30-06 brass

Duck Head

I just got some(mil) and some of the headstamps go into the early 50's and late 40's. Is there a way you can tell if they were loaded with mercuric primers and even if they were, if they were only reloaded once would there be a problem. I know about all the maybe's and probably's and I'm not sure when the move to non-mercuric was but being so cheap I hate to toss them.Thanks

Duck Head

I got about 500 pcs. of 30-06 on E bay
I am a novice reloaded and need some help ----
I can't seem to resize this brass --
put oil on them but on most I can't get
the handle down ----
I have a bolt action Weatherby and even the ones I get to size
they seem tight in the chamber ---
Please help
Lee

airmung

The use of mercuric primers had ended by the l930's. Mercuric compounds weakened the brass and made it very brittle, which made reloads prone to case rupture.
This not the same as corrosive primers, which were used in the US through the 1950's, possibly early 60's, especially in military ammo. The Eastern Bloc used them through the 1990's. The main reason for this was greater reliability and shelf life than non-corrosive primers. Corrosive primers produce metallic salts which will cause rust if the firearm is not cleaned properly (hot water, scrub with solvent, then oiled--like cleaning a black powder gun). Corrosive primers are one of the reasons most Soviet SKS and AK 47 rifles had chrome plated bores. Corrosive primers won't damage brass unless it gets wet and sits for a while.
Non corrosive primers usually use lead styphnate compounds for ignition. They do not produce corrosive salts.
If your brass is US military, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

jonk

Not sure on the dates but so far as the concept goes, airmug has it right.

When I reload corrosive brass I give it all a rinse after decapping in hot water to make sure all the salt is out and let it dry overnight (or longer if really damp out). Also make sure to rinse out your die and oil. I dunk it in hot water, give it a few shakes, then spray rem oil in and let it sit upright to drain out. Learned that after sizing some DEN 43 brass and the end of the decapping pin rusted right off from the salts it picked up.

Also note most 40s USGI brass I've seen has a heck of a primer crimp.

Duck Head

Ok, Thanks guys. Somehow I got confused about corrosive and mercuric primers being the same. I knew about the salts. Thanks for the tip about rinsing them out AND the die.