Just got my Savage bolt action rifle back from the gunsmith, had it rechambered to 284, found a couple of boxes of brass that I forgot that I had, along with two boxes of brass that I fired in my old mauser that I blew up a month or so ago. I have one box of new unfired brass that I purchased about two years ago, the rest of the brass I bought in or around 1975, I found five boxes of Winchester brass collecting dust in a gunshop, I paid $2.79 per box, the brass was primed so I believe it was manufactured before the 1968 gun control act, at least this is what I was told. All of the brass has been fired no more than three times, I spent the last two days full length resizing trimming and polishing this brass, all of the brass looks to be in good shape except one round that had a small split at the top of the neck, I believe it was once fired factory ammo because the neck looked like those that are crimped. Does anybody out there think this brass is to old and that I should throw it away.

Unless there is corrosion present the brass should be fine.

I'd get rid of the case with the split neck and I'd check all the old cases for incipient head separation just to be on the safe side.

The only problem I see is if your shooting mixed brass. It's not a good idea to mix cases from different makers. Remington brass, Winchester brass and Federal brass can all have small differences in the amount of powder they hold. This can effect your loads and sometimes even accuracy.

To check for head separation take a paper clip and straighten it out. On one end bend a small 90 degree angle that will go in the case mouth.

If a case is going to seperate it will have a ring or thin spot just above the base of the case from 1/8 to 3/8 inches.

Just rub the inside of the case with the end of that 90 degree bend. It's almost like rubbing your fingernail over a crack in a piece of metal. You will be able to feel if the case is getting thin.

Anyway at most I've helped you and at the least I've completly confused you.

I'd get rid of the case with the split neck and I'd check all the old cases for incipient head separation just to be on the safe side.

The only problem I see is if your shooting mixed brass. It's not a good idea to mix cases from different makers. Remington brass, Winchester brass and Federal brass can all have small differences in the amount of powder they hold. This can effect your loads and sometimes even accuracy.

To check for head separation take a paper clip and straighten it out. On one end bend a small 90 degree angle that will go in the case mouth.

If a case is going to seperate it will have a ring or thin spot just above the base of the case from 1/8 to 3/8 inches.

Just rub the inside of the case with the end of that 90 degree bend. It's almost like rubbing your fingernail over a crack in a piece of metal. You will be able to feel if the case is getting thin.

Anyway at most I've helped you and at the least I've completly confused you.

The brass is all winchester brand, the only difference is the headstamp, the box that the split case came from is marked Super X, all of the other brass is marked WW super, I got rid of the split case.

Hello fastfreddy, after a good inspection as the other posters have mentioned, I wouldn't hesitate to use the brass you have.
I have been working up some 30-06 loads with old military brass that is head stamped as being made in 1943 and it has been working great. Just keep your cases trimmed, inspect for cracks and seperations, discard any cases with loose primer pockets and you will be fine.

GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot

The brass is all winchester brand, the only difference is the headstamp, the box that the split case came from is marked Super X, all of the other brass is marked WW super, I got rid of the split case.

You should be good to go Freddy. I'd run them thru a tumbler and go for it. I've got some brass for my 243 that's at least 30 years old and still going. Biggest killer for brass is running it really hot. It expands the primer pockets eventually to the point that a primer won't stay in the hole.

I like to have clean brass go into my sizing dies. Before I got a tumbler I used one of Lee's case trimmers in an electric drill and a little steel wool. I loaded for 35 years without a case tumbler and now that I have one it's great.

I use one of Lee's universal decappers to knock the primers out, then into the tumbler they go for an hour or two. Then get resized after getting sprayed with Hornedy one shot. Back to the tumbler for a half an hour to kill any lube left and then primed, powdered and bulleted.

Geeze I never had such good looking ammo. Anyway I enjoy the reloading as much as the shooting. My old shooting partner brought down his RCBS Case Prep center and it's got stations for cleaning the primer pockets and chamfering the case mouths. I never realized how easy this makes prepping cases til I used his.

Gosh I'm sorry for all the rambling. Let us know how those old cases shoot.

You should be good to go Freddy. I'd run them thru a tumbler and go for it. I've got some brass for my 243 that's at least 30 years old and still going. Biggest killer for brass is running it really hot. It expands the primer pockets eventually to the point that a primer won't stay in the hole.

I like to have clean brass go into my sizing dies. Before I got a tumbler I used one of Lee's case trimmers in an electric drill and a little steel wool. I loaded for 35 years without a case tumbler and now that I have one it's great.

I use one of Lee's universal decappers to knock the primers out, then into the tumbler they go for an hour or two. Then get resized after getting sprayed with Hornedy one shot. Back to the tumbler for a half an hour to kill any lube left and then primed, powdered and bulleted.

Geeze I never had such good looking ammo. Anyway I enjoy the reloading as much as the shooting. My old shooting partner brought down his RCBS Case Prep center and it's got stations for cleaning the primer pockets and chamfering the case mouths. I never realized how easy this makes prepping cases til I used his.

Gosh I'm sorry for all the rambling. Let us know how those old cases shoot.


Bob: Thanks for the advice, I already tumbled and trimmed the cases. I have an assortment of different bullets from Nosler and Sierra, I wanted to load up a couple of boxes using the strarting loads just to break in the rifle later today but it may not happen today. Attempted to load some ammo last night but ran into some issues regarding bullet seating, tried to get a seating depth by using an empty case,smoking the bullet, placing the bullet barely inside the case and running it into the chamber and checking for rifleing marks,my readings were not consistant. I got some better results by taking the bullet and inserting it into the chamber so that it contacts the lands, taking a cleaning rod and inserting it into the barrel untill it touches the bullet and marking the rod with a felt pen at the end of the barrel, then I removed the bullet, closed the bolt and put the rod in the barrel from the muzzle end untill it touches the front of the bolt , mark it again and then measure the distance between the two marks, I then made dummy rounds by seating the bullets .050 deeper into the case, they should be .050 off the lands, i chambered the dummy rounds and no marks were observed on the bullets. There was a big difference between bullet weights, the 140 gr nosler ballistic tip has a seating depth .050 deeper than the 150gr ballistic tip, it was past 1:00am before I got done, too tired to do any reloading.

Just for the fun of it weigh 20-30 cases and see what the weight difference. No difference=most likely no difference in case volume.

223 govt vs civilian has always had a stigma. It is thicker and less volume. I weighed some and less than 2 gr difference-heaviest to lightest. That is no more than a bag of xxxx brass you buy at any gunshop.