Update to my 8mm experience.

[AMraider]

Well I had case failure with my 1955 Yugo berdan primed brass ,170 grain cast boolits and Trail Boss. Very similar failure to the full power military load I had several years ago with the exception that the gas release wasn't nearly as violent. I felt the blast on the forehead again (I always wear safety glasses) and the report was odd but no damage to me or the rifle (1915 Spandau G98). This was with 11 grains of TB. Brittle brass is still hazardous even with the lighter load.

jeff

[leadman]

I think I would be hunting up some different brass. 30-06 is easily made into 8mm if you don't want to buy new brass.

Glad you weren't injured.

[dragonrider]

I'm with him ^ why use berdan primed brass when there is so much boxer available?? Of course I can't say that you would not have had a failure with boxer primed brass, but it is easier to reload for sure. I keep a lot of 30-06 brass on hand just to make brass for my Mausers in 7, 8, & 9.3.

And welcome to the board AMraider, we are glad your here.

[Ben]

I'm all for saving money where you can, but in some arenas it just doesn't pay. Saving can cost you a LOT some time.

Ben

[looseprojectile]

I have a K98 with a really nice bore and an FN 49 that I put a new barrel on.
Years ago I shot the Hakims and several bolt guns in 8mm. At that time I bought a couple of cases of Greek PCH 39 ammo and shot most of it.

Foreward to last week.
I got a buy on 180 rounds of FNM 71 Portugese milsurp.
Turns out that this ammo is non corrosive and boxer primed. Never came across this ammo before but it was around all that time. This ammo is new looking and has the color annealing on the shoulder and neck that I like. I hope that this ammo and the resulting fired brass will last me for a long time.
This stuff has solved the supply of ammo for the 8mm guns for me and if you can find some of the same ammo it should do the same for you.

Life is good

[looseprojectile]

After a little more thought, Welcome to Cast Boolits.

And I would use a slower powder than Trail Boss. Trail Boss has a burning rate similar to Bullseye. Very easy to get way too much in a large rifle case.
I have had several old M2 ball cartridge cases split similar to your 8mm case and
don't trust much of the older milsurp ammo these days especially if they have any corrosion or stains on them.
Good luck.


Life is good

[AMraider]

Thanks for the welcome. This Yugo is brass left over when I removed the bullets and reduced the powder charge and put into new brass. I should have added that this little experiment is over for me. Now I just have to find a good method of disposing of several hundred surplus primed brass.

jeff

[GrizzLeeBear]

And I would use a slower powder than Trail Boss. Trail Boss has a burning rate similar to Bullseye. Very easy to get way too much in a large rifle case.

You've never used Trail Boss have you? Trail Boss is so fluffy you can fill the case right up to the base of the bullet (It does not like to be compressed) and not come close to max. pressure. My favorite load with TB in the 8x57 is 11 gr. with a 177 gr. plain base bullet. This load fills the case about 65% full and goes about 1100 fps with near MOA accuracy out to 100 yds. There is NO WAY you could double charge this load.

[WILCO]

Now I just have to find a good method of disposing of several hundred surplus primed brass.

Box them up and put them on a deep, dark cool shelf in the basement.
Leave the area by wiping your hands while saying "Done and done".

[Bret4207]

Thanks for the welcome. This Yugo is brass left over when I removed the bullets and reduced the powder charge and put into new brass. I should have added that this little experiment is over for me. Now I just have to find a good method of disposing of several hundred surplus primed brass.

jeff

With the price of metals these days I'd consider popping them all off in the gun and selling the cases to a scrap dealer.

[9.3X62AL]

What Bret said.

Most of us got into this hobby field to cut costs per shot, but at some point "false economy" rears its head. To paraphrase the late Hunter S. Thompson, "The trouble with edgework is knowing when you've gone over it." It seems you've braked soon enough to avoid the cliff. :)

Welcome aboard.

[NuJudge]

That appears to be Yugo brass with its original primer, failing on its first firing. I have a lot of that ammo, and maybe I'm going to pull it down. Have you seen that type of failure before?

