Anyone see this before?

Military .45 ACP.
The cannelure is used by many manufacturers in many cartridges/calibers at the base of the bullet to resist bullet setback.

yup, its 45 brass. I have a few thousand of those, good brass. the crimp in the case wall is very common, you will commonly see it on a lot of the higher end $1 a round defensive ammo. Its an extra insurance policy against bullet setback.

As a side note the WCC is Western Cartridge Company and in your image 66 (1966) was the year of manufacture. Have a WCC 41 laying here with the same crimp marking.

Ron

That ring is fairly common, and not just with 45. I have even seen it in 38 special. One firing irons it out. Then just treat it like it's not there.

In some older 9mm 1980's brass I have also. Shoots just fine!

I have a canneluring tool that I use for heavy recoiling guns to stop bullet setback. It works well for placing a cannelure in bullets too.

Anytime you see a head stamp of W C C and two numbers it will be military ammo.
WCC stands for Western Cartridge Company and the two numbers are the date of manufacture. 66 would be 1966 .
The cannelure is rolled at the base of the 45 bullet to keep it from setting back in semi and full auto arms fire. Good brass. Back in the 1960's and 1970's military surplus 45 cases were plentiful and dirt cheap. Would get buckets of once fired brass sold for scrap metal . I'm still reloading the stuff today .
Gary

I don't understand. Of all my .45 Auto cases, about 25-30% have a cannelure on them. After firing, the cannelure serves no purpose as it has been "blown out" from the case interior.

Seen the same thing on some of my 9mm brass. Wasn't really sure what it was for, but I never worried about it because it loads and shoots just fine.

Nice to know what the purpose is though.

The primers on military loads are usually crimped in place. Removing the primer crimp helps seat new primers. There are fancier tools to do it, but the plain RCBS deburring tool, about 3 or 4 twists back and forth in the primer hole does the job. It never has to be done again after the first time.

I see this as WCC 99 for what it's worth.

When did WCC stop producing?

I think it is a 66 if the orientation is the same as of some WCC 70 I have.

Okay thanks for checking.

And hey, welcome to THR!

As a side note, the cannelure isn't always used to prevent bullet setback issues. I have numerous Winchester .38 Special cases with the cannelure within about 1/8" of the extractor groove. It's also sometimes used to identify special purpose ammunition, such as blanks, etc.

Some brass will have several cannelures along the sides of the case. I've seen .38's with three of them, but the most common is one, with two being next in commonality. Most .38's with two cannelures were originally loaded with HBWC bullets, and have strait walls to accommodate the longer bearing surface of the flush seated bullet.

Some cannelures are also placed in the center of the bearing surface of the bullet. Both MagTech and S&B do this, again with .38's. Some brass has a very heavy cannelure, such as the MagTech .45 Colt brass, and some has a very light one.

The cannelure is common, and has been for years. It may baffle a new reloader, but those who have been around for awhile just take them for granted. If I have some special purpose brass, I'll add a cannelure with either my CH4D Cannelure Tool, or my Corbin Cannulure Tool, but I use them mostly for adding the cannelure to bullets, both factory and ones I've swaged myself.

Hope this helps.

Fred

Some older loading had more than just the slite cannalureing. A 1917 United States Cartridge Company loading for domestic use, lead bullet. Note the deep cannelure and also the case dimpled into the bullet.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=220564&stc=1&d=1461120316

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=220565&stc=1&d=1461120316

noylj said:

I don't understand. Of all my .45 Auto cases, about 25-30% have a cannelure on them. After firing, the cannelure serves no purpose as it has been "blown out" from the case interior.

Click to expand...

To be blunt, the manufacturer only cares about the first time the round is fires. They never care about someone wanting to reload their factory brass, that's not their concern or liability. Also, no one said anything about the cannelure having a purpose other than from the factory. Again, the manufacturer isn't worrying about anything other than the first and only time they want that round to fire and that brass case be used.

Have a lot in 9 mm. Have to remove the priners crimp to place a new one. Very good shells

ArchAngelCD:
Just saying that it doesn't matter and serves no purpose for the reloader. Not sure what you think I was meaning.

What I meant was, the manufacturer uses a cannalure on the case where the bottom of the bullet sits but they don't care if it irons our or is useful after the ammo is fired because they are not selling factory loaded ammo with the intent of producing the best secondary use for their fired case. The only want to be sure the ammo us the best on the first firing.

I hope that was clearer.

If the numbers are 66 then the letters would be MCC. They don't stamp the numbers top in then turn the letters top out.

What you do not want is the stepped inner brass lining that goes up about half way. Ammoland and some other brand has made that I think, it is some sort of stepped extrusion method and it leaves a tiny ledge inside and the cases rupture right at that half way mark a lot.

But the cases with the cannelures? Oh those are good all day long...