308 military cases

[edsmith]

I have some military 308s, not many, when I tried to resize them, they would not resize fully, no way they would, I was using a lee challenger, I though I would bust it if I tried any harder, com 308s resize easy. what could be the problem? thanks guys

[EOD3]

Any chance you're trying to size a Berdan case? A good bit of foreign surplus ammunition uses Berdan primers.

Possibility #2, they may have been fired in a machinegun which tends to expand the case head. (probably not)

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

either way, there are about four companies that make small base dies for just such an issue.

Rich

[seagiant]

Hi,
Most surplus 7.62X51 Nato brass is machine gunned fired now. If you are reloading for semi-auto battle rifles a regular set of dies usually work except for the odd case. I also use Imperial die wax for lubing the case and alot of times resize 2 times to make sure all is good and then check with a wilson case guage. If you are using the brass for a bolt action rifle you will then probably have to resize after the regular die set with a small base die set to get it to work.Always check and make sure you have not scraped any brass from the web or bottom of the outside of the case as this will seriously weaken the case and it's then best to throw it in the scrap pile and forget about using it! Also a stout press is usually always needed!!!

[EOD3]

One addition to seagiant's post. IF you decide to double-size the brass, or for that matter any bottleneck brass, remove the neck expander for the first re-size. Overworking the case neck will significantly shorten the life of the brass. 8-)

PS: I think his press could size a truck axle. :holysheep

[GabbyM]

Steel cases ?

[Hip's Ax]

I bought some Lake City Match 7.62 once years ago and had a similar problem. I found that if I put them through my Lee Collet Die first I could then FL resize them with ease. Guess they were fired in something with a big neck rather than a large chamber.

[DCM]

Machine gun brass = PITA! Don't expect much case life out of it either, there is a reason it is cheap.

[edsmith]

thanks guys, I only have a handfull of them, they are not worth the trouble, I know my press is stout enough, I resize 30-06 brass to 308 in my 308 dies.:drinks:

[Char-Gar]

I have several thousand Lake City 7.62 cases and it is excellent brass. They were fired in a machine gun. I use a small base die to resize them the first time and thereafter just neck size or use a regular .308 FL die.

I have a good RCBS A2 cast steel press, so it is no strain on the equipment.

I have another 500 rns of loaded Lake City 7.62 ammo I am firing in my .308s. I get good results will reload the cases.

[lead-1]

I have resized three to four thousand 7.62 military brass in my Challenger press, just make sure that you use plenty of case lube and that no Berdan has slipped thru the cracks and breaks your decapping pin.
I have even removed the decapping pin and moved the neck sizer a little farther up in the die to resize 7.62 Berdan military brass.
Lube it up good and give it another try, don't throw it away.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Lead-1,

have you figured out a way to convert the Berdan to Boxer? Otherwise, I cannot see the time involved to de/re prime them.

thanks for sharing the knowledge,

Rich

[edsmith]

I tumbled the mil. brass for 2 hours, wiped it, lubed it, removed the decap pin and expander, this time around they resized ok, a few were kind of hard, but they resized ok. thanks guys

[lead-1]

Lead-1,

have you figured out a way to convert the Berdan to Boxer? Otherwise, I cannot see the time involved to de/re prime them.

thanks for sharing the knowledge,

Rich


I found myself to have all kinds of time a few years back and I had a small boatload of Berdan brass so I experimented until I had a process that worked for me. I bought three or four thousand PMC Berdan primers and spent many nights in the garage.
I used an RCBS decapper until I got into some South African stuff that the primer just ripped open and ruined the brass so I used a home made process for thar brass that worked out real well, I lost maybe one in twenty pieces of brass.
It took more time but in the long run it was worth it.

[LuvMy1911]

SEAGIANT! All I can say is WHOA! Your press must have started life as a tank cartridge reloading press. That is hands down the strongest looking press I've ever seen!

Does anyone know an affordable source of Berdan primers for 7.62x54R ? Had several boxes of fair looking brass that's berdan primed... Boxer primed brass for it is hard to find or pricey or both!

[Bad Water Bill]

Cast boolits has your answer here.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=122303

[tomon]

Seagiant.... What is the make and model of that press in post #4?

[MtGun44]

I believe that is a Hollywood Senior. You ought to see their turret press, had one for a
few years, truly giant. Like about 55 lbs with 12 stations.

Bill