Hi:
Does anyone reload 30/06 Military Brass?
How is the crimped primers decapped?
Anything special with the brass?
Thanks,
Jimmy

I buy it cleaned, decapped, and crimp removed, which I strongly suggest unless you buy the special tools to do it yourself. It is a PIA I can do without, and breaks pins on a normal press unless prepped.

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Science plus Art

I clean and deprime just like my non military cases and I bought the tool to remove the crimp. I don't have any problems with mine. All my military brass is Greek (HXP).

Same here with the Greek HXP '06, no problems depriming them in my dies, Have not broke a pin yet and I've been doing military 06 for a while (more than a few years anyway) I just use my RCBS deburring tool to knock the high spots down on the primer hole. You don't want to go crazy with the deburring tool, just a few light turns to take the tits off. try it, you'll get the hang of it. No special tools required, really, just take your time.

They de-prime a little tougher than comercial stuff, I think I broke one pin on some S. Korean KA brass and that was because the flash holes where off center.

After de-priming, you will need to swage the pockets or ream them so you can insert a new primer otherwise they will get hung up on the remenants of the crimp and give you all kinds of trouble.

Under the anything "special catagory" you'll want to note that most if not all military brass is reduced capacity due to heavier construction required by spec. As a result you'll need to adjust your load accordingly.

Some folks I know live dangerously and automatically load the max. load listed, which can be HARD on both the gun and shooter with military brass.

I have used a bunch of military ought six without problems and it has shown me that it is in fact reduced as noted. I have necked it down to 25-06 with real good results ,also.

If in doubt you can always check water capacity and compare to your commercial stuff.

I've used military '06 cases since about 1962, used 'em to form 8x57, 7x57, 7.65x53, .285 OKH & others, all of which I also reloaded. Decapping is kind of a PITA, so have a few spare decapping pins available.
One system that has worked very well for me has been the Lee Loader decapper, with its punch, base, and mallet arrangement. It's a mite slow, but I've never broken one except by misuse (oops).
The RCBS Primer Pocket Swager works great, is adjustable for depth of swage, and produces a pocket virtually like commercial factory brass. Way better than reaming, IMHO. HTH

Larry

Watch out for Berdan primed brass. .30'06 with AMA headstamp. 60A is Chinese and the primer pockets run big. Throw them in the scrap bucket. I tried them without swaging the pockets and some primers fell out.
RCBS works but the Dillon is better and you don't need to break down your press for doing this chore. While I'm doing the pockets I brush them out too.

Agree. I use the RCBS Primer Pocket Swager and it works great. Remember, you only need to remove the crimp once, so if it is a little slow, I don't worry.

Sure, I'll bet the Dillon unit is terrific. I remember when it cost about $40. What is it now, $100 or so?

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You're shy a few manners.

I've used military 30-06 for many years. Never had one of the primer pocket swager tools. Probably alot easier than the Lyman reamer I've always used. The reamer can be a pain in the wrist after a while, but like it's been said,,you only have to do the operation once.

Military brass being generally heavier than most commercial brass resizes a little less easy. I've stuck a few military '06 cases in the die and pulled the rim off being a little too cheap on the sizing lube.
If I lube them as I should they size just fine.

I've never had a problem punching the military primer out with the standard die & decapper.
My current set of Herters 'Model Perfect' dies in 30-06 do a fine job of it .

Sir, I've loaded a good bit of USGI .30 M2 brass (as well as 7.62 and 5.56) over the years. Usually I deprime with the cheap Lee hammer and punch setup, then cut away the crimp with a case mouth deburring tool. Chucking the cutter in a drill speeds things up. I've also used the RCBS decrimping die thing and don't care for it.

As has been noted, USGI brass is thicker than most commercial stuff. In .30-'06 or .308, reduce your powder charges 2 grains from what the manual lists. (In .223, there's seldom any weight/volume difference between GI and commercial cases, so you can usually just use the data straight. Still pays to check, though.)

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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Wishin' don't make it so.

