Odd looking 308 brass.

[Longwood]

I have some PMC 308 brass with what almost looks like rifling marks on the neck and shoulder.
What are the marks all about?
Thanks ahead.

[Carolina Cast Bullets]

Need a picture.

If the "rifling marks" are straight up and down the side of the case/neck, its
most likely caused by being fired in a "fluted chamber". Such chambers
are usually encountered in European firearms, specially fully automatic
weapons. The chamber is cut with longitudinal "flutes" or cuts very similar
to rifling and are there to allow the brass to extract easier and not cause
a stoppage. Something you really dont want on a battlefield.

Jerry
Carolina Cast Bullets

[Got-R-Did]

Heckler & Koch 91 is the most likely weapon these were fired from. Not sure if the CETME contract rifles also used this feature. Athough the fluted brass looks unsightly, you can still get a few loadings from them (if quality brass to begin with) but the flutes will not be ironed out completely by your sizer die. During familiarization fire with the Dept.'s 9MM MP5-SDs before training our SWAT guys with them, I kept all the brass and handloaded it for multiple firings before I eventually lost most of it in the grass at my private club range. While it looks odd, it functioned perfectly.
Got-R-Did.

[Artful]

308 fired in HK chamber



Liked this one

[Plate plinker]

Exactly right got r did.. That is probably from a fun gun like a 91. 223 counter part does the same.

[Got-R-Did]

That is an alarming image with the steel cased (Wolf?) cartridge with the separated case shoulder/neck. Plate Plinker, I was not aware that the 93's chamber was also fluted, but since the 94/MP5s do, that is totally logical.
Got-R-Did.

[Plate plinker]

Yeah, not an expert on those, but steel might be an issue?

.223 version is pretty neat, know a guy who has one and he can pretty much spell his name with the thing. Buys his ammo by the skid load. Must be nice ehh.. Never noticed the mp5 fluting and I have fired his at the range.

[Skrenos]

Steel cases are not an issue with fluted chambers. My SVT-40 has a fluted chamber and all i run through it is Wolf 7.62x54R copper washed steel case ammo. Now, the SVT-40 is gas operated and pressure are lower when the case is extracted. I know the HK is more of a recoil operation and has higher pressures in the chamber while extracting (hence the fluted chamber).

[DeanWinchester]

Roller locker rifle suck. Anything that makes brass un-reloadable sucks. They're accurate and reliable, but the recoil impulse is really weird. It's nice not having a gas system to clean, but not worth the sacrifice of brass.

CETME's were in spain around 1957, H&K started making the G3 and it's offspring a couple of years later. I always thought it was funny how adamantly some of the enthusiasts of this design defend Spain as being first....being as it's a Nazi design.

[Got-R-Did]

DeanWin, these rifles can indeed put some hurt on brass cases, but the design was for combat operations where positive extraction is a plus and handloading spent brass isn't a consideration of any country's Dept. of Defense. I have used once fired brass from HK firearms as stated above with success, but agree, it is a bit unsightly. Even the HK P7 Model 8 leaves brass with such flutes if I recall correctly, but it has been far too many years since we shot those brought by the HK Staff when we evaluated the select fire MP5 SDs for potential purchase. We bought 25 MP5 SDs, but went with the Sig P-226/225 group for sidearms at that time.
Plate Plinker, I have only had the pleasure to fire a 93 once and if money was not an issue, I would own one. These days, I really like the SCAR 16L after shooting one owned by a good Friend just back from "Trashcanistan". He treated himself to an M1918A4 Semi-auto by Ohio Ordnance, and a SCAR like he carried there. I would have to sell a lot of stuff to afford one, but the SCAR is amazing.
Got-R-Did.