[rcmauser]

For those that reload this cartridge. What is the useful reload life for this brass? For a straight wall cartridge, the M1 brass has a significant taper. What do you encounter with this brass over time Split necks, split cases, signs of incipient case head separation, primer pocket fatigue...etc? Can you post pictures of some of the expected end of case life issues with the M1 carbine....?

I am getting ready to reload 100 pieces of 3 times fired M1 carbine brass. The brass is combination of mil-surp WRA, LC, PSD Korean and assorted commercial brass.

I am using the standard 110 grain round nose using IMR 4227 and this time I am using the H110 powder. I clean brass using a ultrasonic cleaner and then a tumbler in corncob to make shiny. I resize and load bullet using the Lee carbide deluxe die set. I check and clean the dies as needed before use with soft cloths and denatured alcohol.

I do all steps in separate batch blocks (universal deprime, clean and polish, resize, trim to length, slightly expand neck, prime with Lee auto-prime, charge case, seat bullet/check overall length). I inspect brass after each working step. So far no miss feeds.

 

[BobM1919]

Can't say from personal experience, sorry.

Some of mine has been through a dozen reloads.

Since I don't consider the M1 Carbine a "precision" rifle I just keep reloading them till the wear out.

I have only seen one example of "bad" .30 Carbine brass and that was surplus "PC" headstamp, that stuff was badly streached on the first fireing.
General consensus was that it was a bad brass batch, given that this stuff is so common it was dumped in the recycle bin as it wasn't worth the time to trim to length.

All of the common failures you mention are pretty much a moot point, with this cartridge, it isn't powerfull enough to cause most of them (at least if you stay within the recommended load limits, which you should because you'll damage the rifle if you stray too far) in the short term, anyway. All brass will eventually die of old age and stress but that will show up as a gradualy increasing number of case failures in any given batch. In this scenario any of the ills you mentioned could show up, maybe all of them, but not all at once.

Since it is faily common brass, you could pick a number (say 6 or 10) and dump the brass after that many cycles.

All the headstamps you mention should last a good long time, unless there is something far amiss with your rifle or your loads.

 

[armyrat1970]

Just load 'em until you see obvious signs.
Loading hot will lessen the case life.
Target loads will give greater case life.
You are correct in inspecting your cases after each firing, and before loading again.
Just keep doing what you are doing.
IMHO.

 

[rcmauser]

Thank you for the reply's.... I just wanted some assurance... as the brass appears to hold up very well and i have not read allot of complainants about the cartridge. 12 reloads is very efficient use of that brass...

I will just keep working with this brass...

 

[Oldstuffer]

Do you get sufficient stretching to have to trim the brass?

If so, you could easilly go with the rifle-loader's norm of "when trimmed 4 times and stretched to need a 5th trimming, throw out".

 

[rcmauser]

Do you get sufficient stretching to have to trim the brass?

If so, you could easilly go with the rifle-loader's norm of "when trimmed 4 times and stretched to need a 5th trimming, throw out".

Thank you Oldstuffer....None required trimming this third reload cycle. The first reload cycle I trimmed all the brass using the Lee trim ball cutter system to get the brass from multiple makers at a consistent length. I had 5 that needed trimming from my second reload cycle, but I had picked up 5 extra brass pieces from the range. Remington I believe was the make for those.

My plan...When I run into some that need trimming, I will trim the whole batch to keep them consistent.

 

[BobM1919]

You are welcome, for what little I had to offer.

For Oldstuffer's comment, I cannot really say, I haven't noticed that any of the brass I've got in use has stretched to the point of un-useability in my carbine.
Has it stretched, most probably, but, perhaps the chamber and throat on the rifle is worn enough so that I haven't seen a problem yet.

In my case, though, this is not a "daily driver" (gets used maybe once or twice a year, more so when it was "new to me" but these days, not so much) so it might be a long while before I notice. Even then I'd probably just dump the offending cases and continue to use the rest as I would not consider trimming .30 Carbine brass a good use of my time. Maybe if I only had 50 cases to work with but I've got 10 times that number of "once fired" milspec in storage waiting for the ones in use to wear out so........................

This is not avarace, on my part, but sheer laziness, I stashed that stuff back when I figured that I'd get 3/4 reloads from a set and need to replace, I'm still waiting.
I just haven't gotten around to digging it out and dumping it yet - LOL!
I think the only brass that I shoot that has a longer life is .32ACP, I lose those before they wear out.
Other members of the club say that the Korean brass is even better than the USGI stuff, no telling how long that stuff will last.

