Thread: reloading

When I have cases that tend to want to stick, I buff the brass with rouge to a bright shine and then lube every case. That seems to beat the sticking.

Carbide dies for pistol and lube for rifle is what I do. That Imperial mentioned before is what I like for lube.

Stuck one yesterday while reloading some .308 & scratched the inside of the die getting that booger out. Took a bit to find out what had happened. What I found was that the depriming pin had broken due to the case being one of those that you can't reload with the two holes either side of center, not like a normal case with the hole in the center & I had just sprayed some lubricant into the sizing die. The broken pin wedged itself in there where I couldn't get the neck sizer out and I guess the penetrating lubricant broke down the drying case lube. I might have cussed before the ordeal was over as I had to literally tear the case apart to get it out. Ironic that this thread was going as this was my worst stuck case ever. Oh well, I needed a break anyways & need to get another set of dies on the way as I can't seem to buff out that scratch. Going with RCBS or Hornady this time instead of the Lee...but I love that factory crimp die Lee makes & will keep it. I'll order some other case lube too.

OMG shooter74743, I will be checking any new to me cases very carefully. I don't fancy that happening to me. At the moment I use Federal and Norma cases. I am currently trialling Lapua, which appear to be very good straight out of the box. My groups should improve after re sizing and sorting neck tension.

Most modern sporting ammunition made and sold in North America or foreign sporting ammo exported to North America is Boxer primed not Berdan primed. You have to be careful when scrounging empty brass at the range or when using surplus military ammo because you may find these have Berdan priming.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Most modern sporting ammunition made and sold in North America or foreign sporting ammo exported to North America is Boxer primed not Berdan primed. You have to be careful when scrounging empty brass at the range or when using surplus military ammo because you may find these have Berdan priming.

Bob

In addition to this you may find steel cases that are Boxer primed and fully reloadable. I have loaded a good bit of .45 ACP from Tula and Wolf cases, also 9MM as well. They load just fine as long as they are not rusty, in fact I just resized some .45 ACP Wolf (steel) "brass" I fired in my 1911 over the weekend.

Generally the steel cased rounds we ran into here were 7.62X39 , lacquered I think, which we just pitched. Never gave a thought to reloading them.

Bob

These are brass cased, have the Nato symbol stamped on them (circle with cross in it), and are stamped "FNM" as well as what I would guess a lot number "76-35". Good looking brass that cleaned up nicely in the tumbler...looks new. Threw a double handful into the trash.

I have never reloaded the steel stuff, wondered about it though for pistol.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

These are brass cased, have the Nato symbol stamped on them (circle with cross in it), and are stamped "FNM" as well as what I would guess a lot number "76-35". Good looking brass that cleaned up nicely in the tumbler...looks new. Threw a double handful into the trash.

I have never reloaded the steel stuff, wondered about it though for pistol.

Yea, you gotta watch Nato head stamped brass cases too. It depends where they are made but you should be safe with Canadian Nato 7.62 ball cases head stamped CIL or IVI. IIRC correctly military brass tends to be heavier too than commercial stuff and may have an effect on max loads. Word I heard years ago was that steel cases could be hard extractors.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Y Word I heard years ago was that steel cases could be hard extractors.

Bob

I have heard that as well and it makes sense. Steel on steel. As far as reloading steel cases, I would think it would be harder on your sizing and crimping dies.