Hey guys was wondering about Lake City LR .308 brass. Its pull down never fired and primed stuff. Are the primers in these good to go/good to use or do they need to be deprimed and re primed? I was told to use a 30ish cal bore brush in a drill to clean the tar out. Thus keeping solvents off the primer. From what I have read they are either military #43 primers or Federal GMM primers depending on when they were produced. Cant find anything telling me exactly what year they changed. Any help is appreciated.
- Thread starter Glen1978
- Start date
Wideners suggests using Xylene on a qtip to clean out the necks.
Yeah I read that. I was mainly concerned with the primers that were in them. If they were ok to use or if I should deprime then reprime.
Use them!,,,,,
Personally, I would wet tumble them decap, re-size and swage and wet tumble again. 2X in the wet tumbler most of the bitumen will be gone from the neck and you will will be able to reload them with new primers... Face it, you are going to have to process them eventually, may as well get it over with.
I never trust primers that have been stored in the atmosphere for any great length of time, ESPECIALLY if my source is located in any of the humid states. God only know what condition they are in or if they will fire as intended when manufactured.
I never trust primers that have been stored in the atmosphere for any great length of time, ESPECIALLY if my source is located in any of the humid states. God only know what condition they are in or if they will fire as intended when manufactured.
If primers were so susceptible to humidity wouldn't they be packaged in air tight containers instead of loose plastic trays wrapped in cardboard? If you were going to do all that processing why not save money and buy once fired?
No need to swage LR brass either.
No need to swage LR brass either.
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Well for one, LC LR brass is not easy to come by so you have to make do with what you can find. #2 There is a much better seal in new sleeves of primers than there is in a barrel of loose brass stored in someones shed or warehouse.
And as an aside, I would not use any primers I knew were old even if they were in sleeves, for example, I would not be using Winchester primers in the old white packaging to load anything today. It simply is not worth my time behind the press to take a chance on an old primer for the sake of saving $40.
Sure you might get ignition, but are you getting the rated ignition at the day of manufacture or 80% of it?
If you lived in Florida, you would understand and most likely feel the same when you see how brutal tropical air is on ammo that hasn't been stored properly, let alone primers.
And as an aside, I would not use any primers I knew were old even if they were in sleeves, for example, I would not be using Winchester primers in the old white packaging to load anything today. It simply is not worth my time behind the press to take a chance on an old primer for the sake of saving $40.
Sure you might get ignition, but are you getting the rated ignition at the day of manufacture or 80% of it?
If you lived in Florida, you would understand and most likely feel the same when you see how brutal tropical air is on ammo that hasn't been stored properly, let alone primers.
I see both sides here. Stuff is pretty old.....10 yrs I think he told me.
Paint thinner with mineral spirits will melt the tar right off. Don't bother with xylene or other toxic solvents that melt rubber gloves off your hands.
It's pulldown brass the primers are fine, it's no coincidence that 175gr pulled bullets iwth tar on them show up at the same time as LC LR brass with tar on the necks.
It's pulldown brass the primers are fine, it's no coincidence that 175gr pulled bullets iwth tar on them show up at the same time as LC LR brass with tar on the necks.
Lol. Yeah im buying them both. Seen em priced all over the place. What would you guys pay? Seen brass at one place for $36/hundred and the pd 175's for $25/hundred. Another place had them for $250 for 500 brass and 500 bullets. All of these were never fired, pull downs and still primed.
Thats not LR brass. Unless I misread something.
Nope wrong link lol. Ill send you one later forget where it was.
Edit. Email this guy http://www.nereloading.com/contacts. He has lr just not listed.
Edit. Email this guy http://www.nereloading.com/contacts. He has lr just not listed.
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Yeah I talked to Nick at NER. He is the first set of prices I had listed. He seems like a really nice guy.
I would neck size Brass for uniform tension.Its personal choice whether to leave or remove tar.Loaded M118LR shoots fine with the tar.If it were me I would leave tar if I am gone to shoot ammo up in a few Months.For long term use and storage I would remove tar.The Tar is there to water proof the Ammo.
Regards,Mike
Regards,Mike
Use the primers, don't worry about the tar, neck size and go. You obviously won't be using these for a match or anything or you wouldn't have to ask these questions. You'd fully process the brass just on general principles. And if primers were as fragile as some people seem to think, it's a wonder ANY of my ammo ever goes off......
Well im new to this so takin it all in. From what ive read neck sizing is old school technology. Ive read that F/L sizing is the way to go BUT with this brass being never fired is that something I need to do? Im asking as I dont know. Be kind please!
