How do I tell if brass is reloadable??

[Calplinker]

About to get into reloading. Acquaintance has a Dillon 550 he's looking to sell me along with all the dies, accessories, tumber, trimmer, etc. He's also offered to help me get set up and show me how to safely and properly reload (he's reloaded since early 80's).

I'll also buy a good reloading book and read up, etc...

My question has to do with a very large sack of old brass cases I have laying around. Over the past few years, I've collected most of my brass cases from the range and just tossed them in a sack. It's probably 75% .223/5.56 and 25% .308/7.62X51. that's the only two calibers in there and it's all brass cased stuff. No steel.

Some of it was new ammo, some was reloads from a gun show and some of the .308 was German surplus that you get in 200 round battle packs. You guys probably know what ones I'm referring too.

It's a large sack with probably 4-5000 cases in it.

Is there a way to tell if it can be safely reloaded? In other words, is some of the military surplus .308 stuff not safe or made to be reloaded? If so, how would I know?

Sorry if this is a basic and/or dumb question. I was leaning towards just selling it as used scrap metal, or tossing it out, but figured I'd ask here first.

I have a few thousand rounds of new brass case ammo in each of the calibers I usually shoot and had intended to save and use this for reloading, but got to thinking about that big potato sack full of brass and thought I'd ask.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[XDRoX]

It's probably all reloadable.

Welcome.

[popeye4]

First, separate it by caliber. Then separate by headstamp. The German brass is likely (but not definitely) Berdan primed, which probably isn't worth the effort. You can tell by looking inside the case; if there is one flash hole in the center, it is Boxer primed and you passed the primer test. If there are two holes, it is Berdan primed. It CAN be reloaded, but you probably won't want to (depriming is a real pain). I would also not reload any steel cased stuff. Brass is meant to expand and contract and its metallurgy is much different than steel.

Take a look at this article for a bit of insight into reloading used brass: http://www.zediker.com/downloads/oncefired.pdf Not sure I agree with the "up front" premise, but the author is a high master and therefore shoots better than I do, so I can't argue with him.

[XDRoX]

Thanks. I missed the part about him having German brass.

[popeye4]

Thanks. I missed the part about him having German brass.

Yep, bent a couple of decapping pins myself on those.....

[GeoffLinder]

Yep, just toss the German stuff, sort the .308 by headstamp as noted above and just use the .223 as is. Brass only, always toss steel cases out.

+1 to the German stuff probably being Berdan primed.

[ar15barrels]

Look down into the cases to see if they have one centered flash hole or two or more smaller flash holes.
You can easily reload all the ones with one centered flash hole.

[Calplinker]

Thanks for all the replies. So, it seems that if it's brass and Berdan primed, it's good to reload.

I don't keep my steel case stuff, so no worries there.

Appreciate all the good information.

[emptybottle151]

Thanks for all the replies. So, it seems that if it's brass and Boxer primed, it's good to reload.

I don't keep my steel case stuff, so no worries there.

Appreciate all the good information.

Fixed it for ya

[Cowboy T]

No, no, Boxer primed = good. Berdan primed = bad.

If it's any of the DAG brass, it's going to be Berdan primed. I got a couple of those battle packs at a gun show. You may need to take a flashlight and look down in there.

One hole in center = Boxer = good.
Two holes on each side of center = Berdan = bad.

[atdski07]

I'll take that potato sack if you don't want it :-)

[Solus]

if you are going to reload military brass buy a swager you are gonna need it to remove the primer crimp. Make sure the cartridges arent dinged up too bad, too long or too short. You will need a case trimmer as well good luck