As I stated, it is not precision and doesn't really have the power to cause most of the common ills associated with higher power rifle loads.

The PC headstamp stuff that was an issue was '43 dated (IIRC) and was known to be once fired, I was there when the shooter took it from the sealed can that came out of his grandfathers stash. When I reloaded some of it I discovered that about half were stretched to the point of not chambering in my carbine. I fired the ones that would chamber, stripped the rest and dumped the whole lot of brass in the bin.

There was a thread on this as I found it unusual enough to ask.

 

[ul4evr]

this might be a little OT but i have been planning on reloading 30 carbine. little back story, i have a universal carbine. yes i know all the bad stories about them and yes i somewhat agree. but it was cheap. i have found with this perticular gun it only likes mil surplus ammo. every commercial ammo i have ever shot from it will stove pipe the spent case. mil spec ammo works just fine.
so i figure i have to reload hot for this gun. i also have a early plainfield machine (built with almost all gi surplus parts) carbine that runs on anything i feed it, with no issues.
all my load books show only a couple diffrent powders none of which i have on hand for any other ammo i use.
any one have any other loads and powders they like?. and how hot can i go?
thanks
Pete O.

 

[Clyde]

this might be a little OT but i have been planning on reloading 30 carbine. little back story, i have a universal carbine. yes i know all the bad stories about them and yes i somewhat agree. but it was cheap. i have found with this perticular gun it only likes mil surplus ammo. every commercial ammo i have ever shot from it will stove pipe the spent case. mil spec ammo works just fine.
so i figure i have to reload hot for this gun. i also have a early plainfield machine (built with almost all gi surplus parts) carbine that runs on anything i feed it, with no issues.
all my load books show only a couple diffrent powders none of which i have on hand for any other ammo i use.
any one have any other loads and powders they like?. and how hot can i go?
thanks
Pete O.

Unless you want to risk damage to the gun, do NOT exceed the manual loads that give mil-spec performance. Pressure should not exceed 40,000 psi max average. 13 grains of WC820 was what the gummint nominally loaded (varied from lot to lot of the non-canister powders they use to attain proper velocity at proper pressure), or the same charge of HPC5. I see WC820 available as a surplus powder from Jeff Bartlett at Owensboro, KY - the lot he is selling now (pull-down) apparently needs 13.5 grains with 110 grain bullets.

 

[Oldstuffer]

You are welcome, for what little I had to offer.

For Oldstuffer's comment, I cannot really say, I haven't noticed that any of the brass I've got in use has stretched to the point of un-useability in my carbine.
Has it stretched, most probably, but, perhaps the chamber and throat on the rifle is worn enough so that I haven't seen a problem yet.

Most folks answer this question with a pair of calipers.

"Are the cases reaching maximum case length?" and if so, how many firings?

Trim Length is normally 10-thousandths shorter than case maximum allowed.

4 trimmings cuts 40-thou off the cases, which had to come from somewhere (usually from the case head web area).

Added:
NOT ALL CARTRIDGE BRASS STRETCHES IN FIRING.

Autopistol brass (normally straight-sided) SHORTENS because every reloading operation (sizing, neck expansion, crimping) pushes the case toward the head. Nothing (including firing with a taper-crimp) pulls foreward on the case.

 

[Ronbo6]

When you figure you have used the life of that brass up, send it to me. I will cut it down to 7.63X25 (or 7.62X25) and get another bunch of reloads out of it. I already do this with my worn-out 5.56X45 brass.

Recycling. Its the IN thing!

 

[ul4evr]

Unless you want to risk damage to the gun, do NOT exceed the manual loads that give mil-spec performance. Pressure should not exceed 40,000 psi max average. 13 grains of WC820 was what the gummint nominally loaded (varied from lot to lot of the non-canister powders they use to attain proper velocity at proper pressure), or the same charge of HPC5. I see WC820 available as a surplus powder from Jeff Bartlett at Owensboro, KY - the lot he is selling now (pull-down) apparently needs 13.5 grains with 110 grain bullets.

thanks Clyde
do you happen to have a address and # for Jeff Bartlett? i'm not familar with him or his shop.
thanks
Pete

 

[samamara]

Just google G.I. Brass and there you be. Frank