February 17, 2011, 11:08 AM | #1 |
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Old Brass Reloading
A buddy of mine dropped off some brass to me this morning, and I'm not sure I want to reload them. They are in a late 60's Western Super X Silvertip box, and have R-P headstamps. The box is vintage and has the price "$5.55" written on it
Should I just hang on to these for nostalgic reasons, or reload them? I'm leaning towards holding onto them since they are so old. What are your thoughts?
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February 17, 2011, 11:13 AM | #2 |
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Brass doesn't exactly "get old". If they were stored correctly and look normal, there's no reason you couldn't reload them.
On the other hand, I assume you mean "a box", as in 20 pieces. If that's the case, I'd probably just keep them. Brass is cheap and plentiful, I wouldn't sweat it over 20 cases.
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February 17, 2011, 12:11 PM | #3 |
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The headstamp and box do not match. The Western Super X Silvertip was/is made by Winchester and should be stamped WW. The R-P headstamp is made by Remington-Peters. If they are loaded with Silvertip bullets they are probably already reloads and not worth saving.
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February 17, 2011, 01:35 PM | #4 |
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I'll probably just keep them together for the sake of the old box. I like antique, old, boxes anyway, and, like you stated, probably worth the brass just to let them sit.
I also thought it worth mentioning that he gave me a handful of the old 308 'Accelerator' cartridges. I'll probably not fire them due to accuracy issues with them, but I thought they were neat anyway. They are a .308 R-P headstamp with a saboted .22 bullet in the case neck. I've heard that these things were basically made for a 'fun' load and impractical for hunting. I'd be scared to shoot them from my .308 precision bolt rifle. Do any of you remember these cartridges?
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February 17, 2011, 02:49 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
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February 17, 2011, 03:00 PM | #6 |
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Insofar as reloading the old brass is concerned, I came across about 100 nickel .45ACP Winchester cases with headstamps from the early '60's. They all looked good, so I loaded them up and used them. Some of those cases have been reloaded several times using 185 JHP's without ill effect.
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February 17, 2011, 05:16 PM | #7 |
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I have a bunch of 70's WW brass in rotation. Some has been reloaded upwards of twenty times. No problems.
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February 17, 2011, 06:17 PM | #8 |
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Old brassI treat just like new brass. Inspect it, process it, and shoot it. A friends G-pa died 30 some years ago and the G-ma finally decided to clean out his room. I received most of the mans componants and dies, and some of the Western brass just as you describe, and 4 boxes of virgin R-P brass. It all shoots good. The rule with brass is...When in doubt, throw it out.
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February 17, 2011, 06:49 PM | #9 |
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Upon further inspection of the brass in the box that I received ...
it appears that my buddy just filled the box with whatever brass he had on hand at the time he was shooting it. There are 6 brass that have the R-P headstamp, and the remaining 14 brass say WW SUPER .308 Winchester. As I stated earlier, I have so much .308 brass as it is that I think I will just leave these in the box as they sit. Kind of neat to see an old box like this that isn't in circulation any longer.
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February 17, 2011, 07:36 PM | #10 |
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There are millions of WWII brass still being reloaded all the time.
If in doubt just anneal and load away. |
February 17, 2011, 11:10 PM | #11 |
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I have a lot of that old brass that I have loaded a dozen times and expect to load it many dozens of times more.
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February 18, 2011, 12:31 AM | #12 |
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I still reload 1940's vintage 30-06 brass all the time. Heck, 1960 dated brass is fairly NEW.....I don't think I have any 30-06 newer than 1972.
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February 18, 2011, 01:32 AM | #13 | |
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Quote:
When I got my Eddystone US Model of 1917, I got a partial box of ammo with it. I shot them, then reloaded them. I don't remember ever leaving any reloadable brass behind. |
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February 18, 2011, 07:03 AM | #14 |
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I dont get the idea where folks tend to think ammo and cases are like ground round on the kitchen counter.
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February 18, 2011, 09:36 PM | #15 |
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Keep the box, load the brass.... it's nothing special.
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