Rifle Brass - Useful or Just Scrap

[anonymouscuban]

Hey all.

I know nothing about loading rifle caliber cartridges. I'm a pistol guy so only reload pistol rounds.

I was given some brass and in it was this stuff. I think the bigger container is .308 Winchester. Have no clue what the other caliber is. It's all once fired. It looks like the .308 may have crimped primers.

Is this scrap or is it of any use for those that load these calibers?

I have no use for the stuff but if it can be used, I would put it in the Marketplace to trade for 9mm brass.

Here's some pics. Thanks for the help.

9mm case on the left for scale.



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[justMike]

There will be decent interest in the .308 very likely. The other is Yugo berdan primed 7.62X54R brass. There are some who reload berdan brass, and that is a good candidate for them who have the primers for it.

[JackEllis]

Actually I think the middle case may be 7.62x51, which I refer to as NATO .308, because there's a date but no caliber label as there tends to be with commercial brass. I believe they very similar but I had one fellow tell me his .308 would chamber one but not the other.

It's probably made by Federal but you might want to shine a flashlight down the case mouth to verify one flash hole in the center. If there are two flash holes, it's Berdan primed.

[five.five-six]

If 2 flash holes just scrap it, one flash hole and you can sell it. If the rimmed stuff has one flash hole I want it... it’s 54R the other is .308.

[anonymouscuban]

Ok. So the head stamp FC has 1 flash hole.

The other stuff has 2 flash holes.


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[bruce381]

that answers that then

[justMike]

Some dang good camera skills there AC!

[divingin]

To answer the original question the 308 stuff is reloadable, but not particularly valuable. If someone wanted to exert the effort, it can be swaged, sized, and trimmed as necessary and be fine for use.

The 54R brass, while technically reloadable, involves more work and searching for components due to the Berdan primer. I don't know anyone who reloads these (not all that surprising, as I don't shoot this caliber and don't know too many who do.) Given the availability of relatively inexpensive loaded ammo, I think most people buy new. I'd personally scrap the brass (toss it in the brass recycling bucket, and wait for recyclers to start accepting loads of stuff again.)

[hermosabeach]

I would offer the rimmed 54R for sale.

Some do reload that ammo. It’s more of a pain as you need to hydraulically remove the primer.


But brass cases are not as common as steel.

[Cowboy T]

For those who shoot 7.62x54R, it's easy enough to buy new Prvi Partizan new ammunition and keep the brass. It's just not worth the time or expense reloading Berdan-primed cases.

The .308 Win is useful, though.

[anonymouscuban]

Thanks for the education guys. Very interesting stuff.

Honestly, I'm not really looking to make any money off this stuff. Really, just wanted to know if it can be used by someone and maybe trade for 9mm cases.

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[racinjason233]

Where are located? I’ll trade 9mm for .308.

[anonymouscuban]

I'm up in the West San Fernando valley. In Porter Ranch which is near Simi Valley.

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[M1NM]

FC 72 is 7.62 NATO (308) manufactured in 1972 by Federal Cartridge. It's generally a harder brass to stand up to the beating an M14 gives it. It reloads fine. On the first reload you need to cut or swage the primer pocket to get rid of the factory primer crimp.

[kcheung2]

I was so excited when I first saw those x54R cases, but then deflated when it turns out they were berdan. PPU (ппy in Cyrillic) makes both boxer & berdan brass so it's always a guess until you check the flash holes.