WWII Era .45 ACP brass, is it safe to reload?

[Exposure]

At the range recently I found a handfull of 1942 headstamped 45 cases.

It had been sitting outside for a while and even the hardcore brass vultures had left it behind. Fortunately I am an even hardercore brass vulture and I took it.

It was pretty black and nasty looking and had some green corrosion inside the cases that I would guess was from the corrosive nature of most WWII ammunition. The primers appeared to be made of copper(?) and the cases really looked pretty gnarly. However, a long session in the tumbler and the cases looked pretty much brand new.

So my question, is this stuff safe to use? Afterall, it is 65 years old! I am hoping it is as I have a Reising submachine gun manufactured in 1942 and I think it would be cool to run some cases through it that were made in the same year the gun was.

Visually the cases look fine for reloading so I can't think of any reason not put 'em back into action!

A side note here. Imagine how much ammunition must have been cranked out in those war years that it is STILL out there being shot today, and more importantly it sill goes bang. Very impressive.

 

[loadedround]

Very interesting question. I was ready to say dump them until I reread your post. Since they are not steel cases and hopefully not brittle brass, I can't see why you can not reload them once with a light load and fire them. On the other hand, brass that old was loaded with corrosive primers and it's immposible w/o chemical analysis to determine the brass' s actual physical condition. Final answer: dump them.

 

[wally]

If after wiping of the green crud if there are pits, discard. If not I'd use them. Your biggest issue will be dealing with the crimped in primer. That extra step means you must be pretty hard up to bother with them, but for your sentimental purposes I'd say give them a try if there are no pits under the green or on the outside "black".

--wally.

 

[KHawk]

I have been reloading some commercial brass from the late 1950's and early 1960's. Found it at a garage sale. It didn't have the crimped primers. It took a while to clean up but has been working flawlessly in my 1911 Springer.

 

[GaryL]

It pretty much depends on the headstamp. WRA is fine, WCC is ok. RA if it has a crimp might be ok, otherwise toss it. The brass is pretty springy, and doesn't form well.
Try this - load a round, and see if you can easily push the bullet into the case. Even with a taper crimp die I can't get the RA's to hold a bullet.

 

[RWBlue01]

Assuming no pitting

Although, I would reload them with a light target loads, I think you need some dummy cartridges to go with your machine gun.

 

[roo_ster]

Obviously, terribly, unremittingly unsafe.

Please PM me so I can give you an address you can send them to to dispose of the safely...in my tunmler...then in my press...then in my 1911...

 

[Smokey Joe]

Elderly brass

Exposure--In 65 years brass can become brittle--it's called age-cracking. But your wish to use 1942 brass in a 1942 Reising is completely understandable.

Me, I'd load up a few with light loads and see how they load, first. I would not be surprised if they crack at the mouth when you bell-mouth them. If you get some non-split rounds you could fire them--cautiously--to see if they do work. And if they do function through the Reising it would definitely be a neat thing.

That said, .45ACP brass, much younger and in much better shape, is to be had for the grabbing at every range I have experience with--it's probably true generally. So free range brass is going to be available to you. It's neither rare nor expensive.

And THAT said, I'd have to agree with RWBlue--Your 1942 Reising definitely needs some 1942 dummy rounds, made up to look as close to the WWII issue rounds as possible. That, would seem to be the highest and best use for your 1942 empties.

Doubt if you could sell them to cartridge collectors--those guys normally want original-loaded rounds, not fired brass. But--if you don't want them for display, and can't find anyone who does, they'll still have salvage value, so in that case put 'em in your brass scrap bucket, save the scrap brass up, and sell it to a metals dealer. (Age and condition don't matter to the recycler, just that it's all brass.) BTW, pistol and rifle primers are brass, too, so save the fired primers also! My last lot of brass fetched $1.65/lb. Whatever you do, don't just throw 'em into the trash!!

 

[TonyT]

I have used 45 ACP brass and nickel plated cases from the 1950's. The nickel plated cases crack much more frequently.
You may want to check the DCVM website or contact the NRA for the cutoff date on mercuric primer usage. Mercury in the priming mixture makes the spent brass cases more brittle.

 

[ranger335v]

WWII brass, both .45 and -06, work well for me. The "age" problem is largely an alloy problem rather than age, some alloys were pretty hard and tended to suffer fatigue cracking. The green corrosion comes from salts and water reacting with the metal, usually not serious. Lyman markets an inexpensive primer pocket reamer to take off the crimp without damage to the pocket. I chuck mine in a variable speed drill.

 

[GaryL]

I load them up the same as all the rest. They are fine. I honestly believe the brass is tougher than most of the stuff available today, but that said, it will work harden more readily.

But, like jfruser, I'd be more than happy to help 'dispose' of any that anyone is afraid to use.

 

[HankB]

I would not use the cases - not so much because of their age, but because they may have been (probably were) primed with corrosive primers. You don't know how long the corrosive salts have been allowed to "work" on the brass.

You could probably be pretty sure that the corrosive residue itself was removed if you washed & rinsed the cases in plenty of water before tumbling (you did do so, didn't you, rather than contaminate your tumber media?) but you still wouldn't know for sure if microcracks or something were started in the brass.

Still, you'd probably be OK . . . but as I get older, I'm less inclined to rest my safety on a "probably."

 

[Gewehr98]

Vintage brass can become quite interesting.

I've got a bunch of 1943 .45 ACP brass that's made of steel, headstamped "E.C."

I use Imperial Sizing Die Wax to resize and deprime them. They are my Speer plastic bullet (primer driven) gallery loads these days.

Back when I started reloading for the .32 Remington, I was scrambling for brass. Networking with other reloaders netted me several hundred pieces of new, unprimed .32 Remington brass in a non-descript ziploc bag. I have no idea when it was made, but it looks just as new and fresh as something I'd buy from Midway or Huntington today. So I'm going to use it.

The rangemaster who hired me on as an assistant rangemaster passed away a few years ago. He was an avid BP cartridge shooter. I wound up with his collection of brass, and it consisted of .25-21 Single Shot, .25-25 Single Shot, .44 Special balloon-head, and a lot of Rem-UMC .45 Government (aka, .45-70) balloon-head.

It was all in excellent shape, very clean, even though he ran BP through them. I ultrasonically cleaned them in Micro-90 fluid, and tumbled them. The .44 Specials are loaded with BP and a 240gr Keith bullet. They're fun, but really make a stainless 696 dirty after a few cylinders' worth!

Regarding the .45 Government brass, I can get a full 70gr of Goex Cartridge into them without too much compression, behind a 530gr bullet and wad - something I can't do with new StarLine or Remington brass. Since they're BP loads, I'm not too worried about pressure problems. I run my smokeless .45-70 rounds in solid-head brass. The BP rounds get fired in the Sharps, decapped at the range, dropped into a gallon milk jug of soapy water for the trip home, then ultrasonically cleaned and tumbled before resizing and reloading. If they show signs of letting go, I've yet to see them.

 

[critter]

I can testify (due to a very dangerous accidental learning situation) that any GREEN CORROSION weakens brass. Toss ALL of it with ANY GREEN corrosion on it.

 

[ranger335v]

Corriosive caps, of themselves, don't harm brass. It was the OLD mercuric primers that damaged the brass but that ended prior to WWII.