OP,
Even virgin Norma brass gets a trip thru a sizing die to uniform the mouth before I load them up. Out of (100) bag, maybe a couple really need it. But once done, I know where I am starting from. Pull down (PD) military brass definitely needs to be sized if you expect uniform velocity thru uniform neck tension. The asphaltum (tar) becomes a problem over time because it dries rock hard which affects bullet pull. Some shooters believed that the accuracy of older LC MATCH cartridges that used bullets sealed with asphaltum could be improved by seating the bullet just a couple 0.001" deeper breaking the hard asphaltum seal. I have done this with '60's era M118 cartridges so would think it applies to the later M852/M118SB/M118LR cartridges as well. I view old asphaltum as a contaminant but a minor one. Carb cleaner is inexpensive & easily removes asphaltum. Depending on what your goal for these LR casings is, I would either leave the tar or deprime/fully work the LR casings. If you are just making up some blasting ammo, the KISS principle applies IMO. If loading precision ammunition, the weight of LC LR casings vary much less than LC BALL casings used in LC M80/M118SB. Good stuff. You have to step up to Lapua or even Norma to get more uniform brass IMO.
Even virgin Norma brass gets a trip thru a sizing die to uniform the mouth before I load them up. Out of (100) bag, maybe a couple really need it. But once done, I know where I am starting from. Pull down (PD) military brass definitely needs to be sized if you expect uniform velocity thru uniform neck tension. The asphaltum (tar) becomes a problem over time because it dries rock hard which affects bullet pull. Some shooters believed that the accuracy of older LC MATCH cartridges that used bullets sealed with asphaltum could be improved by seating the bullet just a couple 0.001" deeper breaking the hard asphaltum seal. I have done this with '60's era M118 cartridges so would think it applies to the later M852/M118SB/M118LR cartridges as well. I view old asphaltum as a contaminant but a minor one. Carb cleaner is inexpensive & easily removes asphaltum. Depending on what your goal for these LR casings is, I would either leave the tar or deprime/fully work the LR casings. If you are just making up some blasting ammo, the KISS principle applies IMO. If loading precision ammunition, the weight of LC LR casings vary much less than LC BALL casings used in LC M80/M118SB. Good stuff. You have to step up to Lapua or even Norma to get more uniform brass IMO.
Well this is my gona be my first round at reloading. On one hand I think I should just resize, clean a little tar, charge and seat a bullet. On another hand I think I should tumble, de-prime and re-prime, resize, the works. The reason is because if its my first reload ever I could remove those little descrepancies like tar, primers that are not 100%, etc. Im just getting into the reloading AND long range world so I need to delete as many variables as I can.
I would just use the brass once you neck size it with a bushing die without the decapping pin.(I suggested neck sizing because the brass is already the correct size since it is new,)
Your ammo should shoot fine with the right load.After you fire your ammo you will have some really good brass to reload.Most if not all of the tar will be gone and if any is left tumbling will remove the rest.Then you can do all the fancy work on the brass.I like to use a Redding Type S Bushing die with a Titanium Nitrite Bushing the correct size for the neck tension you want.For a bolt gun I would bump shoulder back .001 and for a gas gun .002-003.Good luck with your new hobby.Feel free to PM me if you need any help.
Regards,Mike
P.S. For 1000 Yard work you will need to drive the bullet a certain speed to stay super sonic to keep your accuracy at long range.For example you will need to drive a 175 Grain 308 SMK around 2650-2700FPS .Just keep an eye out for pressure signs when developing loads.
Your ammo should shoot fine with the right load.After you fire your ammo you will have some really good brass to reload.Most if not all of the tar will be gone and if any is left tumbling will remove the rest.Then you can do all the fancy work on the brass.I like to use a Redding Type S Bushing die with a Titanium Nitrite Bushing the correct size for the neck tension you want.For a bolt gun I would bump shoulder back .001 and for a gas gun .002-003.Good luck with your new hobby.Feel free to PM me if you need any help.
Regards,Mike
P.S. For 1000 Yard work you will need to drive the bullet a certain speed to stay super sonic to keep your accuracy at long range.For example you will need to drive a 175 Grain 308 SMK around 2650-2700FPS .Just keep an eye out for pressure signs when developing loads.
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Not sure if I'm resurrecting a dead thread but I second M14shooter. I have loaded pull down stuff for years and to this day I haven't had one that hasn't gone boom. Don't kill yourself on prepping the initial batch, the real value is in the 2nd, 3rd loading ect.
Thanks guys for the input. I did clean the tar out with Qtips and acetone and it did a really good job, some cleaner than others. Im planning on using Forster benchrest dies (might splurge for the Ultra with micrometer). Whats the take on F/L sizing vs. neck sizing these pull downs? I have read that F/L sizing is the way to go everytime and that N/S is old school technology.
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