How old is too old for brass?

[Mohawk Daddy]

On a recent trip to the range I picked up a couple of dozen pieces of .30-06 brass headstamped WCC 53. Other than the fact it has military crimped primer pockets, the brass looks in good shape and may have been fired only once. Is this Korean War era brass ok to use? I would be using it with reduced loads and cast boolits in a 1917.

[Mauser48]

I'm using plenty of brass from that era. My oldest in circulation is dated 41. Works just fine for me. I've fired it about 4 times with m2 ball spec loads and twice with light cast loads and only 1 had a slight split in the neck. Wish I had an annealing machine.

[samari46]

Still have some TW44 that was loaded with AP bullets. That is about the oldest brass I have. Frank

[Hick]

I've reloaded several times with WWII brass-- it's pretty sturdy stuff. One or two minor neck splits is all.

[EDG]

I bought a 5 gallon bucket full of SL54 (non-corrosive) about 1000 rounds in about 1969 and I have been reforming them to 7.65 Mauser and 8mm Mauser ever since. I have several hundred in each caliber and I have never had to discard any of them.

[17nut]

Oldest piece i have is from 1884 and the oldest i reload is from 1900.
Old brass tend to be brittle so annealing the neck/shoulder will prolong case life.

[upnorthwis]

I've been reloading some .43 Mauser brass that was originally loaded with black powder. Don't even know how far back that goes.

[Tenbender]

I still have some 250 Savage brass necked down to 22 250 I have had sense before factory 22 250 brass was on the market ! As long as it is not cracked and the primer pocket is not sloppy, use it .

[Outpost75]

US military .30 cal. rifle brass which shows visible neck anneal color is OK. Before the mid-1930s FA was still experimenting to determine the best method for final stress relief, but by 1936 the method was well standardized and the same method of gas flame mouth anneal was continued until replaced by an electric induction method in the mid-1970s.

I am using FA34 and FA41 cal. .30 cases originally loaded and with FA26 (nonmercuric, but corrosive) chlorate primers. After decapping and mild soap and water cleaning they have out-lasted all of my modern commercial brass, except Norma.

US Military rifle brass made prior to about 1970 had a pink-reddish color, indicative of more copper in the alloy, being similar in composition to Norma brass. FA, LC, TW and the WW2 and Korean era contractors all used the same composition, with the first-draw cups being produced primarily by Scovill or Anaconda. It seems to last almost forever.

Scovill and Anaconda got out of the "cup" business in the 1970s and Olin Brass is the sole US source for small arms cups and limits the production capacity available to domestic ammunition manufacturers. Some cups are being imported from Korea and Russia, but some of these maybe of recycled, rather than virgin metal, so their composition may differ. My experience has been that while today's "yellow" brass might be technically stronger in high-pressure applications like 5.56, it does not tolerate as many reloadings as the older "red" brass. If you have US .30 cal. cases made before about 1965-66, even of WW2 dates, treat it lovingly. Decap, and water clean the WW2 stuff in stainless pin media to permit close visual inspection, swage the primer pockets and USE IT. If you have M72 Match cases or ammo from this period, hoard it as if it were gold!

Attachment 178572
Attachment 178573

[nicholst55]

One thing I have noted on some corrosive-primed USGI ammo is that the primer pockets sometimes corrode. I had a bunch of TW52 AP ammo, and I dismantled one round to check on the internal condition. Inside the case was fine, however, when I decapped the primer, I found that the bottom of the primer pocket had green corrosion there. I disassembled the rest of the ammo, and found this corrosion in over 50% of the brass. Some of the brass surrounding the flash holes had been eaten partially away, effectively leaving me with HUGE flash holes in those particular pieces of brass. I reluctantly salvaged the powder and bullets, and scrapped the brass (after crushing the case mouths with a pair of pliers). I have encountered the same situation on some very old (pre-WWII) commercial 7X57 Mauser ammo. I don't recall the headstamp now, but the corrosion was even worse than the .30 AP ammo mentioned.

Something to consider.

[Freischütz]

I never had any trouble with WW2 brass but did have problems with Peters 30/06 brass from the 1920s. Lots of cases split in front of the solid head. Often several splits, about 1/4" long, appeared on each case.

[3006guns]

I'm using plenty of brass from that era. My oldest in circulation is dated 41. Works just fine for me. I've fired it about 4 times with m2 ball spec loads and twice with light cast loads and only 1 had a slight split in the neck. Wish I had an annealing machine.

You HAVE an annealing machine.........it's called a propane torch. Fill a container with water, place the lit torch near it and hold each case by the base. Rotate the neck/shoulder area in the flame and when your fingers feel warmth, drop it in the water. It's virtually impossible to overheat the brass as your fingers won't let you hold it. That's it, nothing complicated and I've been using this technique successfully for years.

If I pick up WWII (or even older) brass, I usually anneal immediately before any loading is attempted. This relieves the years of strain on it and you're good to go.

[gnoahhh]

You don't even need a propane torch. A simple candle and a wet paper towel does the job. Hold the case in your fingers, your fingertips will tell you when the neck/shoulder is hot enough, drop it onto the wet paper towel to wipe and cool it.

Half of the '06 brass I use is 1930-1954 vintage U.S. military stuff. The other half is 1960's GI ball and match brass. I call that stuff my "new" brass.

[samari46]

Have a small stash of 1967 LC M72 match brass and some mid 60's 7.62 match and national match. The high power guys love this stuff. Haven't seen any M72 or M118 for sale in a long time. Frank

[flint45]

A couple years ago I found at a yard sale a box of .30-40 army brass, once fired, there was a 1920's date on the old black and white box UMC brandI anealled them re-sized and loaded the with my favorte load of 4198 and Lyman 311284 boolit thy worked fine no cracks or any other problems thy are still going strong!

[Don Fischer]

All my present 30-06 mil brass is FA 49. No problem t all. Have several hundred and they are also primed with the original mil primer. None have failed to do off! The annealing is really easy to see on it but a trip in the tumbler overnight get's rid of it if it bother's you, bother's me!
When I first got the stuff, I fired off a bunch of the primer's figuring they wouldn't work, I was wrong. Fired off a couple hundred so far with no miss fires.

[bstone5]

I have a lot of 38 Special brass made during WW II and have reloaded and shot this brass over the years. The primer pockets in this brass is very tight when installing new primers. Will shoot until the neck splits. This brass seems to be high quality and has lasted a long time. I got this brass from my father's reloading stuff when he passed at age 83. We had reloaded the same brass when I was a kid living at home, I am 70 now.

[Mohawk Daddy]

Thanks to all who have replied. I don't think the brass I have was loaded with corrosive primers, but I will keep that in mind for future reference. The tips on annealing are good too. Thanks.

[kycrawler]

I have a ton of wcc 57and tw54 30-06 I have annealed the case mouths and am sizing then up to 375 whelen. They work great and don't loose very many

[Artful]

I've reloaded several times with WWII brass-- it's pretty sturdy stuff. One or two minor neck splits is all.

Metal gets brittle as it oxidizes over time, this is where you anneal it after first shooting.