sir?

'TREE O SIX!'
(Trying to keep my cool)
'Sir, I can think of about thirty different rifles that take a magazine in thirty ought six caliber. Do you know which model rifle you need the magazine for?'

'A f'n tree o six! whaadya, stupid or sumpin'?'

I hung up at that point. There was no use continuing. My guess is he wanted en bloc clips for an M-1, probably the only 'tree o six' he's ever known/seen/used.
But I'll never know. that was thirty years ago, and I pretty sure he's dead. That was the worst one, but if I had a dollar for every old-timer that called it a tree o six or three o six, I'd be well off.

OK, rant off. Sorry. ku4hx has the right idea. Personally I'd keep any newer commercial brass, then have a more expreienced reloader look the military stuff over.

'When in doubt, toss it out' is my motto with brass, particularly with common calibers such as .30-06. Brass is cheap, or free, in your case; your face (or worse) isn't.

Click to expand...

As you already figured out the only 30-06 that I have any use for takes clips as was intended by Jean-Cantus Garand of St-Remi Quebec, otherwise known as John C Garand.