Finally joined in order to share my experience with the Turkish MKE 30-06 ammunition - and to ask for advice.
I bought 400 rounds of the MKE last year and was happily shooting it before reading about concerns. My purchase included 19 boxes of 20 rounds from 1964 and 1 box from 1978. Upon receipt, I inspected every cartridge - clean, showed no corrosion, and cases, not bullets, were coated in sort of frosty copper colored lacquer.
My son and I have fired 340 rounds of the MKE in our two Garands without an incident of any kind. I am not aware of any signs of overpressure.
After reading a string of cautious comments about this ammunition, I pulled the bullets from the remaining 60 cartridges. The powder is extruded, first I have seen, but it looks like new to me. I looked inside all the cases with a small flashlight and saw only a smooth case wall. Even though I could see no flaws, I did the paper clip check, too.
I weighed the powder from the first 10 cartridges: Lowest was one at 48.0 grains; highest was two at 49.5; next, two at 49.4. The average weight of the 10 charges was 49.12 grains. Several bullets weigh 150.0 to 151.1 grains.
I understand that some shooters would not trust this ammunition, but my experience has been good. It just seems unlikely that a case is going to fail when there is no indication of incipient failure. I’ve read everything I can find about this matter and thought the concern was just about the brass, but most recently I read some strong feelings about the old powder. The brass looks fine to me, and I can replace the powder.
And now I would like to ask for advice. I wouldn’t mind reloading these rounds for a bit less kick, so can I reduce the charge to, say, 45 grains of the original powder and stay within the safe operating parameters of gas pressure, etc., for the rifle?
After tumbling the cases in walnut shell, which removes the lacquer coating, I use an RCBS small base sizer die, uniform the primer pockets, trim to length, chamfer the case mouth, and finally wash the brass in case cleaner. The brass looks to be of good quality with no corrosion.
I have been reloading the MKE brass with CCI Nr 34 primers, Hornady 150 gr FMJ-BT’s, and 45 grains of Win 748. I fired 48 of my reloads and they were fine, and I have reloaded those cases a second time.
Another thought is to use the primed cases as is and replace the old powder and bullets with H4895 and Hornady 150 grain FMJ-BT’s. If I did, would 45 - 46 grains be good?
I’ve been reading The High Road for some years now since I began reloading 223 for a Ruger 77 VT. I marvel at the degree of knowledge displayed. Sorry my first post is so long but I want to give a complete account of my experience. I do want to be safe. Comments are welcome. BillAFRet.
