Hi. I'm old and went through basic in 1959.

[threefeathers]

That was the time that the M1 was being phased out and the M14 in. I remember being told that some of the ammo we were using to train with the M1 was one time reloads or remakes. Do any of you older guys or you smart studious ones know of that?

 

[GRIZ22]

Military has never used reloads for general issue. Reloads are used for marksmanship teams in competitions.

 

[Pushrod]

I never heard of the military using reloads... ever.
I went through basic 25 years after you, so things might have changed in that time frame.

 

[maxxhavoc]

They are still selling military surplus from time to time. What they may have been is unlinked machine gun ammo. That was fairly common practice.

 

[dogrunner]

I went thru basic four years after you, used a Garand and never once saw any ammunition that in any fashion indicated it was reloaded.

Further, first pcs was at first Garands & shortly thereafter 14's....again never any reloads. Also shot match grade 14's in competition and ALL the ammo we were issued was match grade and original............zero reloads!

 

[longknife12]

I did this in 64, M14. Never saw a reloaded round.
Dan

 

[Sav .250]

I believe Military Ammo was not intended to be ........reloaded.
One and done.

There may be exceptions . Like, ammo used for sniper purposes.
Where it`s critical to be accurate.

 

[kBob]

Gallery Practice rounds used by National Guard and Reserve units were supposedly made on once fired brass. This used a 150 grain swaged bullet and pistol powder and would not have functioned an M1 Garand.

My understanding is that bullets, powder , primers and loading tools were available to Guard and reserve units when they had 1903 series rifles. Many guard and Reserve "Armories" included an indoor range consisting of a steel plate angled at 45 degrees. And you thought your high school coach got the willies over hard shoes on the basket ball court, imagine shooting over it.

The barely subsonic lead bulleted rounds were also issued for guard duty on occasion in 1903 days.

There was a set up like that for the Krag and the US Army had supplied reloading kits for use with the .45-70 after an outside primer was adopted.

I have never heard of Ball .30-06, 7.62, or 5.56 ammo being actually reloaded for training. Generally all that brass you were made to pick up got sold as scrap. Post salvage and sales treated it like any other surlpus item such as worn clothing or boots and placed it in lots for bids. About 1981 at Ft. Sill I seriously considered placing bids on 55 gallon drums of spent brass. I wanted the 5.56 and .45ACP....unfortunately every drum also had an unknown percentage of 7.62 and .50 cal in it.

I wish someone offered a swaged lead .308 bullet around 150 grains today.

-kBob

 

[rodregier]

kBob:

If you're looking for a projectile for low velocity lower cost .30 cal reloading, check out the Hornady #3005.

http://www.hornady.com/store/30-Cal-.308-100-gr-Short-Jacket/

Midway carries them among other outlets.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/222789/hornady-bullets-30-carbine-308-diameter-100-grain-short-jacket-box-of-100

Currently on sale pricing and in stock as of this posting...

 

[HOOfan_1]

Military has never used reloads for general issue. Reloads are used for marksmanship teams in competitions.

do they actually reload used brass though, or do they use brand new brass every time?

 

[80Goat]

I used reloads while shooting on the Marine Corps Rifle Team in the 1980s. They would pull the bullet from Lake City loads, remeasure the powder, and use a boat-tail hollow-point bullet. The M-14s that we used were tested with regular Lake City, reloaded Lake City, and Federal Target, Whichever shot the best group on the test range was the ammo that you got issued.

 

[yugorpk]

I used to hear all kinds of crap in Basic. Mostly it was drill sergeants being idiots. You had to police your brass therefore they must be reloading it and issuing it to you. There is a "nucular" symbol on the side of the LAW launcher tube. Therefore it must have a "Nucular " warhead inside. I could go on and on.

 

[hdbiker]

I was at basic in Fort Leonard Wood Mo. in June 1963 and we were the last training cycle to use the M1's.I remember at the ranges we had to police up all our brass because they were to be reloaded.At the end of my basic we had to super clean up the old M1's because they were being retired .hdbiker

 

[lightman]

I've seen some ammo loaded by/for the AMU team at Ft Benning. I don't know if it was fired brass or new brass. I was even given some 6.5-284 brass fired by the teams. This was Norma brass.

