Old military head stamp 30-06

[7mmGumbo]

I found some old 30-06 cases today in some reloading supplies I inherited from my father. TW 42 and LC 54 head stamps. I will clean them up and load them with some light 125 grain spitzer loads for my nephews to shoot out of their granddad's old deer rifle. That seems like a good use for them.

 

[Ridgewalker]

7mmGumbo, you should inspect them well to make certain there is no internal corrosion, cracks, etc. Any idea how many times they have been reloaded? The necks maybe work hardened if reloaded several times. Annealing would fix this, but it just adds to the process.
If you only want practice ultralight loads, check out the Hodgdon website using Trail Boss. Also I believe Ramshot might show some. Just my thoughts on it.
Best of luck reusing these!

 

[7mmGumbo]

Good idea there Ridgewalker. I have inspected the cases. None where found with any defects that would preclude proceeding. Currently in the walnut media in preparation of depriming and resizing. I will inspect each case prior to seating primers. I will need to deal with the crimped primer pockets.

I use reduced charges of H4895 as per the 60% rule. I have never tried the Trail Boss reduced loads. My thoughts were to see if I could get a 125 grain Sierra Pro Hunter in the 2300-2400 fps zone that would group well out to 100 yards and maybe the youngsters could use it in an exotic doe hunt here in the hill country.

 

[Ridgewalker]

It sounds to me like you’ve got a great plan for those boys!
I have had good luck with both the H4895 60% method and Sierra 125s.
On 223 crimped primers, I chamfer them with a case inside chamfering tool. Seems to work OK. Should work on any military crimp.

 

[7mmGumbo]

I’m glad to hear you have had good results! I have used the Lee deburing tool to remove the crimp ring for hundreds of 7.62 x 51 cases. It works well but makes your hands cramp up after a while. I’ll do the same with these 30-06 cases. It think these may have been fired in a DCM match many years ago.

I also found an old set of Lee powder dippers. They seem to be marked in cubic inches instead of the current cubic centimeters.

 

[Ridgewalker]

My old hands could never hold up to removing the crimp with a small chamfering tool. I have an RCBS electric unit that chamfers inside, outside, cleans large primer pocket, and a small primer pocket. Had it for many years and it has held up well. Made my life easier. But it was an expensive tool!
You can get just the chamfering tool now that will fit in a hand drill or drill press for pretty reasonable. You might look into that. It may help ease the process.

 

[fourfive8]

Both Graf and Midway show lots of new '06 brass from ab0ut $38 to 45 per 100. Why fight with old milsurp brass with the crimped primers and of unknown history.

 

[Shootist43]

If the primer pockets are still crimped, these rounds have only been fired once. If you have lots of them take a look at Dillon's Primer pocket swaging tool. https://www.dillonprecision.com/super-swage-600_8_8_25263.html

Mine has been used on thousands of rifle and pistol cases.