[30wcf]

mr fixit originally posted about .30-30 cartridges found on the road that had undergone some pretty good abuse.
http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/reloading/143641-30-30s-found-road.html#post1751222

Since he had decided to trash the cases after removing the bullet, powder & primer, I contacted him and asked if I could have the cases to see if they would have actually been safe to shoot.

Thankfully, he agreed. When the cases arrived I could see that most of them had pretty deep indents. I decided to take the worst five and anneal them, leaving the rest as they were.

I then reprimed and reloaded them with a factory equivalent load.

Here's a pic of two of the cartridges. The left one has been annealed, the right one has not.

Thankfully, there were no case failures when the cartridges were fired. That speaks well of the quality of the FC brass those cases were made from.


Top pic by mr fixit after he dissected the cartridges
Bottom pic after firing and cleaning :biggrin:

Based on the results, if you have cases that have some dings in them toward the front of the case (IMPORTANT) and they will chamber aok and are of recent manufacture, you can be reasonable certain that they will be fine.

However, if the dents are toward the back of the case, do not chance it since any case failure at that point could leak the gas back toward the shooter.

I plan on reloading them a few more times with full power loads over the next few months and see how they stand up to the repeated firings. Based on what I have seen, I think they will be just fine.....

I will report back in a few months.......

w30wcf

 

[Sgt. Recoil]

Nice post. I've fired a few 5.56 rounds that had been damaged. I carried this out in a safe area mind you, away from the rest of the troops.
I'm kinda on the fence with Fed brass as I've had 3 primer leaks with 308 & 280 ctgs. I'll recheck my most recent and see if the primers were same brand.
Thanks for sharing your 30-30 story.

 

[Salmoneye]

20 years ago, I bought some Federal unprimed new brass in .30-06 that had dents and folded mouths...I ran them in the die to even the mouth to hold a bullet, and 'fire formed' them with starting loads...

Pretty sure I still have some in my rotation...

 

[Click Click Boom]

I'm very impressed. I wouldn't have thought those were usable.

 

[papajohn]

John, when I saw part one of this thread I suspected I knew why you wanted them, and it turns out I was right. Thanks for the write-up........I expected things would turn out just fine. Brass is pretty amazing stuff, especially when handled properly.

 

[JACKTW]

John, this is a most worthy test and I appreciate your testing them. Honestly, I thought the cases not safe at first. Your test demonstrated making my assumption incorrect.

That said, I'm interested to hear what you find after firing these shells more. It seems to me the ones you annealed would prove better results. So, I look forward to your results of repeated reloading.

Jack

 

[Mr Fixit]

That is impressive, would have thought that some thing might have gave considering the damage I saw. Well done and the pleasure in helping was all mine!! Looking forward to your next report. Mr fixit

 

[mister 270]

I have done much the same thing many times with other calibers including the 30/30 brass that has been dented can be blown out sometimes it is much like the early wildcatters did so if a case is not creased ( it will usually split at this point ) if not then the case will last for more loadings if you do this you can save more cases but you also take the risk of of a really bad case failure so be very careful

 

[Marshall Thompson]

@30wcf,

I want to see what the cases looked like after firing. How many of the folds/creases flowed out of the brass?

Marshall

 

[mister 270]

pics of the cases would be good

 

[Mr Fixit]

Before and after pics in the first post. :flute:

 

[30wcf]

Guys,
Thank you for your encouraging comments.
I have reloaded the cases with a recipe that pushes a 125 gr. bullet to 2,600 f.p.s. (according to the reloading book).

Weather permitting I plan to shoot them this weekend and will report back.

w30wcf

 

[mister 270]

thank you i will be looking forward to seeing your post have fun this weekend

 

[45nut]

30wcf, that is so very cool! :congrats: I'm sure I would have tossed them. I don't mind doing that with 45acp brass, but 30-30? No way. That is just awesome and thanks for sharing.

 

[CaptainMal]

Anneal after you shoot. Good deal. Figured it would work if no other reason than it headspaces on the rim.

 

[30wcf]

I finally got to the range, a bit later than expected. I had reloaded the cases with 125 gr. Sierras and H335 powder. The load was maximum and averaged a bit over 2,700 f.p.s.from the 26" barrel. I am happy to report that the cases held up just fine. :biggrin:

w30wcf

 

[Salmoneye]

Thanks for the update...