What do YOU go through to get your brass?

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KySilverado

New member
Please tell me that there are others out there that would call this a score :D

I've got an uncle getting on in years and has reloaded and shoot his entire life. About every time I go see him he's giving me this and that.

Today he gave me some brass that had been sitting around in an out building for several years. Story was he was at a range back in the late sixties or early seventies. The national guard had been there shooting and left these piles of brass laying there and he scooped them up.

I'm guessing 1500 or so once fired LC 30-06 and about 500 LC .308 Win.

Sitting in the garage the mud dobbers have filled a bunch of them up. What a mess.

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I'll never load all of it up or shoot these calibers enough to keep it all. I'll get it cleaned up, sized, trimmed, primer pockets swagged and probably sell a lot of it off. Should keep me busy for a couple weeks :)
 
R

rjrivero

New member
Yikes

I'd put them in a 5 gallon bucket with warm soapy water and clean them initially that way. Get the mud broken up. Lay them out on a towel in the sun, then tumble them.

Better yet, toss them in an ultrasonic and break the mud up that way first.

If you're selling, I'm in the market for some 30-06...;)
 
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R.Lynn

New member
NICE, I would call that a score! When you're ready to sell, I'll take some 308. In fact, I can clean, size and swag them myself.
 
M

medalguy

New member
Wash first, then put them in a tumbler with several cut up used dryer sheets you can steal from your significant other. The dryer shets will pick up and hold most of the loose dirt and crap that's in the brass. Helps keep your media clean lots longer. Nice score.
 
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MarcusT

New member
Very Nice. Luckily I don't have to go through much to get brass just pay $5 to shoot at the range and then when I'm done sweep up a five gallon bucket full in about 5 minutes then go home and spend a few hours sorting and cleaning.
 
K

KySilverado

New member
I've read about the dryer sheet here, never tried it, I will with this. Gonna need some new media with this much to polish. Washing is a good idea too.

I've also found some new loaded stuff in the pile for my cartridge collection. An 8mm Lebel, 222 mag, 257 Roberts, and 219 zipper. The smaller box of brass must have been a catch all. Several bullets at the bottom of it. Some 30 luger brass that I've never seen.
 
D

Dr. Strangelove

New member
Must... stop... picking up brass....

I'm a member of a local private range where folks just seem to not care about picking up brass.

If I go on a Monday, I can pick up 1/2 a 5 gall bucket of mixed brass.
 
L

Lost Sheep

New member
Whatever you do...

You will probably have trouble with the dried, caked mud, but whatever you do to break it up, do not use ammonia. It chemically damages the brass and leaves it weak.

If this is military brass, it very likely has crimped primers. They will be hard to remove, but doable. With that many, I would get a couple of spare decapping pins. Then you will need to ream out the primer pockets to make seating new primers easy/possible.

Make sure none of the stuff is steel. It does not reload well. If any are boxer primered (two flash holes) sell it for the metal value.

Congratulations on your "buried" treasure. Good luck. Good shooting.

Lost Sheep
 
T

Taroman

New member
There's always a market for once-fired 30-06 military brass. If it were mine and I was not going to load it, I would just wash it to clean out the mud dobbers, and dry it good. Sort it into batches by headstamp (LC 67 etc). Leaving the crimped mil primers in there is your proof that its once-fired.
 
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F. Guffey

New member
I came home with a 1,000++ 30/06 cases with a 30 Cal bee in each one, I waited until they hatched, the wife opened the garage and thought the swarm leaving was a black cloud, she does not do with wasp of any kind, not long ago our lab found what she thought were honey bees, turned out to be hornets that live in the ground, I was not there but somehow the lab and I got the blame for her confusion.

Mel Chung in Hawaii informed me the dirt (mud) dobbers there are 22 caliber, that's worst.

I agree with the soap and water and wire bore brush, lot of work, I thought the effort was worth it.

F. Guffey
 
K

KySilverado

New member
krehmkej said:
There's always a market for once-fired 30-06 military brass. If it were mine and I was not going to load it, I would just wash it to clean out the mud dobbers, and dry it good. Sort it into batches by headstamp (LC 67 etc). Leaving the crimped mil primers in there is your proof that its once-fired.
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I've often wondered if other re-loaders like military brass as much as I do. It's a pain, the crimped primers, but once you work around that I think it's better than commercial brass.

I like your idea. Once I dug around I have a LOT more 30-06 brass than I thought I did. The pile in the plastic bin is what I found laying around. I think I will wash it only, sort it, although all that I've found is 53, bag it up and sell it as it is on one of the auction sites.

I'll clean up the .308 and prep it because I shoot it more regularly and plan on picking up a bolt action on 308.

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F. Guffey said:
I came home with a 1,000++ 30/06 cases with a 30 Cal bee in each one, I waited until they hatched, the wife opened the garage and thought the swarm leaving was a black cloud, she does not do with wasp of any kind, not long ago our lab found what she thought were honey bees, turned out to be hornets that live in the ground, I was not there but somehow the lab and I got the blame for her confusion.

Mel Chung in Hawaii informed me the dirt (mud) dobbers there are 22 caliber, that's worst.

I agree with the soap and water and wire bore brush, lot of work, I thought the effort was worth it.
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Thats funny. I actually found a few dead wasps and live larva cleaning up the 308.

There are some .22 cal wasps in this lot too :) Actually found a 22 short capped off :eek:
 
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