[Mr Fixit]

Yesterday I had the opportunity to get away from the normal grind at work, so a co-worker and I set out to do some shopping. I slowed down for a stop light, when the co-worker says to stop...stop! He jumps out of the vehicle and starts picking things up along the curb side of the van, sat there backing up traffic while he's doing his thing, jumps back in and shows me 10 rounds of loaded 30-30s that look like they've seen the inside of a snow blower, they must have been in a holder as he said there was pieces all over the road of a cartridge holder (plastic stock factory) I agree he might have saved some kid from being hurt or killed. I find it amazing that these thing took the hit and are still "good". I will pull the bullets and put the powder to use in the flower beds, I can kill the primers, but I'd just as soon have them out of the brass....any suggestions? Think they still work in a resizing die? or am I asking to damage the dies?? Thanks Mr fixit

 

[erimort]

Nothing better than a few freebies every now and then...

 

[30wcf]

mr. fixit,
If they are factory and you have a .32 W.S. sizing die, you could clean the surface with som fine steel wool if needed then roll the loaded rounds on a lube pad then into the sizing die. That's what I did several years ago when I picked up some damaged .30-30 factory cartridges from bargain table at a gunshop. That worked very well.

Since your cartridges are dented fairly deeply, there is a possibility that they could split in those locations. By dissecting and annealing the necks / shoulders, that would likely be eliminated.

If it were me, I would first try shooting a couple after resizing in the .32 Special die (if you have one). if not, then dissecting is the only other option.

w30wcf

 

[MDTrailrider]

What is your objective in removing the primers?

Do you have any plans for the brass???

Are they factory loaded Corelokts?

 

[35REMSHOOTER]

Strange how the brass took the hits all in the same spot

 

[Mr Fixit]

I'm thinking that the primers are still good...at least worth a try, so re-use them. These are Federal 30-30 170's... 166.8 gr. to be exact, went and pulled the bullet from the least damaged round, dumped the powder, gave it a lubing with one shot, punched out the primer, though the case now resembles a 30-30 more than likely I'll just trash the cases.

 

[mr surveyor]

I would pull the bullets, dump the powder in the pepper plant garden, use a universal depriming die to salvage the primers for plinking rounds, and put the brass in the "scrap for cash" bucket. As thin as .30-30 brass is, and as deep as those dings/dents are, I wouldn't waste much time and effort trying to salvage them.

 

[MDTrailrider]

I would reuse the bullets, the powder and the primers.

 

[Mr Fixit]

The powder is very small and it almost seemed to "clump" when I poured it out of the bullet powder, I moved it a bit with my finger trying to determine if it was wet, nope, it separated no problems. I think though I'll powder the flowers, use the primers/bullets for plinking and trash the cases. I would never re-use a case that had sustained that deep of damage to it....just wouldn't be safe IMO. 35REM..it is odd and that's why I suspect they were dropped in the snow, then spit out by a snowblower. This was in front of a local hotel so that is quite possible. Mr fixit

 

[swany]

Dump the powder, keep the bullets and primers. Scrap the brass.

 

[BloodGroove4570]

Dump the powder, keep the bullets and primers. Scrap the brass.

+1 on this...

 

[Mr Fixit]

the primers may not even work, only one way to find out though, the cases are history and in the trash.

 

[grizbear13]

Save the bullets and trash and scrap the rest.:tee:

 

[pricedo]

They look pretty banged up.
You might get 2 or 3 out of the 10 that would make it through a sizing die without collapsing & flattening out.
Regardless brass that has been that badly deformed could very well be seriously stressed and weakened.
I'm always leery about using reloading components that I don't know the history of.
I didn't come with any spare parts and a few cents saved won't buy a new pair of eyes or a coupla fingers.

 

[swany]

Primers come out without popping they should work.

I have a teacup full of fed 215s my brother pulled he gave to me, so far all have went off. I use them for practice light loads.

 

[444Hal]

I'm thinking the box was clipped by a tire and drove the edge of the plastic holder into the cases.
What really sucks is the guy(or girl) who lost the last box of 30-30's in the entire state

 

[horseshoe]

Something similar happened to me. Is funny when you see a post about something similar and it rings a bell in your head. A long time ago I had just got a divorce and my best friend and his wife lived next door to me in some apartments in my home town. He loved to spotlight deer and I must have loved it to, we went down the road to a place where there were no houses and the first field we shined there was a little buck standing broadside about 100 yards out. My buddy went to the front of the truck and kneeled down with his 30-30 and I held the light. He shot 3 times at the deer and the deer just stood there. He ran out of shells as hat was all he had in his gun. We went back to his apartment to get some more shells and continue the hunt but when we got to his apartment he had lost his house key which was on a separate key chain with some more keys. We looked all over for the keys and finally figured that when he knelt down in front of the truck his keys must have fell out of his pocket, at least that was what we were hopeing. We drove back to the scene of the crime and before we got there we could see the 30-30 brass shinning in the headlights. In the middle of the hulls there lay his keychain with no keys on it. A car had come by and hit his keychain and broke it and scattered the keys. He had his name on the keychain and I always was happy a game warden didn't come by and see the hulls laying in the road and stop to investigate.