[AMraider]

This was the second failure from a 900 round case of 1955 Yugo. Factory 11. That year and factory seems to be the most prone to problems. I still have 250 primed brass left. I have tried shooting the primed brass in an old turk mauser but it leaves a terrible corrosive sooty mess. Even an old turk deserves better than that. I am still trying to come up with a better method of disposing. I thought I found a good solution by using them in light cast loads.

jeff

[JeffinNZ]

That's amazing. In contrast I am running up to full power loads in my .303 Brit on 1943 DIV brass from Canada without issue. The brass is better quality than new.

[higgins]

NuJudge et.al. - That type of failure with the 50s Yugo ammo is widely known among people who shoot a lot of surplus ammo (or read a lot of milsurp forums). I went through most of a case of this 11-55 ammo before I had the same failure in the photos at the beginning of this thread. In a lifetime of shooting I've never had a failure like that and it made a believer of me when it comes to this being a fairly widespread problem with this ammo. I ended up pulling down the remainder of that lot as needed and reloading it into commercial cases with a new primer, and the slightly reduced and consistent powder charges increased accuracy slightly. I too popped the primers in my rifle until I realized the cases were not sealing the chamber, allowing the corrosive soot to get into the lug recesses and into the bolt. Now I put them in a vise-grip, place the case in a gap in a picnic table, and pop the primer with a punch and hammer, wearing safety glasses and leather gloves. I just wouldn't trust these 50s Yugo cases with any load.

Edit-Please don't sell cases with live primers to scrappers. We don't need more excuses for them not to buy cartridge brass.

[mroliver77]

Dang, I need to look at my Yugo ammo. I have never had this happen but do not want it. Is it just the 55 year?
Jay

[higgins]

Dang, I need to look at my Yugo ammo. I have never had this happen but do not want it. Is it just the 55 year?
Jay

I believe it's been more common with '55 ammo, but I believe it's happened enough with other mid-50s Yugo ammo to make any of it suspect. On the other hand, the 70s and 80s Yugo is probably some of the best 8x57 surplus available. I haven't heard of such failures with it, or if they have occurred it didn't happen often enough to make an impression. Having said that, any arsenal or manufacturer can let some cases out that are internally flawed.

[gew98]

I agree , the Yugo 50's dated fodder is to me for components only as the brass is on the brittle side. I've shot alot of 70's fodder and never had a longitudal split or casehead separation. On turk surplus all I ever got was case neck splits , but it all tended to be loaded to the hotter original german spec ( 2900 FPS 154gn FMJ ).
I had alot of chinese 8mm ball and a case of 303 brit tracer made by the chinese in 1949. None of the tracer ignited but it did make red flashes when impacting hard targets and left god awful jacket fouling in the bores....as well as longitudal splits !.
Same thing with surplus 7,7 jap semi rim Hotchkiss clipped ammo....really hot loads behind a 205 gn bullet with ALOT of longitudal case splits , but the type 99 handled them well like the enfield did too.

[AMraider]

The 70-90's Yugo is indeed very good stuff and I am fortunate to have several cases of them. In fact I have been using the 50's Yugo bullets and powder (10% reduction) in re-primed 70-90's Yugo brass with great results. I still have 2 unopened cases of 50's Yugo (1954 and 1953 Factory 11) I will just use them for components but will not use the brass. For disposal my idea is to drill several holes in a 2x4 and place the brass in them and just go down the line and pop them off with a hammer and punch. (Idea borrowed from higgins) Wearing gloves and safety glasses of course. We'll see how that goes. I'm glad that my 6.5x55, 7x57, 30.06 and 7.5x55 cast loads are not so bothersome. :?

jeff

[junkbug]

If you like to work, you can get a hydraulic depriming aparatus and deprime, salvage, then dry the primers in the sun. Then you can reload a quantity of superior later vintage Yugo brass.

That is if you like to work that much.