LC-43 Brass

[MGYSGT]

Got some LC-43 Brass in 30-06 the other day. What do you do to neutralize the corrosive primer residue in the cartridges? Wash them, tumble them, don't worry about it, or toss them.

Tom

 

[wapiti25]

you could ultrasonic clean. I shoot SL-42 brass and don't worry about the residue. I do ultrasonic clean when the Residue build up gets too thick.

 

[CatShooter]

Got some LC-43 Brass in 30-06 the other day. What do you do to neutralize the corrosive primer residue in the cartridges? Wash them, tumble them, don't worry about it, or toss them.

Tom

The Potassium Chloride in the cases is STILL very corrosive.

Put them in hot soapy water and let them soak for a while - then rinse and do it again... then rinse and dry.

 

[bigedp51]

MGYSGT

The British after firing corrosive ammunition in their Enfield rifles would pour a minimum of 2 pints of boiling water down the bore to remove the salts, followed by oiling the bore.

If you read Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" the fired rifles were cleaned in the exact same way.

Salt dissolves in water and is held in suspension, the hotter the water the faster the action and drying time.

I would be more concerned with the age of the cases and having potassium chloride inside them for 70 years and be thinking about buying new brass.

Cartridge case brass alloy contains trace amounts of iron and corrosive salts could have an adverse effect on these cases.

Cartridge Brass Alloys Revealed by X-Ray Spectrometers
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2011/09/cartridge-brass-alloys-revealed-by-x-ray-spectrometers/

 

[DRNewcomb]

Hot soapy water will remove the priming salts. I'd be a little concerned about the age of the brass and perhaps the fact that it was made at the height of WWII, when rate of production was paramount. I'd keep an eye on it and be ready to anneal the necks if necessary, or even just toss in the scrap brass bucket if needed.

 

[MGYSGT]

Thank you for the replies, very interesting. I will take the advice and clean and inspect them very carefully.


Tom

 

[Walt Schmidlin]

Was recently gifted some LC ‘43 30-06. Pulled a few, 150gr bullet, 50.0-50.5gr of stick powder. Any info on the make of the powder, looks VG, no noticeable odor.
Was thinking of loading 41.0-42.0gr in a .308W with the 150gr bullets.

 

[2506]

The M2 ball ammo is said to have been loaded with IMR 4895 and in my experience it is and the bullet weight was 150-52 grs. I can duplicate the velocity with 50 grs IMR 4895 and a 150 Sierra Match King or 155 Nosler Custom Comp bullet with 1960's LC Match cases and CCI BR primers. This is more accurate than M2 ball out of my M1 Garand. A number of years ago I bought a bunch of powder that was pulled down from 30-06 tracer military ammo and it is identical to what you will get within different lot numbers of new canister IMR 4895. I still have about 32 lbs of it and it still shoots just as good as new.

 

[Zero333]

Was recently gifted some LC ‘43 30-06. Pulled a few, 150gr bullet, 50.0-50.5gr of stick powder. Any info on the make of the powder, looks VG, no noticeable odor.
Was thinking of loading 41.0-42.0gr in a .308W with the 150gr bullets.

The stick powder should be IMR-4895

If the powder was ball, it be WC-852

If it contained 45 gr of stick powder instead of 50, it would be CMR-100

That's according to the info at the back of the book "Cartridges of the World".

But because powder that's 70 years old might not be like newer powder, I would work up accordingly.

41-42 gr of IMR-4895 in the 308win with 150 gr bullet might be a little light, but it's a good safe starting point.

Don't load too many at first. I'd load some and test fire them before proceeding to loading a boat load.

 

[Walt Schmidlin]

The stick powder should be IMR-4895

If the powder was ball, it be WC-852

If it contained 45 gr of stick powder instead of 50, it would be CMR-100

That's according to the info at the back of the book "Cartridges of the World".

But because powder that's 70 years old might not be like newer powder, I would work up accordingly.

41-42 gr of IMR-4895 in the 308win with 150 gr bullet might be a little light, but it's a good safe starting point.

Don't load too many at first. I'd load some and test fire them before proceeding to loading a boat load.

Thank you, plan to reload 3-5 in 308W, try in a bolt gun.

 

[Walt Schmidlin]

The M2 ball ammo is said to have been loaded with IMR 4895 and in my experience it is and the bullet weight was 150-52 grs. I can duplicate the velocity with 50 grs IMR 4895 and a 150 Sierra Match King or 155 Nosler Custom Comp bullet with 1960's LC Match cases and CCI BR primers. This is more accurate than M2 ball out of my M1 Garand. A number of years ago I bought a bunch of powder that was pulled down from 30-06 tracer military ammo and it is identical to what you will get within different lot numbers of new canister IMR 4895. I still have about 32 lbs of it and it still shoots just as good as new.

Thanks, I believe I was told 15+/- years ago IMR 4895 was the power of choice for the M-1 during the war, was not aware ball Powder was used, interesting.

 

[DocBII]

MGYSGT,

On some SLC 43 I had, pulled the bullets and deprimed the cases. Some of the primers went "pfft" during the process. Ultra-sonically cleaned an annealed the brass, works fine in the three loads on the brass at this point.

HTH,
DocBII

 

[shortthroat]

I found some LC 39 '06 brass in a box in my late uncle's estate. Cleaned up and works just fine. The lesson from his estate was to die with all your barrels shot out and your brass fired and dirty in a box. I'm working toward that goal.

 

[strut64]

Given the broad availability of good 3006 brass with no issues of being corroded an/or weakened I would scrap it. My $0.02

 

[Tim-o-thy]

Given the broad availability of good 3006 brass with no issues of being corroded an/or weakened I would scrap it. My $0.02

It’s kinda neat to have a 70 year old piece of serviceable brass do t you think especially if you own a garand like I and some of the other do on the thread, I would love to have a few clips of 1945 head stamped brass even for the novelty. Or better yet 1953 the year mine was made. That would be very cool in my eyes

 

[longtrapshootn]

I'm pretty much exclusive to lake city brass. Works great in my 308 and I have several that I've loaded 15-20 times. I found a man that shoots it in competition and only uses once and won't use it again. He's in the 6.5 craze. He charges me $0.30 cents a round which is cheaper than new but it's held up well for me. Better head spacing than I can get on my other brands. I tried some Norma from Midway and after 2 firings at mid range loads my primer pockets won't hold them anymore. The lake. It's match is like priming a new one still. Just my opinion but I'm still new to a lot of this. FYI it is just as good in my AR 15 other than having to get crimp out first time.