Strange 30-06 brass, never saw one like this before.

[Trey45]

This is from an email from a friend of mine, I asked him if it was OK to share it here to maybe get an answer, so here goes:

This is a brass washed steel case with 3 Cyrillic characters on the head stamp. The ring appears intentional. Got any idea as to the purpose of the ring?
I found several of these casings on the ground the other day at the range. They are all exactly alike and I think the ring is intentional. It's purpose, however, is a complete mystery. No one up here has a clue as to what that ring is or how it got there and it's driving us all crazy! I researched it on the Internet and a few others have seen this but no one knows anything about it. So far, these are the wild guesses that I've read about on the Internet:

1) Some one said that it was sold with the ring by Golden Bear. I have not been able to confirm that.

2) Another person said that it was there to differentiate it from Russian Military ammo. I have not been able to confirm that.

3) Another speculated it was for some obscure chain link system. I think that's preposterous, but perhaps there is one I haven't seen.

http://images15.fotki.com/v1626/photos/6/1809686/10101988/3006brassring-vi.jpg

Now you know as much as I do about this odd find. Any clues about what this is and why it has the ring?

[lwknight]

I used to hear stories about the Russians had made some caliber guns that could use American ammo but not the other way around. Maybe it was the opposite direction? I could speculate several guesses but they would all just be wild thoughts.

[Trey45]

Something to think about here, during fire forming the brass takes the shape of the chamber, so if that ring was on the brass from the manufacturer, wouldn't it obturate in the chamber and "erase" the ring? This leads me to think that the chamber has the ring in it and is forming it to the brass when fired, however, this would make extraction very difficult wouldn't it? Unless it's some kind of split breech chamber, like the Polish WZ-48's are but in much larger form. This is very puzzling here.

I bring up fire forming strictly as an example of brass taking the shape of the chamber, I am not inferring that this brass was used for fire forming, especially since it's brass washed steel case.

[Longone]

Maybe a blank using the ring to hold a wad or cardboard with a small powder charge under it?

Just another SWAG.

Longone

[digger44]

I believe that round was once on a belt. like belt ammo for an M-60

[Jim]

Trey, if you can get your friend to photograph the head stamp, we might be able to identify it.

[Trey45]

http://cdn1.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd_images/bgprod/AMM-678.jpg

Now all that's left is why is it there?

I JUST NOW found that picture. So now we know who made it, just not why it has the ring.

[Longone]

So much for a blank. Can you split one long ways to have a look inside?

Longone

[243winxb]

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n420/joe1944usa/Firearms%20%20and%20%20Reloading/Rebated30-06.jpg I forgot why? http://www.photobucket.com/firearmsreloading Russian 30-06 comes with that rebated section above the case head. Golden Bear steel Brass plated case, 145Gr, FMJ bullet. Looks like i am slow on dial up.

[frkelly74]

I have seen them and all I know is they don't take them for brass at the scrapper. and you can't reload them.

[Bill*]

The Golden Bear box pictured above says "Brass Plated Case". Maybe the ring is there to differentiate them from the solid brass ones? Just a WAG

[I'll Make Mine]

A magnet will do that just fine... ;) No, I don't know what the ring is, but that case must be plenty stout that far down, for the ring to stay through firing...

[bumpo628]

Found it:

Since this ammunition is loaded with steel cases, the ring on the base of each piece of brass allows the case to expand upon firing. Since steel does not fire form like brass, this extra ring helps prevent the case from breaking into two pieces during firing.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/558507/golden-bear-ammunition-30-06-springfield-145-grain-full-metal-jacket-bi-metal-box-of-20

Still don't quite understand how that works, though.

[Chicken Thief]

Found it:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/558507/golden-bear-ammunition-30-06-springfield-145-grain-full-metal-jacket-bi-metal-box-of-20

Still don't quite understand how that works, though.

An expansion zone. In case of exessive headspace the indentation will straighten instead of rubturing the case.

