30-40 brass

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I notice that there is a big interest in buying 30-40 brass for use in the Krag or to reform to something else. I thought I would tell you that are so interested about my experiences with older 30-40 brass. No matter how carefully I annealed the cases many of them split when I tried to reform them. I had very poor luck with brass marked REM-UMC. I don't know when they quit using that head stamp but most of them split. I don't bother with them anymore. I was reforming them to 40-60 Maynard. Before buying new 30-40 brass I have reformed 303-british with nary a split. My point being, If you want to obtain 30-40 brass, buy it new. Much of the brass people have squirreled away is decades old and it is still just once fired.

[Thin Man]

I appreciate GS's recommendation to buy new brass for the original caliber as well as for reforming duties. On the down side, I have been looking for a source for new 30/40 brass for a while and nothing has shown up. I hope that at some time Winchester will get back into the components market, or Hornady will expand their offerings, or any other source. It seems that Krag brass is harder to locate than 375 Winchester, if that is possible.

[Kraschenbirn]

Graf's has their 'house-brand' 30-40 in stock - https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...ategoryId/764?. I seem to recall reading somewhere that it's manufactured by PPU.

Bill

[madsenshooter]

I've been converting PRVI .303 British blanks to 30-40. An old RCBS file trim die and a hacksaw makes short work of the crimp, and pushes the shoulder back. This is better than firing the blanks first, as some of the necks split, following the crease of the crimp. The blank cases aren't annealed, so that's something you need to do also. The blank powder becomes booster for some of my WC860 loads.

[17nut]

With a minimum of lathe worh 7x65R Brenneke can be converted.
@ .02" on the rim and .01" on the base.
In a slightly roomy chamber they should fit right in.