Jimmy I just finished load a bunch of Korean P/S 75 cases. The primers came right out with my RCBS dies on my RCBS Rock-Chucker press . Do have the RCBS primer swagger but to me it is a PITA .I also have the RCBS case prep. center and use the military crimp remover and love it it do'se put a small bevel on the primer pocket that help's on seating new primers. As for military brass most book's do say reduce your load 2 grains to start but on checking the volume on my P/S 75 brass there was very little differance from commercial brass. I do use CCI #34 primers as I do shoot this ammo in my Garand as well as my 1903A3 Springfield's.

While the reduced capacity is true with 7.62x51/.308, it does not apply to .30-06. In fact, Federal .30-06 brass is heavier and has less case capacity than military brass.

Don

Sir, yes and no. The Federal commercial .308 and .30-'06 brass I've checked have both weighed the same as their USGI equivalents. Remington and Winchester commercial .30-'06 brass are considerably lighter than USGI.

Regardless, it pays to check. Specifically, check the weight of the brass your manual specifies against the brass you're using.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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Wishin' don't make it so.

Ron,

I am not talking about .308. But Federal .30-06 is appreciably heavier than the thousands of LC brass that I have checked (I sort them by weight).

Don

Sir, apparently our experiences differ. The Federal commercial .30-'06 brass (once-fired Gold Medal Match) I've weighed was within the same spread as the LC, SL, and TW USGI brass I've weighed.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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Wishin' don't make it so.

I reload a lot of military 30/06 brass. It's no problem to decap, but getting the new primers in with out reaming the pockets is an exercise in ffrustration. luckily, it's not hard and you only have to do it once.

I used to reload Lake City brass. I gave it up because it was much more difficult to get through the Dillon resizing die and I frankly did not see any advantage to using it. It is a harder grade of brass, designed to hold up to hard use in machine guns and not intended for reloading.
But there are many who revere it, possibly because it is genuine military brass and therefore has more 'authenticity' than commercial brass.
I use Remington regular brass for my M1903 and nickeled Remington brass in my Model 700. Their chambers are different dimensions and the use of nickle for the Model 700 guarantees that I won't accidentally mix them. The 1903 has a larger chamber dimension in the case head area, below the part of the case that gets re-formed. So once brass has been fired in the 1903, it will not fit in the chamber of the Model 700 even after full length resizing.

I use my Lee universal decapper on almost all my used brass to include the crimped primers in mil brass. If you set the rod just right it shouldn't break on you since the collet will allow it to slip up under too much pressure to pop out the primer. Don't get all gorilla on the wrench when you set it and it shouldn't ever break. I hit a Berdan case and it popped right up. I'm going to buy the Dillon Super Swage 600 once I have enough brass saved up to need it.

I used a lot of military brass and actually found some at Curry-Thomas Hardware store in Jacksonville. They would let you sort through a huge bin of the brass to match up headstamps and I tried to get all LC brass and actually found some that was National Match. I had bought at set of dies on closeout that was a 30-06 bench rest carbide neck sizing die along with a bullet seater with built in micrometer but I never had a problem decapping the military brass with an RCBS single state press. I then used the tool that would ream the edges of the primer pocket or debur the inside case mouth and the other end to debur the outside case mouth after trimming. I would trim all the cases to the same length and weigh them. Anything way over or under in weight was thrown away. Even though it was hunting ammo, I tried to make it as close to the same as possible. My ammo was always accurate in my 03-Ae Springfield. As far as the thickness of military cases, I dropped down 2 grains of IMR 4350 to 57 grains with Speer 165 grain BTSP. This still gave a velocity of 2770 which generally still beats the current 165 grain factory Remington ammo. Let's put it this way, the deer never complained when hit with it, they just dropped.

CW

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You too? I'm still using their single-stage press and powder dropper.

I have the dillon primer pocket swager. I screw it to the picnic table with 3" long screws set up two plastic containers and get to work. On occasion I will resort to using a lyman primer pocket uniformer on stubborn cases. Frank