Surplus Military Brass

[Elliott]

Just had a call from a relative that a local car boot chap has tonnes of what appear to be once fired 5.56 military brass marked with the following on the base:

"L17A2 RG07"

Do these letters / numbers mean anything to anyone on here? Anybody use once fired military brass or see any problems using it before I take the plunge and try some?

[zanes]

Check if it's berdan or boxer primed by looking down the case- if it's got two primer holes rather than one central one it's worthless* for reloading

* In before the usual: Yes, I am aware some people can and do reload berdan primed cases. It is a lot of arse ache though.

[junkyard dog]

I'm guessing the R G stands for Radway Green. Probably berden primed in which case it's not worth bothering about, if it's boxer primed is should be good.

[amc577]

If it is Boxer primed, it will be crimped....one more job to do before reloading....there is plenty of cheap once fired brass about..Boxer and not crimped. I just bought 100 RWS Target once fired 308 cases for £17.

amc577

[Elliott]

I'll do some checking and find out. I can't see a bit of crimping being a problem, surely the FL resizing die will push that out?

These cases are pennies so could either be a waste of space or a bargain!

[amc577]

The resizing die will not remove the crimp...you can buy various tools to do the job...the Lee case trimming tool will do the job but it is a slow job.

amc577

[enfield2band]

If it is 5.56mm then there is a good chance it will be Boxer primed. It can be a bit of a job getting the primer out because of the crimp. When you have removed it you need to ream the crimp off with something like a large drill (hand held) otherwise the new primers can be crushed when you are inserting them.
You might also have to trim them to length.

[Jehoolio]

Yes defo boxer primed.
Used to reload 556 RG myself.
Only 762RG berdan primed.

[Elliott]

The resizing die will not remove the crimp...you can buy various tools to do the job...the Lee case trimming tool will do the job but it is a slow job.

amc577

Sorry, I think I misunderstoodstood. Do you mean the primers are usually held in place with a crimp?

[Treebone]

Sorry, I think I misunderstoodstood. Do you mean the primers are usually held in place with a crimp?

You hit the nail on the head mate, youve got a lot to learn Elliot.
From previous threads you give the impression that you are striving for precision handloads and accurate shooting, military surplus brass has no place in such a quest, others on here will say otherwise, telling you that they get gnats c*ck groups from any old bullet loaded with a fraction of a teaspoon of powder out of surplus brass they have reloaded a 100 times, it does not happem mate.
Precision handloading needs precision components to acchieve the required result and once again military surplus brass is not part of that recipe

TB.

[dodgyrog]

You hit the nail on the head mate, youve got a lot to learn Elliot.
From previous threads you give the impression that you are striving for precision handloads and accurate shooting, military surplus brass has no place in such a quest, others on here will say otherwise, telling you that they get gnats c*ck groups from any old bullet loaded with a fraction of a teaspoon of powder out of surplus brass they have reloaded a 100 times, it does not happem mate.
Precision handloading needs precision components to acchieve the required result and once again military surplus brass is not part of that recipe

TB.

I'm not sure that I agree with that!
I find that military brass is very consistent and I have got good accuracy from RG and MEN brass in the past.

[Elliott]

You hit the nail on the head mate, youve got a lot to learn Elliot.
From previous threads you give the impression that you are striving for precision handloads and accurate shooting, military surplus brass has no place in such a quest, others on here will say otherwise, telling you that they get gnats c*ck groups from any old bullet loaded with a fraction of a teaspoon of powder out of surplus brass they have reloaded a 100 times, it does not happem mate.
Precision handloading needs precision components to acchieve the required result and once again military surplus brass is not part of that recipe

TB.

Cheers TB, that is what I'm after but being new to reloading I thought I'd stumbled across a bargain! It doesn't sound worth bothering from what you've said.

Might buy a few just for a play with and see how they get on

[Treebone]

If you are going to give it a try be careful, military brass usually has less case capacity then commercial brass due to increased wall thickness, so dont just dump your usual 223 powder charge otherwise you could experience higher then advisable pressure, reduce by 10% and start from there.

TB.

[tacfoley]

I've not seen crimped-in primers, but I HAVE seen staked in primers where there are three little dents - set at 120 degrees - stamped into the base after the primer has been set in it. You would need to mechanically remove them with a primer hole cutter or else you'd never get the new primer in.

IMO it's simply not worth all the pain.

tac

[tacfoley]

If you are going to give it a try be careful, military brass usually has less case capacity then commercial brass due to increased wall thickness, so dont just dump your usual 223 powder charge otherwise you could experience higher then advisable pressure, reduce by 10% and start from there.

TB.

Good post, Mr Treebone, and a useful reminder to all that military ammunition really IS different after all. It's made to function with extremely rapid firing guns - up to 6000 rpm in the case of the GE Mini-gun. The thicker base stops the head being torn right off during extraction.

It's whycivilian .308Win is 'harder' than the equivalent bullet weight 7.62x51 - some military cases have almost 10% less volume to fill with propellant.

tac