military brass & pulled bullets

[deputterman]

I am new to reloading and looking for info on once fired military brass and pulled bullets.
My two concerns are sizing of pulled bullets and priming. I have read comments about sizing pulled bullets but can't find any info on what that means.
I have also read that primers are difficult to set in military brass.
Any info will be appreciated.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Sizing pulled bullets typically involved running just the bullets through a sizer that shrinks them down to whatever size that die is intended to resize them to.... i have not heard that this is neccessary with military pulled bullets but i have not reloaded any pulled so it might be a concern...

the primer issue comes into play because military brass crimps the primers into place.... you will need a primer pocket swager or primer pocket uniformer..... the first being the easiest and will yeild better results.... i just picked up an rcbs primer pocket swaging die for 35 bucks shipped from midway to do 1k LC 5.56 brass. it fits into your standard single stage press.....

hope that helps
indy

 

[TGUNTER]

IndyGunworks has the perfect answer. I have use a lot of military brass. Never had to resize bullets before. If you try to prime the brass with out swagging them first you will end up deforming the primers. That is not a good ideal. I speak from experience. I would also start my loads a little bit less than normal maybe 5 to 10 percent less and work my load up to what you want. Inspecting them after every increase looking for stress signs and checking the primers to make sure they are not deformed after firing.

 

[RedRedWine]

I don't know what caliber(s) you're looking at for reloading using ex-military pieces-parts, but whatever you want you'd better look to grab some if you still can spot it at their old cheap prices. More and more rules are trickling in that prevent the selling-off of military ammo components. Case in point is that the reasonably priced sources for the 50bmg AP, API and APIT 'pulled' tips are really drying-up.

 

[deputterman]

Yes it does thanks. I bought my brass from scharch and it looks ok but I will be going to midway to order a pocket swager.

 

[antsi]

Indy, is there any reason you couldn't use that swaging die in a 550?