30-06 Mystery loads and headstamp

I have some 30-06ammunition I inherited from my grandfather that is probably reloads from the ~1970s. I don’t have a 30-06, but I’ve been pulling the 150gr FMJ bulllets to reload and target shoot from my 300 Blackout. I was considering disposing of the powder, but was wondering if anyone might have a guess as to what general type of powder it might be and if it’s advisable to shoot or not. No signs of water damage on anything. Also if anyone recognizes these headstamps it would be interesting to know where the brass is from. I also don’t understand the red “paint” around the primer if someone could enlighten me there as well.

Denver Arsenal - 1942

Red primer sealant generally means corrosive primers on old U.S. military ammo.

Wyatt Smith said:

Red primer sealant generally means corrosive primers on old U.S. military ammo.

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Ok - the (handwritten) reloads have the red paint as well. How would that have happened? These have a different headstamp as well - maybe not handloads but old original ball ammo?

Lake City Arsenal (US military) manufactured ammunition for use at the Camp Perry competitions. From 1962 till 1966 it was headstamped 'Match', after 1966 it was headstamped 'NM' for National Match.

The red colour is a sealant that all military ammo, both corrosive era and later, used. The sealant is still commercially available for handloaders, but few use it. Some handloaders have also been known to use red nail polish, allegedly to get the same effect

#1 rule. If you don't know what the powder is - don't use it. Especially in the case of older military rounds where each batch of powder had different burn characteristics.

These look identical to a bunch of cases I inherited from my Grandpa. He bought surplus ammo and blanks back in the 50s-70s for next to nothing. What others have referenced about the headstamps is correct. They designate the armory and year of production. The red "paint" is sealer. On the original load, you could see the same around the bullet & neck of the case. I have a bunch of the pulled blank cases that I still use for plinking loads; have not had a failure to fire yet. But depending on year, the primer may be corrosive, so a good cleaning after use is called for.
With the unknown powder, and unless you have complete faith in your Grandfather's reloading, pull the bullets just like you've been doing and dump the powder in the garden. Now you have primed cases to be reloaded. Once fired, you will need to swage the crimp around the primer pocket to reprime.

Thanks all for your input!

The late Bruce Moulds always thought that lake city match 30-06 brass was the best there was. I believe he used it to make his beloved 280 rem ammo.

Hunter4752001 said:

Lake City Arsenal (US military) manufactured ammunition for use at the Camp Perry competitions. From 1962 till 1966 it was headstamped 'Match', after 1966 it was headstamped 'NM' for National Match.

The red colour is a sealant that all military ammo, both corrosive era and later, used. The sealant is still commercially available for handloaders, but few use it. Some handloaders have also been known to use red nail polish, allegedly to get the same effect

#1 rule. If you don't know what the powder is - don't use it. Especially in the case of older military rounds where each batch of powder had different burn characteristics.

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Perhaps I was told if it has the red sealant treat it as if it were corrosive just in case it is.

You can buy a cheap hand tool for opening miltary brass primer pockets. I have one. I think it's Lyman?

Also, several sources indicate military brass is thicker than most commercial stuff so be careful with max loads. Less capacity for powder.

1970 should be fine if my memory is correct but if you think the powder is corrosive then I wouldn't use them either "corrosive primers did exist also"

Bottomline toss the whole mess...

RayAtkinson said:

1970 should be fine if my memory is correct but if you think the powder is corrosive then I wouldn't use them either "corrosive primers did exist also"

Bottomline toss the whole mess...

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corrosive powder? Primers were corrosive because of the mercury which caused a chemical reaction in the brass and the mercurial salts attract moisture which rusts the barrel, but I’m not aware of corrosive powder, abrasive yes, corrosive?
gumpy

So did you ascertain these are reloads? I see the writing on the box, maybe a crimped primer with the one picture?


At the least, components can be reused, usually.


I bought a 243 years ago, came with some reloads. The reloads came with notes, H-4350, 100 grain bullets, nice cases, new as loaded. When the time was right I investigated the reloads, took a few loads apart, compared, then weighed powder & bullets. Everything came out as the notes, powder looked like new H-4350. The one thing I didn’t like was the powder charge weight. It may of been fine with older manuals, or his testing. I ended up dropping the powder charge 1 grain or so, then reassembling the rounds.
Yeah a little time consuming, but us reloaders like to decipher and use usable components.

I'd bet money those Denver 42 loads are factory 150 gr M1 ball. The LC Match could be anything, unless it's a 170ish gr FMJ.

sourdough44 said:

So did you ascertain these are reloads? I see the writing on the box, maybe a crimped primer with the one picture?


At the least, components can be reused, usually.


I bought a 243 years ago, came with some reloads. The reloads came with notes, H-4350, 100 grain bullets, nice cases, new as loaded. When the time was right I investigated the reloads, took a few loads apart, compared, then weighed powder & bullets. Everything came out as the notes, powder looked like new H-4350. The one thing I didn’t like was the powder charge weight. It may of been fine with older manuals, or his testing. I ended up dropping the powder charge 1 grain or so, then reassembling the rounds.
Yeah a little time consuming, but us reloaders like to decipher and use usable components.

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The red paint over the primers just doesn’t seem like a reload to me, and all the projectiles have been 150gr FMJ, seems like military surplus. My grandfather grew up during the Great Depression and never threw anything away, so it’s quite plausible that he somehow obtained this milsurp ammo and placed it into the empty paper boxes that he had laying around and had been saving. He didn’t reload, and he probably would have considered target shooting a waste of money. Probably why this ammo remained intact: he didn’t have a use for it. Wasn’t appropriate for shooting deer (which I’m somewhat convinced he never bought a license/tag for despite killing perhaps hundreds of whitetails), and he never got around to trading it to somebody for something useable. He was eccentric. When I was a kid I went along with my folks to move him out of his ranch house and into a nursing home; and he had been “digging a basement” in the pole barn. As a ~5 yr old I could see this made no sense and he was extremely lucky the barn hadn’t collapsed on him. To turn on the lights in the ranch house, you had to hook two wires coming out of a junction box in the wall together. He had an old Ford Econoline van he drove around the ranch and the passenger seat was a 5 gallon bucket.