I have just been given a lot of .308 military ammo and have pulled the bullets and dumped the powder. I was curious if I could reload the brass while maintaining the original military primerws? Also, if I were going to use the primed brass, do I have to size it? How consistent, as far as accuracy is concerned, would the reloaded ammo be--keeping the original primer in the brass? (I did a search for these answers, but could not find anything that dealt specifically with reusing the primed military brass.)

People have been doing just that for as long as I have been handloading.You might consider a cannelure bullet and a crimp. You may not need it if the bullet is held tight enough. roger

Since you pulled the bullets yourself from loaded ammo, the primers are in all probability perfect to use.

762x51 NATO ammo uses primers that have a harder cup and are crimped in to prevent slamfires as well as blown primers (meaning popped out of the pocket and into the guns mechanism). CCI markets them as CCI34 or 42s if one is SR, the other is LR. These NATO primers are also normally on par with magnun primer interms of brisance, or power, and are used to ignite ball powders reliably in cold Wx.

I would have no problem resizing with the depriming pin removed, FL size them, then load using published charges. Normally guides tell us to decrease charge weight by 10% for military brass, but make no mention of primers... I'd start with the low charge, decrease by 10% and fire a few for sign of any anomalies. Then work up if you want to or need to .

Mil brass is usually harder in the head, and rather well annealed in the neck/shoulder, so you should be just fine.

If these are boxer primed cases, and you desire to reload, deprime and simply remove the primer crimp by either swaging or reaming, and you'll find these cases will last a long time, especially out of a BA.

I would trim to length as well, as mil uniformity standards can be sometimes rather wide.

I'd bet if it has a NATO circle + on the headstamp, it is rather good stuff. Especially if boxer primed and made in the west. If US (LC XX) etc, it is great.

Best.

I'd run 'em through the sizing die again. Taking the bullet out loosens the mouth a bit. Best to squeeze 'em back down and start from like-new...

If you have saved the powder and weighed some sample charges from the cases as well as some of the bullets, you could use the powder and replace the Milsup bullets with hunting bullets of a like weight and be good to go.
If the cases will fit your rifle, all you have to do is neck size the cases to grip the bullets.

quote:

People have been doing just that for as long as I have been handloading.

no no during that time guns didn't use primers they used a flint

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:

quote:

People have been doing just that for as long as I have been handloading.

no no during that time guns didn't use primers they used a flint

uhhh uhhh roger

I'm going to ask a really stupid question WHY did you remove the bullet and not just shoot them ?.

See normally a person fires the round which eliminates 3 things Bullet Powder an primer, see no hassles .

Emptying powder for what usage ? Bullets OK sure to reload but again for what Military FMJ rounds ???.

Seems kind of a long way around reloading . Hey I'm only asking .

+1 for just shooting them and reloading. Then you could use a primer pocket crimp remover and reload using standard primers.

I don't know about swapping powder but it's a pretty common practice to swap hunting bullets for milsup bullets and go hunting. Thus my suggestion about reusing the powder.

look at the newest speer manual for 308 loads. their newest data is for milspec brass.

I've been doing just that for many years. Work up to the load as alwyas unless you have a proven load for those cases. I also suggest you neck size the cases for a consistant bullet pull and to straighten the crimp out of the case mouth. Just take the decapping pin out of the expander/decapping rod. A light camfer to the case mouth will also keep from scratching the new bullets. If loading them back with milsurp bullets with a canalure a Lee factory crimp die works really well to recrimp them.

Larry Gibson

quote:

Originally posted by Doc224/375:
I'm going to ask a really stupid question WHY did you remove the bullet and not just shoot them ?.

See normally a person fires the round which eliminates 3 things Bullet Powder an primer, see no hassles .

Emptying powder for what usage ? Bullets OK sure to reload but again for what Military FMJ rounds ???.

Seems kind of a long way around reloading . Hey I'm only asking .

Back in the day, we could get surplus 308 pretty cheap. Many used to pull the FMJ & resize & replace w/ a match bullet for metsil or HP rifle shooting. It was called "Meixcan match" ammo. Groups would go from say 3" @ 100 to 1 1/2" just by weighing the pwoder charges & replacing the bullets.

Yes I understand that Fred I was one of those . Belt linked armor piercing still looms in my mind .

I pulled over a K 173 grain bullets from match 06 rounds so as to change to a better powder .

An once again I FAILED to read the post correctly MY FAULT and Apologize to all concerned !.

I'm going to start wearing my glasses now ( Seriously ) as I thought I read he was keeping the powder to

reuse . There would be NOTHING wrong with that either provided bullet weight and charge were compatible.

So what Red C posted was in fact a question regarding Mil primers being used instead of pulled .

ABSOLUTELY will work JUST FINE !. recharge the case with correct powder and weight but a bullet in

it and send it through a bullet seater die . No need for resizing a Mil brass will be smaller than a

hunting chamber size. Small base dies you know !.

Thanks to all for your replies--very helpful!
--Red C.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
no no during that time guns didn't use primers they used a flint

I am having a hard time making the flint chips stay in the primer pockets. When it does stay, it doesn't fire.

What am I doing wrong?

Bruce

quote:

I am having a hard time making the flint chips stay in the primer pockets. When it does stay, it doesn't fire.

What am I doing wrong?

Mix the flint chips with Elmer's Glue into a smoothish putty. Stuff into primer pocket and let dry. Never fails for me...