 

[tark]

Ft Bliss, Texas. 1967. No reloads that I saw. We had magazine loading details where we would pull cases of ammo right out of the truck and break them down. There were boxes of ammo marked Lake City, with all the usual markings; 7.62 NATO, Lake City Ammunition plant, 150 gr BALL ,ETC.

But there was nothing on the boxes indicating reloads.

 

[bikerdoc]

1966 basic with the 14. No indication of reloads.

 

[Baron66]

Marksman would load their own from used brass. Whatever they didn't use or didn't like ended up back into the mix for the new guys to shoot up.

 

[Leanwolf]

Three Feathers, I also went through basic training in 1959 at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. We were issued the M1 Garand. We also shot up a whole lot of ammo as Fort Chaffee was to soon phase out Basic Training and it was easier to shoot the ammo than go though all the inventory and paperwork to ship it back to whatever ammo depot where it originated.

The same held true for throwing live hand grenades at the range, shooting the BARs and light and water cooled .30-06 Browning machine guns. Lots of fun really for us soldiers who liked to shoot.

I never saw a reloaded round.

Can't answer for any other Fort and BTC, but that's the way it was at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, in 1959.

L.W.

 

[Art Eatman]

I'd been handloading for the '06 some four years before Basic with the Garand at Fort Bliss in early 1954. No reloads at Fort Bliss. Not much bliss, either, unless you went to Juarez.

 

[Bang!]

That was the time that the M1 was being phased out and the M14 in. I remember being told that some of the ammo we were using to train with the M1 was one time reloads or remakes. Do any of you older guys or you smart studious ones know of that?

Yep, I wasn't even born yet. Not even a twinkle in my daddy's eye.

Thank y'all for your service. I did 24 yrs but much later than all of you.

 

[herrwalther]

I went to basic far after you did so can't comment specifically. But the only sign I have ever seen on what *might be* reloaded ammo is tarnished brass. I got quite a bit of ammo issued that had black tarnish going from the case mouth down to about halfway down the case on 5.56mm. Other than that no other signs of reloaded ammo.

Now the military definitely recycles the brass. There is a reason why we always pick up spent brass on police calls, hands across the range or whatever nickname they have at the time.

 

[entropy]

The AMTU unit on post handloaded their match ammo, but usually used new commercial brass. Ft.Ord, late 80's.

 

[ljnowell]

I went to basic far after you did so can't comment specifically. But the only sign I have ever seen on what *might be* reloaded ammo is tarnished brass. I got quite a bit of ammo issued that had black tarnish going from the case mouth down to about halfway down the case on 5.56mm. Other than that no other signs of reloaded ammo.

Now the military definitely recycles the brass. There is a reason why we always pick up spent brass on police calls, hands across the range or whatever nickname they have at the time.

Sounds like annealed cases.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bula]

Off topic warning! A very sincere thank you Gentlemen for your service. My family and I appreciate your sacrifice.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Opening Post.

Hi. I'm old and went through basic in 1959.
That was the time that the M1 was being phased out and the M14 in. I remember being told that some of the ammo we were using to train with the M1 was one time reloads or remakes. Do any of you older guys or you smart studious ones know of that?

I went through basic training in 1966 when the USAF base transitioned from M1 Carbine to M16. I have learned since then that what I was told in Basic needed to be issued with a grain of salt.

In the years since then I have encountered 7.62x25mm eastern bloc ammo that was obviously remanufactured (bullets pulled, powder charge changed, bullets reseated with new stab crimps evidently done at arsenal). I was personally disassembling mil surp ammo for primed casings to use with a C96 Mauser and it was obvious some lots had been remade/remanufactured before I got them.

Honestly tho' I have not encountered stories or evidence that US GI ammo was reloads or remakes. That does not mean it could not have been possible in some circumstances at some bases. It has not been my experience with GI or GI surplus ammo, but I cannot assume my experience is universal.