[MBTcustom]

Since this ammunition is loaded with steel cases, the ring on the base of each piece of brass allows the case to expand upon firing. Since steel does not fire form like brass, this extra ring helps prevent the case from breaking into two pieces during firing.
Ummm yeah, and the earth is 50 billion years old:roll:
I don't buy it.
Midway probably just got tired of getting the same questions over and over and that's their best guess.
If anything, I would think that the ring would make a weak point in the steel case. Also, none of the fired brass in the OP have flattened rings in them.
Oh well, it is Russia after all.

[jimb16]

I don't know either, but I'vr seen other .30-06 cases that had cannelure marks in the same location. There has got to be some logical explaination.

[bumpo628]

If anything, I would think that the ring would make a weak point in the steel case. Also, none of the fired brass in the OP have flattened rings in them.
Oh well, it is Russia after all.

That's exactly what I was thinking. If anything it is a stress concentration point.

I bet it is for locating machine gun links.

[mdi]

I had read (where?) that Russian ammo for civilian use was "marked" in this way; a ring imprinted on the OD. So that some Russian authority could tell if the brass was shot in a military weapon or a civilian weapon. CSI stuff?

[Blammer]

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Stuff%202/DSCN8054.jpg

this has the same ring just a bit lower, when fired it's flattened out.

[kir_kenix]

I've been told that these marks in russian and eastern european ammo were there for making the manufacturing process easier. That these "grooves" helped locate the hard to work steel in the equipment while it is being drawn out. Made sense to me at the time, but the guy could have been blowing smoke all the same.

[45 2.1]

One possible explanation........ the Russians modified the 1891 action to shoot a lot of different cartridges. I've seen one of those in 308. Those rifles have cartridge interuptors as part of the feeding system, at least on the 7.62X54R. That ring is in about the right spot for the interuptor tab to settle into....................

[lmcollins]

Interuptor? Interuptor tab?

Never heard of either of these. Please explain: looks, design, function, etc.?

A dumb guy wants to understand for future inovations.

[Harter66]

I wonder if it designates a short/reduced capacity case , for example a 308 id w/an 06' od .

[WILCO]

The ring is there to keep us distracted while they take over our country........

[Harter66]

Nah..... it'd be Chinese not Russian.

Which Russian said "America will fall w/o a single shot being fired",Kennedy's counter part wasn't it?

[45-70.gov]

it should eliminate case head seperation

[mpmarty]

it should eliminate case head seperation

Or localize it at least.

[frkelly74]

If you could find those primers.

[0verkill]

Interuptor? Interuptor tab?

Never heard of either of these. Please explain: looks, design, function, etc.?

A dumb guy wants to understand for future inovations.

The cartridge interuptor eliminates the chance of rimlock. It holds the second in line cartridge low enough that the top cartridge can be stripped out of the magazine without the rims catching on each other.

[stocker]

It appears the ring is located near the normal expansion ring point. I wonder if steel cases don't react the same as brass when the pressure drops. Perhap to prevent sieze up in the chamber?

[higgins]

Possibly to aid extraction, since steel might be stickier than brass? It's in about the same location relative to the base of the case as the knurled section of U.S. military 7.62x51 match brass. Seems like I remember reading in American Rifleman that the 7.62mm match was knurled to ease extraction in hot, dirty chambers when it was used in combat conditions.

[madsenshooter]

And here I thought that was on the match ammo to keep me from reloading it too many times! I'm a little stressed over the 1st reloading! Kidding, stocker and higgins seem to have the right idea, at least a good possibility.

[fourarmed]

I believe the knurling on 7.62 cases is there to mark match ammo that uses bullets not approved for combat use.

[felix]

The idea of the reduced case capacity rings a bell with me. Can someone measure the capacity of a ringed case and compare it to a 'real' one? ... felix

[45 2.1]

This came to me in an e-mail, its source is from the web...somewhere, link not available.

Known on Russian .308 Win and .30-06 steel cased ammunition. The official answer is that it is to prevent the steel cases from sticking in the chamber. A technical explanation of how the groove accomplishes this is still unknown. I've seen fired cases where the groove has been completely blown out and no longer visible to completely un-changed. We fired some of this in an M-1 rifle and found it to be incompatible. Very violent extraction and a huge fireball. Not loaded with a powder compatible with the M-1.