[Hudson]

Not sure what they are or what they are called. I suspect they are some sort of alloy, or maybe copper coated steel.... Picture below:

Wondering if they are usable fore reloading or if they will damage my dies. I can always buy some new brass, but since I have oodles of boxes of this stuff wondering if I can recycle. Anyone have any experience with it?

 

[RednackRob]

IIRC they're copper washed steel cases. Try a magnet on them.

 

[Dan Schuttig]

Copper washed steel. Are they berdan primed? If so, berdan primers in this size are not available here. If they are boxer, some people reload them x1. I reload the steel .45's for wilderness camping, so I don't have to bring them home.

 

[Dan Schuttig]

The bullets themselves are probably steel also, with a micro thin layer of copper.

 

[VA-Vet]

Case is steel and the bullet is magnetic. This is a hot load for a Mak, IMO.

 

[Ronbo6]

As an experiment a number of years ago, I did reload about 20 of the late-WWII or postwar (can't recall which, now) US-arsenal-made .30-06 steel-cases.

I loaded them to full military specs and fired them a total of six times as reloads before I ended the experiment (I DID exercise what I believe was appropriate caution when firing them. Not from the shoulder, etc.). Tried them in an M1 AND in a 1903A3.

Long story short, they performed beautifully, and I am certain I could still have gotten several more loadings out of them if I wanted to continue.

I wouldn't worry at all about reloading those steel cases.

 

[Trapdoor]

Someone here did a study that I remember quite well on how long steel cases last as opposed to the brass in normal reloading and found virtually no difference. I reload steel in 7.62x39 regularly. I do find a cracked case here and there but I generally shoot more 7.62x39 than any other round as all those rifles are high capacity semi's and my others are mainly bolts. No problem here if you are inspecting as you should any case.

 

[VA-Vet]

Trapdoor,

What die set are you using and are you finding any wear on the dies from running steel through them???

 

[Trapdoor]

I use Lee's regular dies for the 7.62x39. I have yet to notice any wear, but I'm pretty anal when it comes to cleaning and lube. All the brass gets tumbled in corn media when I come home from the range. I lube on an RCBS pad with the old style lube, before full length sizing. The I polish them with corn media and with some Nu-Finish polish in the mix. The shellac is all gone by the second reload, they almost look chrome due to the polishing. I've had no ejection issues with the AK or the SKS. I'm probably not saving any money, but it keeps me occupied and I can fine tune a load, especially for the Yugo SKS. It likes a factory type load as opposed the the AK, which shoots fine with lighter loads. With the amount of people shooting this load, casings are abundant at the range, but I use a brass catcher to help keep mine as best i can.

 

[VA-Vet]

Trapdoor,

I forgot the most important question, you must be repriming with a berdan primer, or do you convert to boxer?

 

[Trapdoor]

Rerpriming with Berdan. I use the hydraulic decappers found on fleabay. Takes a bit of practice but I don't get wet anymore and the decapping rod rarely gets stuck anymore. I use a 3lb. lump hammer and really short stroke it. One of these days I'll invest in an RCBS decapper as I do many Berdan cases. I'm still looking for a contact in Europe to try to get primers for 7.62x54. I have a lawyer friend that imports Vodka from Russia, but I can't seem to get his ear for long enough.