Help - ID .308 win OFB brass?

[JonSmith]

I have been reloading handgun ammo for about 25 yrs and am making my first foray into rifle ammo. I recently purchased a quantity of .308 win OFB supposedly all commercial. About half are "FC" which I am familiar with, the others are marked "MC" and have some funky little indentions around the primer. These indentions are in a triangle pattern around the outer edge of the primer pocket and look like they may be there to "stake" the primers in?

Is anybody familiar with these indentions and what purpose they serve? Also, anybody know what brand "MC" is? Am I going to have problems reloading this brass because of those funky indentions? Lastly, anybody know any good sources of .308 win OFB?

Thanks in advance for any/all answers!!!

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

The three dents around the primer are there to keep the primer in place in an automatic weapon. It is most likely milsurp brass. Take a light and shine it down the case neck and make sure that it is not berdan primed(two or more flashholes) if it is throw it in the scrap heap, it's not worth the trouble to try to load it. As far as the MC is concerned I'll have to do some research I don't know what it is off the top of my head.

 

[JonSmith]

Pumpkinheaver,

Great handle! Thanks for the info, since my post I found a MG link on one of the cases so you are spot on. The first thing I did was check for berdan primers and I'm in luck. I guess the question now is do I have to do anything to the primer pocket before re-priming? I think I have a primer pocket swager somewhere, but I've never used it, maybe it's time to break it out.

 

[Chawbaccer]

You will either have to swage the primer pockets or just lightly use your case neck chamfer tool and remove the ridge.

 

[Eat Beef]

More than likely, your FC is Federal Cartridge Co. brass. Either way, its milsurp, which isn't a problem as long as the MG it was run thru didn't bend up or stretch the brass too bad.

Here's a link to a headstamp site:

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes_bottom.htm

 

[ball3006]

I believe the OFB brass....

is Indian, which is pretty good brass. The primer pocket has been crimped so you will have to remove it to insert a new primer. You can either ream or swage the primer pocket. Sounds like you got a mix of civilian and military brass.........When working up a load, I would segregate the brass......military brass is usually a bit thicker thus reduces case capacity....chris3

 

[JonSmith]

Thanks to all for your replies. Looks like I'll be breaking out the primer pocket swager which I've had for about 20 plus years and never used. That brings up a good point about reloading equipment, if you have the money and think you might need it in the future, go ahead and buy it, it looks like a new primer pocket swager would cost about 3-4 times what I originally paid for it. That applies to all the other equipment I've bought, most of which will outlast me.

Good shooting!!

 

[Eat Beef]

I believe OFB means Once Fired Brass.

The Indian stuff is stamped OFV. I have a little that I bought before I knew better, but I've never shot it, mainly due to the horror stories we've all heard. I know that about 10-20% of what I have has improperly seated bullets. I don't know if its as bad as they say, but for a few cents per round I'm not willing to chance a rifle, much less my face.