3006 blank cases

[mrblue]

I recently got a box of 3006 blanks that have been fired. Are they able to be reloaded with ammo or am I jimped?

[azrednek]

I have used hundreds possibly more than a thousand 06 blanks to reform into other calibers such as 7.7 Jap, 7.65 Argie, 7 & 8 X 57. Most were WW2 dated Canadian but have also used post war US GI. About 10% had a cracked neck after fire forming. I annealed the shoulder and necks on some 7X57 before fire forming and best I recall very few if any cracked. I did it back in the 80's and the details are a bit sketchy.

EDIT: Be advised most of the blanks had corrosive primers.

[azrednek]

Sorry I should have mentioned if your blanks have the roll crimped neck. They can and I have trimmed to proper length and used them to load 30/06. At the time, early to mid 80's 06 brass was dirt cheap at gunshows. Brass for the calibers mentioned above was scarce and expensive.

There are numerous methods to clean the brass' interior after discharging corrosive primers. I never bothered to use a brush. I soaked them in hot soapy water anywhere from a few hours to over night, rinsed thoroughly and let the Phoenix summer sunshine dry them out before dumping them into my tumbler. Best I recall never had any corrode from the inside out.

[Eddie2002]

Just ran 50 or so of the rolled crimp type of 30-06 brass through a FL resizer for lower velocity cast and so far it looks good. It's all Lake City dated '57 and '63 and had crimped primers.
If you have the 5 fingered crimp it will need to be trimmed down shorter than 30-06 length to remove the crimp. I converted a batch over to 7.7 Jap and had some of the cases with just a little bit of the crimp at the mouth. Couldn't get enough of that crimp out to reload for 30-06.

[azrednek]

I might add if converting the 06 to other calibers. I had better results annealing the shoulder after the first fire-forming. You might get some disagreement here but I tried it both ways.

I discovered that there is always a certain percentage that are not suitable for re-use. either be it cracks or dents that can't be ironed out. With the exception of 7X57 I got a larger amount of failures if I annealed prior to fire-forming.

Another area of disagreement and numerous opinions is the best lube for re-forming. I believe I tried nearly everything and had the best results although more difficult to work with except pure lanolin was STP. Use as little as possible to avoid dents. Be overly cautious of dents on the corner of the shoulder as some hot gas may sneak by when fire-forming.