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Thread: .30-'06 CMP Brass Primer Querey

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    georgerkahn's Avatar
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    .30-'06 CMP Brass Primer Querey

    Howdy! I yesterday began the fun of getting ~720 rounds of .30-'06 brass ready to be reloaded -- by me. The first operation I do is to decap them, using a Redding universal die in a single stage press. A few require a bit of oomph, but on quite a few the primers came out with less effort than, say, a .45acp primer! ALL brass is military -- mostly Greek, with mixed U S brass -- all, as stated, from the CMP. This brass was all purportedly brand new, from the CMP, and fired only once at a marksmanship clinic.
    I've been coveting this brass, annually, for many years, so I've done this rodeo dance quite a few times -- but never with some spent primers -- as I've already commented -- coming out so freely. I had another obligation on day of clinic, so I was not present. My question, initially, is perhaps they no longer 'water-seal' the primers with a varnish? My 2nd operation, after decapping, is a 4-hour bath in the Thumler's rotary tumbler (2 tbsp Armor All Wash & Wax + 1 tblsp Dawn + 1/2 tsp Lemi-Shine per 100 '06 cases in distilled water). Looking for tell-tale signs of a prior loading, I see none.
    As my intent is to load and shoot in my U S M1 Garand, I do not wish to risk a primer backing out enough to create a slam-fire environment! I do use CCI #34 primers, purportedly harder than plain-Jane "civilian" ones; and the brass, as said, is all military.
    My question is, "Have YOU had similar experience with the primers NOT behaving as if they were "glued" in?" Yes, indeed, times have changed since the WWII vintage ones I have been reloading... I am hoping that others have noted similar; if not, I have to ponder whether someone(s) at the clinic slipped in their reloads...
    Thank you in advance for any light you may shed!
    geo

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I’ve had different degrees of effort removing primers from once fired HXP Greek M1 Ball. If there is a loose primer packet, I can usually tell when seating the case and I typically just toss the case.

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    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    If you use the Dillon auto swager, instead of reaming the primer pockets, they will be uniform and any loose pockets will be obvious by feel, and you can put those aside for light gallery boltgun loads.
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    I do in fact use the Dillon; on some cases -- perhaps that which made my wheels turning, and the impetus to start this thread -- the handle just moves without any apparent swaging at all. I've already done 300 cases... I'll segregate the loose ones for those cases to follow -- perhaps when I put new primers in Ill be able to tell which the loose ones are. I have a 1903-A3, and can shoot the questionable/loose ones in that. Getting this batch of brass certainly brings up those "free lunch" cliches... THANKS! geo

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    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by georgerkahn View Post
    I do in fact use the Dillon; on some cases -- perhaps that which made my wheels turning, and the impetus to start this thread -- the handle just moves without any apparent swaging at all. I've already done 300 cases... I'll segregate the loose ones for those cases to follow -- perhaps when I put new primers in Ill be able to tell which the loose ones are. I have a 1903-A3, and can shoot the questionable/loose ones in that. Getting this batch of brass certainly brings up those "free lunch" cliches... THANKS! geo
    Might also check the adjustment of the swaging head on the Dillon. You should be getting a slight radius at the edges of the primer pocket, if there is still a distinct corner where some primer crimp remains, the swaging head isn't set deep enough.
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    Thanks for radius suggestion; all is OK with my Dillon swager -- several thousand rounds done in past, with no problems... Bion, I did a couple of hundred more cases this morning, and segregated out the ones with no resistance. Much to my surprise, EVERY one of them bore the Greek headstamp with years 70 and 72! Down the road -- in I hope in but two or three days, I'll be putting new #34 CCI primers in, but I do my loading in stages: 1st the decapping; then the primer pocket swaging; then pin tumbling; then full-length sizing; then trimming (Wilson unit); then Giraud annealing; followed by (finally) the primer insertions. (When I'm at this point, I put 50 cases each in a zip lock bag -- and, they're all ready for powder, bullet... and shooting!). My hunch is the Greek folks simply do NOT swage in the primers and/or use a water-proof chemical??? As I just wrote, just a hunch. All the spent primers are gold in colour, and resemble those in other factory primed cases -- so, perhaps, I'm fretting needlessly? This batch is 626 cases -- so it'll be a day or two... but, I'll give an update when I do get to the priming stage.
    geo

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I've deprimed some 1944 cases from a tin of 520 rounds AP that was given to me a long time ago. And the primer sealant rarely made it past the head of the primer. Same thing for mid 60's lake city M2 ball. The Lake City was sold as primed brass only probably from one of the pull down projects. And some Lake City M2 ball dated 67 was shot in my Garand leaving a nice red ring on the bolt face. Again with this the red sealant rarely made it down past the curved portion of the primer and definitely not seen during depriming wether fired or US primed. Hope I've somewhat answered your question. Even some green sealant on NNY once fired 303 British brass none was observed past the curved portion of the primer. Frank

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    Have you loaded XHP cases before? I have reloaded a lot of HXP 30-06 and one thing I like about them is that you don’t need to swage the primer pockets at all. The crimp they use is three stake marks, not a fully crimped primer like LC. The new primer will seat fine after just decapping the HXP brass. The LC will need to be swaged.

    The HXP primer is sealed, normally with a purple sealant.

    I have never annealed a once fired HXP or LC 30-06 case and don’t experience any neck splits. I don’t think it will hurt (unless you over anneal the case) but probably won’t help anything. You can see the anneal line on the unfired or once fired brass prior to tumbling it.
    Last edited by garandsrus; 06-13-2018 at 12:37 AM.

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    Thank you, garandrus! You succinctly answered my query 100%. I have not loaded HXP cases -- these are new to me, as all prior cases have been U S military ones. (Through the years I have become a tad OCD re my reloading -- 'specially for gas guns -- and have developed a few "quirks". To wit, I use coloured magic markers on the primer to denote how many times the case has been used. Based on colour spectrum VIBGYOR, colours with wave lengths from shortest (violet) to longest (red), my first loaded primers get Blue; 2nd gets Yellow; 3rd gets Orange; and 4th gets Red. After the 4th firing, the cases get annealed. Primarily from using (other calibres) brass almost a century old, I've noted brass appears to harden just from the passage of time, complemented of course by being work-hardened -- e.g., fired. Hence, again, since the majority of the '06 cases I've loaded in the past date back from WWII and Korean conflict days -- it has been my practice to anneal them all as part of my very first reloading. I have a Giraud annealer; use TempiLaq on both case neck and head to insure proper anneal; and -- once set up -- process adds relatively little time to my loading sequence -- while giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling from having it done. I use the vice-grip test to quality-control the anneals, as well.) Yes, you are indeed correct this annealing perhaps is unnecessary on new-to-me cases -- but again, I do it... hopefully having just shed some light as to "why".
    Thanks again, and BEST!
    geo

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check