9mm headstamp ID

[chris in va]

I've been doing the 'green' thing and recycling my 9mm brass. Might have to make that a bumper sticker.

Anyway several cases have turned up that I don't know about. They reload fine but I'd still like to know their ID.

TZZ 95

WCC 9MM L 95

WCC 09

CBC 9mm LUGER

IMI 9MM-LUGER

IMI L18A1 98

Thanks.

 

[Unclenick]

TZZ and IMI are both Israel Military Industries headstamps. WCC is the Western Cartridge Company (an Olin brand, like Winchester). CBC is Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos, in Brazil. The two digits are date codes, i.e., 95 means 1995 manufacture, etc. That's standard on military cartridges. Where it simply says 9mm Luger, they are commercial rather than military versions, even if made by the same company. The difference is the military brass will meet NATO specs. Typically a little thicker for higher pressure and having a little less powder capacity as a result of having the extra brass. The military brass is usually crimped over the primer and needs to be reamed or swaged open after decapping and before you can prime it anew without excess pressure. Most civilian brass is not crimped.

 

[chris in va]

Interesting. I wonder where people are getting this ammo from. The range has a machine gun shoot every year so maybe they get it in bulk somehow.

Everything has decapped fairly easily, except for the S&B which I expected to take a little extra force. I've only found a couple crimped primers which I simply threw away and didn't bother to write down what they were. It had an interesting triangle shape crimp.

 

[rjrivero]

Don't throw it away!!!

I've only found a couple crimped primers which I simply threw away and didn't bother to write down what they were. It had an interesting triangle shape crimp.

Don't throw it away, that isn't very GREEN. Head to the post office and get a flat rate box. Throw all the crimped primer 9mm in there and when it's full, send it to me. I'll even pay shipping.

FWIW, the stake crimping isn't the "popular" way to crimp military brass. Most of the crimped military brass has a "ring around the primer" appearance to it.

 

[Sevens]

The CBC marked ones that you see are marketed commercially as Magtech.

The crimped primers on the milsurp probably won't give you much trouble to decap (especially if you use a Lee sizing die which handled this stuff better than most others) but the trouble you'll find is when you attempt to re-prime them.

The quickest way around this (other than culling that brass) is a couple quick turns with a chamfer tool, to cut the crimp out enough to re-prime. It's a one-time operation. A hassle for many hundreds, but no big deal if it's just a handful of cases.

When it comes to 9mm, you've really gotta ask yourself what your time is worth. Simply put, there is no more plentiful (re: cheaper) center fire brass on earth than 9mm. And given that 99.8% of all 9mm shooters in existence are autochuckers, this stuff is scattered from hell to breakfast. There is no easier and cheaper brass to buy in bulk than 9mm, so do consider that.

 

[chris in va]

Most of the crimped military brass has a "ring around the primer" appearance to it.

Ah, yes...I found a few of those. The primer pocket is *straight* in, no chamfer at all but for some reason it still primes decently with my Lee die.

 

[Unclenick]

You can often push a primer into a previously crimped .223 because the narrower primer is rigid enough that it does a better job of straightening the crimp edge during decapping than a large primer does. But if you look closely, seating them often creates more crush on the base of the primer (it looks flatter) than it will with a properly reamed or swaged primer pocket. For plinking, it's no big deal, but for target shooting it is not helpful to MV variance or ignition time.

 

[spectre9]

Lyman deburring tool fixes 9mm crimp

The Lyman Primer Pocket Uniformer Tool used to chamfer the flash hole is sized perfectly to chamfer 9mm brass with 'ring' military crimp. I chuck it into my drill press and fix my NATO brass up real quick both inside and out.

I too have Lee equipment and while it will prime 9mm, sometimes the primer gets hung up and sticks on one side leading to the primer going crooked in the picket and jamming the primer. While I personally have not had a detonation, be careful!

The way I see it its better to chamfer out the pockets are recycle the brass rather than risk a detonation with the primer tool. I had some close calls before I figured this out since I shot a LOT of WIN NATO ammo (headstamp WCC) since that's all I could get for a while ($14/box was a good price for it though)

 

[GMAN]

Here is a website just for that kind of info: http://cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes.htm