Marking Altered Brass

[federali]

I'm planning to make some .30-40 Krag brass from .303 British brass. I'm wondering what techniques you might use to mark such altered brass as the headstamp no longer matches the casing?

Of course, when it becomes time to discard such altered brass, I'll first render it useless.

 

[29aholic]

A sharpie. I did see someone had some nickel plated 303 brass on one of the auction sites (GB or Ebay) that would work too.

 

[NYlakesider]

Well the only altering I did was to change .308 into .358. Even with the head stamp most any knowledgeable person would realize that "big mouth" round was not your every day .308. (and it would not chamber in .308 any more)

In plain English I did nothing but put the newly made cases/ rounds in a plastic box that said .358 Winchester on it.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Lots of red ink in big writing on every thing.......
maybe a red primer or bullet tip painted red to help.

On the ammo I use finger nail polish or felt pen.
I have marked some brass at the base with a large red/black
line from top to bottom as a warning.

Stay safe.

 

[ronnie gore]

marking brass

i have several calibers i change to others, so i chuck each case in the lathe and using a thin sharp cutter ,i mark through the original head stamp but do not remark them.

 

[PPCSHOOTER]

DIP IN BRASS BLACK.

 

[mtgianni]

I can tell the altered 270 to 35 Whelen brass easily and I don't own a 270. As said previously 358 won't chamber in a 308.

 

[quinn]

Used to need to mark smg brass for diffent guns (MAC 10 vs Reising) as the cases swelled differently and reloads wouldn't feed in different guns. I would mark the MAC brass with a black sharpie "X" across the head or even a large "*" covering the entire head. Some of this brass I am still using 4 or 5 cleanings and reloads later in my 625 and the black X is still highly visible. I use walnut media with a dash Brasso. Highly visible... but hard to get off. Use permanent ink fine point.

 

[SMSgt]

I've used Sharpies and brass black to mark my 9mm Para cases converted to 9mm Makrov. It all comes off in the next tumbling. I just stopped marking them. I can tell the difference in length easily enough when I set them on the base. Shorter ones go left; longer ones go right.

 

[bigedp51]

i have several calibers i change to others, so i chuck each case in the lathe and using a thin sharp cutter ,i mark through the original head stamp but do not remark them.

The OP is using a rimmed case and if the rim becomes thinner the cartridge headspace increases.

 

[bigedp51]

I'm planning to make some .30-40 Krag brass from .303 British brass. I'm wondering what techniques you might use to mark such altered brass as the headstamp no longer matches the casing?

Of course, when it becomes time to discard such altered brass, I'll first render it useless.

I collected .303 British Enfield rifles and went the "other" way, I formed 30-40 brass into .303 British. The case on the right is a 30-40 case next to .303 British cases and they are shorter. Meaning you will end up with a short neck. The fired case on the right shows how far the shoulder was blown forward on a Remington .303 case.

I never marked the cases because I didn't have a 30-40 Krag.

You can make 30-40 Krag brass from 405 Winchester brass and not come up short in length but it will be more work than using .303 British.

I would recommend making the cases from Prvi Partizan .303 British cases. These cases have thicker rims, a larger base diameter and are .010 thicker in the base web area.

Below both of the cases below were fired in the same Enfield rifle. You can see how much closer to max dimensions the Prvi cases are made. (made Ford Truck Tough)

Email me at [email protected], I found a new bag of Winchester 30-40 brass with 47 cases if you are interested.

 

[Rule3]

Engrave the caliber, and "If found return to (your name and address)

 

[muddocktor]

I've never worried about it as all the brass I have resized was for me only. I've resized 7 MM Rem Mag brass to 264 Win Mag and I've resized 243 and 308 brass to 260 Remington. I don't leave brass at the range as I reload both of those and when I do retire brass I destroy it by smashing or cutting it. And I don't own a 7 Mag or 243 or 308 rifle either so I don't have to worry about grabbing the wrong ammo for the rifle.

 

[Alk8944]

I'm planning to make some .30-40 Krag brass from .303 British brass. I'm wondering what techniques you might use to mark such altered brass as the headstamp no longer matches the casing?

Of course, when it becomes time to discard such altered brass, I'll first render it useless.

Except for overall case length and slight difference in shoulder position there is very little difference between .303 and .30-40. Many .30-40 guns will chamber .303 as-is! Simply full-length size the .303 cases and load them.

What gets me is the last remark "Of course, when it becomes time to discard such altered brass, I'll first render it useless." Explain the logic!!!! There is no safety issue, both cartridges headspace on the rim and even use the same headspace gauges! All you really have done is slightly reposition the shoulder and reduce it's diameter a few thousandths! If you ever need them to be .303 cases again simply shoot them in the .303. Voila, (Yes, that's how it's spelled, it's French!) you have fire-formed .303 cases again!

I have a #3 Ruger, now in .35 Krag. It was a .30-40 but wouldn't shoot in a bucket, 4"/100 yards, really. Had it re-bored oabout 35 years ago and it shoots around 1"/100 yards now. Since I no longer had a .30-40 I fire-formed all those cases to .35 Krag. Later I bought a 1901 Krag Carbine and needed .30-40 cases again. Full-length sized some of the .35 Krag cases and guess what, they are .30-40s again, just that easy. I had exactly zero case loss going either way! I have shot these for years in both guns.

Unless you have guns in both chamberings don't worry about marking them. If you do, simply use a triangular file to file a small notch in the rim, won't wear off or polish off in the tumbler. Easily detected by sight or touch.

 

[DWalt]

I do a lot of cartridge case conversions. As I am the only one who uses them, I can recognize the differences well enough to keep them separated. LOTS of cartridge cases can be formed from .30-'06 - 8mm Mauser, 7mm Mauser, .270 Win, .35 Win, 6.5x55, etc. , and I do all those and more. Ditto with .308/7.62 brass - .243, .358, .300 Savage. But I do box them separately. By the way, cold blue can be used on brass.

 

[Fishslayer]

Well the only altering I did was to change .308 into .358. Even with the head stamp most any knowledgeable person would realize that "big mouth" round was not your every day .308. (and it would not chamber in .308 any more)

In plain English I did nothing but put the newly made cases/ rounds in a plastic box that said .358 Winchester on it.

People load 300BLK into 5.56 all the time...