Old brass...........

[Bob Wright]

I bought some .44 Special from a correspondent on this forum, new unprimed brass. This brass turned out to be balloon head cases, and in very old Remington boxes. The headstamp is the old "REM UMC" h/s. I have loaded these (most of them) at least twice now, and clean the cases in a Thumbler's Tumbler with Lyman tufnut (?) media.

I notice even when polished the brass is a different color from newer brass, darker sort of a redder color, like maybe higher copper content? Does anyone know if the alloy for cartridge brass changed over the years? I make this brass to date from around 1950 or so.

I have encountered no problems with it so far.

Bob Wright

 

[Merle1948]

I bought some .44 Special from a correspondent on this forum, new unprimed brass. This brass turned out to be balloon head cases, and in very old Remington boxes. The headstamp is the old "REM UMC" h/s. I have loaded these (most of them) at least twice now, and clean the cases in a Thumbler's Tumbler with Lyman tufnut (?) media.

I notice even when polished the brass is a different color from newer brass, darker sort of a redder color, like maybe higher copper content? Does anyone know if the alloy for cartridge brass changed over the years? I make this brass to date from around 1950 or so.

I have encountered no problems with it so far.

Bob Wright

I trust you know it is somewhat weaker than modern brass......

 

[Skoopski]

Not sure the reason behind it, but I have some old balloon head .45 colts that are the exact same way.

 

[Bob Wright]

Not sure the reason behind it, but I have some old balloon head .45 colts that are the exact same way.

They are long gone now, but some of my first .45 Colt reloads were balloon head and nickel plated cases, REM UMC head stamped.


Bob Wright

 

[Skoopski]

I believe mine are R-P stamped. There was a box of 100 primed ones that I inherited from my father a couple years ago. He hadn't done any reloading since the early 80's. Back before I built my new deck on my house I had a huge problem with Carpenter bees. I loaded these up with a Card wad with a 1/16 hole punched in the center (so the power would still be above the primer, otherwise it would fall down in the wells) then about 1.5 grains of Bullseye, which just filled about a layers worth of the case, then an over power wad, and filled the case with cream of wheat I picked up at the everything's a dollar store (uncooked of course), then an over shot card, and sealed with some clear nail polish (also from the everything's a dollar store).

Shot these out of my 4 5/8" '72 OM Blackhawk Convertible. Was a great be killer round and a fitting way to remember dad. He used to sit out on his porch with a badminton racket and kill then by the dozens every summer. He hated those things at much as I did. And wouldn't you know, after 30 years just sitting there primed, I had zero misfires out of that entire box.

 

[SAJohn]

I have a fair amount of old mixed .30 carbine brass. Most of the WWII military pieces are reddish. While I cannot prove it, I suspect that saltwater corrosion resistant brass alloy was used. If so, it will probably not reload as many times as yellow brass.

 

[Bob Wright]

.....................I trust you know it is somewhat weaker than modern brass......

I'm aware of that, but thanks for the reminder. My .44 Special loads could just as well be loaded in cardboard cases!


Bob Wright

 

[Merle1948]

.....................I trust you know it is somewhat weaker than modern brass......

I'm aware of that, but thanks for the reminder. My .44 Special loads could just as well be loaded in cardboard cases!


Bob Wright

Cardboard eh? Now that's a REALLY light load! :lol:

 

[DeletedMember275]

The composition of brass cartridge cases has varied over the years. I don't know the specifics, but I do believe that brass from years past did contain a higher quantity of copper.

 

[2Late45]

I have a couple of old boxes of .38 S&W that are also a lot redder than any of my modern brass. I'll have to check out the R-P boxes, I thought they were 60's vintage.