Sizing 30.06 and shaving brass

[jrayborn]

Well since just about everything reloading related has been out of sight price-wise, I have noticed that once-fired 30.06 cases are still reasonably priced and available so I have been picking them up. I have got about 1000 cases saved up and today went through and sized all of them. Most were no issue using 3 quick coats of Hornady spray lube and an occasional wipe of Imperial wax, but I came across about 50 that when I tried to size them they were tight!

At first I stopped and when you look at them it almost looked like they were shot in a chamber kind of like the .303 British. Not exactly round. I could size them (but not without some difficulty) and I set them aside. When sized they all had a very thin layer of brass shaved off the outside of the case, maybe .002-.003 thick off the most out of round side.

When all the others were finished I checked all of them with a bent wire to see if they were stretched and I see no indication they were. Then being this side of paranoid, I cut one length-wise with a dremmel. The entire case looks OK and I see no reason not to use these cases. I didn't see any stretching anywhere. I will keep them separate and use them to test with but wow, I have never seen 30.06 cases so big, and apparently all were once fired based on the crimps from the primer pockets.

Anyone else ever see something like this?

[kenyerian]

Were they military brass?

[swheeler]

Machine gun fired 06

[jrayborn]

Yes they were military, HXP 68. I suppose they could be MG fired, didn't seem that they had long "headspace" issues, only they were fired in a chamber that was quite a lot out of round. I have worked through buckets of .308 MG brass and have never seen it like this.

[I'll Make Mine]

What you're seeing as out of round is more likely just plain oversize. People who fireform brass for a larger chamber often have to take special measures (O-rings or tape wrapping on the case body) to ensure the neck stays concentric with the body in the loose chamber; without those precautions, you get what you're seeing, brass so out of round it shaves brass against the sizing die opening.

BTW, I'd discard all the brass that has shaved; it's weakened by the loss of metal.

[Geppetto]

I have had similar problems resizing 30-06 shot from my ruger m77 mk2. I had attributed it to a large chamber. My sizing die had a really sharp radius though, and the way I took care of it was to polish the opening of my sizing die to increase the radius, which seemed to then size down the brass without shaving it. Liberal case lube helped the process.

[captaint]

I wouldn't load that shaved brass either. Especially if I had a bunch of other brass.. Mike

[Gtek]

As all above, I lost count of the Garand barrels I have changed over the years. Some of the imports in the early 90's were scary wore out. After removal drop a round in chamber and RATTLE side to side, had one that still had neck and shoulder in it. The sizer die IMHO is a double sword, lathe chuck and break edge which I have done. But you must have clean brass or possibility of dragging/rolling a grain of sand or piece of media scratching internal. Gtek