Weird 7.62x39 Brass Range Pick-up

[JTROKS]

I'm processing some 7.62x39 brass. Most were range pickup so some have dented up case mouths and body. Then I came across this one.



It looked like someone's necked it down, but the mouth inside diameter is approx .311" so the expanded area immediately below that is bigger. I'm thinking it's an out of battery firing. Since the 7.62x39 working pressure is not like the 5.56 this case survived the firing without having a catastrophic failure.

If you have another theory on what happened I'd like to hear it.

[Twystd1]

I agree, my best guess is the same as yours.
Fired out of battery.

-T

[JTROKS]

Here it is after full sizing. You can tell the shoulder moved forward when it was fired as bumping the shoulder created that discoloration.

[AandO]

HMMM

I see you are in the Bay Area. I'm in Socal

I too picked up some that looked exactly like that last week on BLM Land south of Banning. I destroyed it without giving it another though until now.

I discounted it as a newby reload or worse, so I removed it from the food chain.

I could be wrong as evidenced by the 600 mile distance between us with identical strange brass.......

[CSACANNONEER]

Nothing weird or wrong at all. It was fired out of a Saiga. Many, if not all Saiga chambers are cut like that.

[J-cat]

Yup. Some chambers are like that. See it all the time at my range.

[AandO]

Just did a search

Most use Steel cases in Saiga's for this very reason.

I'll continue to trash that brass when found.

[JTROKS]

Yup I found a few more in the pile of brass I was prepping. I was not aware of Saiga chambers being cut in that manner. For the purpose of reliability I suppose to decrease the chance of poly coated steel case rounds sticking inside the chamber. LOL. I spent a good 2 hours thinking how the shoulder held even at low pressure. I make 7x30 Waters casings out of 30-30 and the fire forming doesn't take much powder to expand the full shoulder. In fact seeing those brass reminded me of necking down the 30-30 to 7mm to form a small shoulder.

[CptDan]

I'm processing some 7.62x39 brass. Most were range pickup so some have dented up case mouths and body. Then I came across this one.



It looked like someone's necked it down, but the mouth inside diameter is approx .311" so the expanded area immediately below that is bigger. I'm thinking it's an out of battery firing. Since the 7.62x39 working pressure is not like the 5.56 this case survived the firing without having a catastrophic failure.

If you have another theory on what happened I'd like to hear it.

That is from a Saiga 7.62 x 39 I have a long barrel model that does that as do a lot Saiga's. Supposedly so the Russki's knew what gun was used for whatever purpose. They reform just fine...

[emptybottle151]

Here's some steel cases I found on BLM a while back. Looks like someone fired a .223 out of an AK/SKS/Mini30

[JTROKS]

Here's some steel cases I found on BLM a while back. Looks like someone fired a .223 out of an AK/SKS/Mini30

I see that a lot back in the days. There's a myth of AKs able to utilize 5.56 ammo. Last time I went shooting I heard someone at the range talking about that. An Asian guy saying the AK is better because it can use M16 rounds if need be. Well all I saw on their bench was ARs and 223/5.56 ammo so I did not move away. The Pro-Ears sure are nice hearing protection.

[maxx03]

I have loaded thousands of rounds after resizing brass like that., with no problems. If you guys don't want that brass Ill take it.

[Twystd1]

I have 4 Saigas. None of the spent shells look like the OPs.

-T

[morthrane]

I'm not sure exactly when that started, but at some point the Saigas started having stepped chambers that do that to brass. Something to do with civilian barrels vs military...

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161895

Seems rather hit or miss as to whether a saiga will have that stepped chamber.

[klewan]

I'm amazed you can even find real brass 7.62x39, I bought some Lapua 20 years ago that is brass. Winchester or Remington made some, but it was $35 for a box of 20. Steel is all I ever see at the range...what's the headstamp?