30-06 brass awol. Why? Military?

[huntinlever]

The CMP is about to release some more surplus next month supposedly. We’ll see plenty of surplus 1x fired brass then. Hoping it’s HXP.

Sorry, what's HXP?

[M-Tecs]

Sorry, what's HXP?

HXP PYRKAL 30-06 M2 BALL GREEK

https://www.308ammo.com/HXP-PYRKAL-3...p3006bando.htm

[LeonardC]

OP, you get some good threads going! I shot a lot of HighPower back in the day using M1s. I'd reload Mil. brass 5 times for match use and then use in for practice rounds until I'd lost 10% of a box of 100 for any reason...that'd be about 10 reloads total on a piece of brass. (Bad day on the line I might loose 10% to the grass on the first match!) The M1 is a lot harder on brass than a bolt gun! But, the M1 loads are much lighter than full throttle '06 hunting loads.

[Winger Ed.]

I'd thought that was sort of a "thing" with bottleneck cases. I only do every 4th time with my 45-70. Hate extra work - takes time away from shooting!

How often would you recommend, Ed?

I'm about the last person you want to ask that question-

I've read up on it, but with the GI and common rifle calibers I shoot, I don't.
When I get 4-5 loadings on some and get ready to- I'll scrounge up a bunch, or another few thousand of them will fall into my lap.
I came close a few times, but have & had so much once fired on hand, I never really needed to.
When I retired and moved out of the city, I scrapped out all the ones I felt were like me-- getting old and tired.

I mostly shoot hand guns and just run them until they crack.

[huntinlever]

HXP PYRKAL 30-06 M2 BALL GREEK

https://www.308ammo.com/HXP-PYRKAL-3...p3006bando.htm

OK, thanks.

[trapper9260]

Starline is offering it new - what they have in stock at any given moment is the real question.

The military usage of .30-06 is probably down to not much more than the blanks for the surplus M1's that they distribute VFW, police departments, etc... for honor guard details, and who knows how often a run of THAT is produced? Entirely possible the last lot was done decades ago.

The fact is that the recoil is a bit much for the average snowflake of today; most of the rifles are manual actions that require too much effort from them to cycle; and it doesn't fit in the AR they want to build in the salons where they coiff their man-buns. The upside to this is that there will be "tactical" shooters out there willing to part with the family heirloom rifles and ammo.

Back in 1979 when I was in the navy wait for my first ship to pull in, that I was put as honor guard they had us shoot M14 with blanks.

[Bigslug]

Back in 1979 when I was in the navy wait for my first ship to pull in, that I was put as honor guard they had us shoot M14 with blanks.

Yup. . .I think the active service honor guards (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the like) are still running the M14, which makes sense since 7.62x51 is still frontline in the pipeline, and there were plenty of M14's for that. Six MILLION Garands and no practical active service use for them makes it a kick-down natural.

The sheer scale of WWII is pretty tough to comprehend, but it becomes at least a little apparent when you consider that we're still running into and using up ammo that was made for it.

As another suggestion to the OP, all of the big ammo makers produce a relatively cheap, Garand-friendly M2 ball equivalent load. When I was shooting an M1 in Highpower, I bought a couple cases of this to use for my 200/300 yard ammo on its initial firing, and then had the brass to reload. If you're into neck only sizing, this gets you your fire formed cases without the need to burn a handload for the first shot.

[405grain]

You only need to anneal the necks about every 4th or 5th reload. Also, you need to have a decent crimp so that the bullets don't get pushed back into the case during recoil. Whenever I was hunting with jacketed bullets in my M70 30-06, the cartridges still in the magazine would have the bullet tips flattened because of the rifle's recoil. I guess it depends on what you're using the ammo for, but if you plan on using the ammunition for hunting, then I suggest that you make it so that it can deal with rough handling.

[dtknowles]

I picked up a few hundred pieces of 06 brass recently from a member hear , quite reasonably priced .
Possibly post a want to buy thread ......

I think this is a good suggestion. I bet a lot of members have more 30-06 brass than they know what to do with.

Tim

[truckjohn]

Sorry I can't help on new '06 brass. Hoarders are hoarding everything "normal" right now. I about choked at the price of new brass - some costs as much per round as it's respective loaded ammo.

As crazy as the prices are coupled with lack of availability, I would be give serious consideration to pulling down miscellaneous short boxes of hunting ammo laying around. Like most shooters, I've got multiple boxes of hunting ammo with 17 of 20 rounds left which didn't group worth a lick in my rifle.

I fill my hoard with range brass unless it's unobtanium/weird stuff. 577/450 Martini Henry, 7.62x54r, 7.5 Swiss, and 7.62x39 qualify as reloadable brass just doesn't show up via the normal range pickup. The good part is that the weird stuff is available via the usual sources.

The most plentiful time for common rifle brass tends toward late summer into the beginning of hunting season.