30-06 Mystery primers

B

Bucksnort1

New member
All,

A bunch of years ago, at a garage sale, and for almost nothing, I purchased 20 -06 reloads. Before anyone has an organism over me shooting other reloads, not to worry. I have not and will not shoot them; however, I will pull the bullets and use all components except the powder. My question is. Because I don't have the recipe the reloader used, do I load the cases as if the primers are magnum or standard?

Here are specs for these cartridges. I pulled one bullet and found the bullet is:

180 grain flat base bronze point
49.5 grains of some type of fine flake type powder

I'm not trying to identify the powder. I will use mine for a recipe of my choosing.
 
if it is a flake powder I would assume that they are standard primers and brand unknown. I would just shoot them up
 
I'd stick any mid-range load of 4350, 4831, 4064, or such, and not worry.

FIRST THOUGH, while the bullets are out, I'd check case length.. Some reloaders are lazy about trimming. AND -- check cases for function in your rifle. They could be neck sized to fit someone's sloppy chamber. jd
 
What is the headstamp?
Do you have anything to indicate the age?
Are the primers flat topped or domed?

Flake type powder in a .30-06 is unusual.

I am more concerned with chlorate vs styphnate (corrosive vs non) than I am magnum vs standard.
 
[An "organism"?]

I had one of those a long time back. It finally worked it's way to the surface and I dug it out.
 
603Country, do I need to explain? Mobuck got it.

Steveno, the flakes are tiny, very tiny. Initially, I wasn't sure if I was looking at a ball powder but after checking one of my balls (powder that is), it is for sure a flake.

JDScholer, I will take your advice and check case length and for fit in my rifle. A long time ago, I learned all about checking for fit in any rifle for which I am loading.

Jim Watson, head stamp is R-P (Remington). The cases are in great shape and may be unfired because the inside looks like clean shiny brass. Someone could have done a super duper cleaning job. You ask a good question about the shape of the primers. A few weeks ago, I posted a thread about domed primers and who the manufacturer could be. I did not receive good responses. I asked this question because I have a cartridge in my meager cartridge collection with a silver and domed primer. The primers in these bronze tip cartridges are flat, not domed. They look like they were loaded last week.
 
POGY: If the primer pockets are as clean as the inside of the case, you very well may have some factory loaded Remington Bronze points, which they had loaded for years.

They were the precursors to the Ballistic Tip. They were loved by some when they opened up and worked like they were designed to do; Yet cursed by others when they just plowed right through without opening , like a FMJ Spitzer.

WILL.
 
You really do not know what you have and you have not provided a photo so we can see. The crimps could tell us if these were factory.
 
I wouldn't worry unless I was on borderline max loads, but if it bothers you, you are talking about 50 centS worth of primers here you are worrying about salvaging to be able to sleep at night.
 
I'd prolly use them, with my load data, (I haven't heard of many reloaders using magnum primers in -06). I don't see any need to load up to max. in any of my rifle reloads so even if for some odd reason someone used magnum primers, I'd still be erring on the safe side...:D
 
This morning, I examined the powder closer. Someone made the comment that it's not common to see flake powder in rifle reloading. Again, I'm not trying to identify the powder, I'm just passing along this information. The powder looks like granules, not flakes.

Will-J, they could be factory loads; however, when I bought them, they came in an NTN brand, 50 round box with twenty 30-06, 180 grain, Speer Mag Tip loads. There is a recipe label in the box indicating the Mag Tips are hand loads with 55.2 grains of IMR4831 and 210 primers. I could be wrong but this may indicate the bronze tips are reloads. Inside the lid of the box is written, "REM 180 gr Bronze Tip."

I'm not losing sleep over the primer issue so I will follow the advice to check case length, use the existing primers and reload to other than max load. If I can burst a 10" balloon at 100, 150 and out to 300 yards, I will be satisfied the rounds will bust Bambi at those ranges.

Hartcreek, I examined the cases for crimps. I am confident there are no crimps. Bullets are seated to the canelure.
 
primers are magnum or standard?
Click to expand...

I would be curious if the primers were good, I am not beyond chambering the cases without bullet/powder and testing. They are old? How old? I have old cases with old primers, bullets and powder. I have no curiosity, nor enough ambition to chamber the old ammo to determine if it will fire.

F. Guffey
 
For 20 rounds it's not worth getting too excited. Just load whatever you normally load for a 180. Magnum or standard primer won't make much difference. Certainly no safety issue.
Or you could gently pop the primers out with your regular decapping die. Operative word is 'gently'.
"...other than max load..." You'll need to work up the load if you don't have a 180 grain load already.
 
I had this same problem a few years ago. I took the primed cases to the range the next time I went and turned the live primers into spent primers, one pop at a time.

While I have done it a couple times, I have never been comfortable decapping live primers.
 
it's really easy for stuff to get mixed up... I was reasonably knowledgeable about reloading, but the day my FIL died, I was truly overwhelmed trying to sort things out the following weeks ( it was my responsibility to organize & put everything together ) just from knowing my situation, it's reasonable to expect that the loads don't match the recipe... I had the same issue, trying to condense... often mixing different loads in the same box, as long as the caliber & bullet were a match...

have you pulled all the bullets yet, to determine if the powder was the same in each case???

do the primers look like what was on the recipe??? are they brass ( like a Remington primer would be ) or nickel like CCI or other???
 
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