Old ammo

[PacNorWest01]

Hi Everybody

New to site. Great place! I just started reloading again after 20 years. A friend gave me 150 rounds of reloaded .308 Win ammo from his late fathers estate. He really didn't know how old this stuff was, but his father passed about 7 years ago. The brass looks good, no dents or misshaped. Mixed lot head stamped WW Super, FC, Super X. The brass and HP bullets are dirty and dull looking. I would like to pull the bullets, dump the powder, and reuse the brass. After weighing the bullets I may be able to reuse them as well as the brass.

That leaves me with unspent primers in the case. Anyone see a problem with running empty primed case through my M77 to pop the primer? Or is there an easier way?

Also in the box was a military belt of 30 Cal for an M60, head stamped LC 68, still thinking what to do with that.

Thanks

 

[Sam Johnson]

Shoot those LC 68's and enjoy, .. Re-use the re-loads brass and bullets, .
You can de prime live primers, go slow and be careful of built up primer dust, keep things clean.
Sam

 

[mikld]

I personally would not shoot anyone's reloads unless I knew the reloader very well, and mebbe not even then then. As far as the primers are concerned why not just use them? If not, run the cases through your size/decapping die as usual. I have never had a problem removing live primers this way.

 

[PacNorWest01]

I personally would not shoot anyone's reloads unless I knew the reloader very well, and mebbe not even then then. As far as the primers are concerned why not just use them? If not, run the cases through your size/decapping die as usual. I have never had a problem removing live primers this way.

I agree. I have no idea what these are charged with or how old they are, that's why I will recycle the brass and bullets. Its the primers that I was wondering about.

 

[PacNorWest01]

Shoot those LC 68's and enjoy, .. Re-use the re-loads brass and bullets, .
You can de prime live primers, go slow and be careful of built up primer dust, keep things clean.
Sam

Thanks Sam. I think this is the way to go.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

After you pull the bullets and powder why not pop the primers in your rifle before de-priming? ...or at least try and de-activate the primers by soaking them in water before de-priming? :D

 

[PacNorWest01]

I was going to rifle pop them, but I would have to single feed them and my time on earth is too short for that. I like the idea of soaking them before de-priming but maybe a drop of oil on the primer and let that soak in.

 

[mattsbox99]

Water or oil is not a reliable method to deactivate primers. The only way to reliably deactivate them is to pop them in the rifle.

Anyway, there is a good chance the brass is so old that it will neck split upon first firing so I would anneal the case necks before resizing them.

 

[Olsherm]

Just for info sake,I tried to kill a couple of large pistol primers with oil and water and I let them soak overnight.Did not work primers fired anyway.However, one of them was weak.I was going to mount them in grips as medallions but I could not get them to die. I didn't want live primers in my grips and I didn't want fired ones either.So,I gave that idea up.Primers are kinda hard to kill it seems.

 

[Rick Courtright]

That leaves me with unspent primers in the case. Anyone see a problem with running empty primed case through my M77 to pop the primer? Or is there an easier way?

Hi,

Were it me, I think I'd go thru those reloads, separate by headstamp and pick out 20 w/ the same one. Pull the bullets, dump the powder. Now, I'll take a different track than some of the guys:

Adjust your sizing die and decapping pin so you can neck size the brass w/o depriming. Weigh the bullets and determine a starting load to work w/. You don't know what primers you have, but a starting load should be safe w/ any of 'em. Load those 20 and go shoot 'em. If the brass survives just fine, I'd do the same w/ the rest. Then anneal 'em all, size and trim as required and carry on.

If any split on this "first" (to you) firing, then empty the rest and anneal, size and trim straightaway as Mattsbox suggests. People's ideas on when to anneal vary: for myself, I normally do it after five firings. Be sure to anneal before sizing and trimming to eliminate any "odd" growth from the heat.

Rick C

 

[mattsbox99]

Olsherm, if you're interested in trying that again you can seat the primers upside down in a case then with a sharp angled pick you can set them off (OUTSIDE!). Decap and enjoy. All you do with the pick is lightly get on the edge between the rim and anvil and apply a little pressure.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Olsherm, if you're interested in trying that again you can seat the primers upside down in a case then with a sharp angled pick you can set them off (OUTSIDE!). Decap and enjoy. All you do with the pick is lightly get on the edge between the rim and anvil and apply a little pressure.

Cary C. says he holds primers with a pair of needlenose pliers over a flame to light them off and then seats them in case heads for medallions.

 

[dougader]

I basically did what Rick C said when my Dad gave me a bunch of old 180 grain 30-06 Winchester Silvertips.

I fired a couple in my Ruger M77 and the loads were too hot for my rifle. With just one firing the cases were streched and had flat primers. So I got an RCBS collet-style bullet puller and pulled the remaining bullets, and burned the powder in an old aluminum pie plate in the back yard.

I then neck-sized the cases, loaded them up with 55 grains of fresh IMR 4350, re-seated the Silvertips and took them to the range. I sighted them in to be about 2 inches high @ 100 yards, and then took a mule deer with that ammo later that year.

My basic reloading was just to dump the old powder. The primers worked fine. This was ammo from the 60's.