Modern military ammo, non-reloadable?

[myrockfight]

Hey guys. I just started researching handloading and reloading. At some point in the near future, I will purchase some equipment to get started. In the mean time, I was wondering if you guys could shed some light on a subject.

I was wondering why military ammo that is non-corrosive with brass casings is not reloadable. Sometimes I see ammunition for sale and it says it isn't reloadable.

Is that because of the primers? Or is there something else that keeps it from being able to be reloaded? Furthermore, if it is the primers - what exactly is the issue between boxer and berdan (I assume those are the only kind)?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[strat81]

I was wondering why military ammo that is non-corrosive with brass casings is not reloadable. Sometimes I see ammunition for sale and it says it isn't reloadable.

???
If it's NATO stuff, it should be reloadable. For example, there used to be a lot of Guatemalan 5.56 on the market that was reloadable. Lake City is/was also fairly common in a variety of calibers. A lot of eastern bloc stuff is still non-reloadable because of the primers as well as steel cases.

Boxer primers have the anvil built in and use a single flash hole. Berdan primers use an anvil that is part of the brass case itself and uses two flash holes. You need a special decapper to deprime berdan brass, plus berdan primers are a pain to find.

 

[BeJaRa]

if it is brass cased ammo and it still says it is not reloadable then it must have berdan primers. Some steel cased ammo is copper washed and it kinda looks like brass ammo to the non-reloader. The difference is that boxer primers have 1 flash-hole where as berdan primed brass has 2 flash holes. I am sure there are other more subtile differences, but that is the big one. Also it is a pain in the ass to de-prime berdan style brass and it is an even bigger pain in the ass to find some berdan primers.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Also, while it does not make brass non-reloadable, you do have to watch for primers crimped in the primer pockets. They will decap just fine in the press, but getting new primers in is near impossible if you don't remove the crimp from the pocket. I use an RCBS primer pocket swaging tool that goes in the press and does a great job - I take all my .223 brass and try it on the swager just to make sure.

 

[strat81]

NavyLT, what press are you using the primer pocket swager with? What problems have you had with it? Other comments?

 

[Linear Thinker]

strat - I know you directed the question at NavyLT, but I will jump in:

You can get rid of the primer pocket crimp by either swaging or by reaming. Dillon sells a swage tool just for the purpose, I bought it a long time ago when I was shooting DCM and reloaded Uncle Sam's LC brass.

When I bought my first Dillon 1050, I sold the Dillon swager, as the 1050 has a primer pocket swage in station 2. Works like a charm, but you need to adjust it carefully so it does not rip the rims. Same for the Dillon 1000, which I use to load 308.

LT

 

[evan price]

Just because military brass is noncorrosive don't mean it's not reloadable.
Odds are the issue is Berdan primers instead of the Boxer primers most US reloaders are used to.

If you look inside the case (look at the photo of the CCI Blazer case above) yo usee two pinholes off center, these are Berdan primer flashholes. They put the anvil of a Berdan primer on the case not in the primer cup. Thus the holes have to be off center on either side of the anvil.

Berdan primers are chosen by the military since they don't need to reload their ammo, it's disposable, and the Berdan system is supposedly slightly more reliable in ignition versus Boxer. (or so I've heard) But it's harder to reload, by getting the primers out. It can be done with the right equipment and if you can find the right size Berdan primers. I'm told there are people who are converting Berdan brass to Boxer but it's long and tedious and best reserved for calibers you can't find any other brass for.

There is Boxer-primed non-corrosive ammo out there. In 7.62x51, the 70's Indian (OFV) is noncorrosive and boxer primed, as is the FNM headstamp I think is Hirtenberger. There are more- those just jump out of my mind right now.

The reason a lot of military stuff is corrosive primed is because corrosive primers have a much longer stable shelf life than noncorrosive primers do. I've shot corrosive stuff from WWII that shoots just fine.

The only real issue with corrosive ammo is you need to make sure to flush your rifle out with Windex or hot water or some other solution to neutralize the salts in the priming residue which will rust the gun. Truthfully I've seen 100-year-old military rifles that ran corrosive all their life, brown bores, some pitting, but corrosive is not gonna instantly rust the rifle to a pile of junk overnight. Might not be the best thing to run on a gas operated semiauto, though.

Once you clean and reprime the cases with modern primers, it's not corrosive anymore.

Those "non-reloadable" Berdan cases are worth good $$$ at the recyclers as scrap brass. Don't just throw them out.

Some military brass has crimped in primers so they don't fall out and jam up a machine gun. They just need reamed out to be reloaded easily. If you look at the primer you'll see the metal is dented in around the cup. That's the crimp. Sometimes it's three little dings.

 

[eliphalet]

NavyLT, what press are you using the primer pocket swager with? What problems have you had with it? Other comments?

Swagged thousands using a RCBS Rock Chucker press, but the RCBS tool will work in any standard press. Proper adjustment is a must, but not difficult. If there is just a few to do I have used a deburring tool or my pocketknife.

 

[strat81]

Linear Thinker and eliphalet: Thanks for the responses. Most of my .223 brass that I'm SLOOOOWWWLY processing has crimped primers. I use the RCBS chamfer/deburr tool and it gets annoying after a while.

Anyone with a Lee Classic Turret swaging primer pockets with the RCBS or CH4D pocket swagers? I'm curious of the turret discs hold up. I've asked Lee, but they weren't sure.

 

[sublimaze41]

It was suggested to me in an earlier .223 thread to get a Dillon and Swage every pocket as the easiest solution. I coughed up the $90 and it is worth every penny. Now I can buy bulk once fired .223 without worry. That is nice because I really like Lake City.

 

[myrockfight]

So...

Great answers guys! You even helped out a few others!

The reason I was asking all of this was because I came across some bulk military brass. I was wondering if it was worth buying for reloading, or just as brass scrap.