pressure test 7mm rem mag brass?

[sirbassist]

http://imgur.com/a/6tE71

i ordered 500 pieces of 7mm rem mag brass, and 336 of them have a ring indicative of being used in a pressure test barrel. on some of them, the ring can be seen on the inside of the case, but i couldnt get a good picture. are these safe to use?

 

[Clark]

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond or not covered by currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The Firing Line, nor the staff of TFL assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.

I got a lifetime supply of tested brass; 7mmRM, 270, 30-30, etc. Each mark is a little different. I can imagine a super deep mark, but all mine are shallow.

At 13 gr more than Hodgdon published max for H4350 140 gr, I get the threshold of loose primer pockets. I hunt with 11 gr more than max. I use the same ammo in a half dozen 7mmRM rifles I built and some that are factory rifles.

That load is so hot that the Larry Willis innovative technology die cannot make them fit in smaller rifles. I can't keep all those rifles straight, and I will never run out of this brass, so I just use the brass once.

With that load I have been killing deer mostly with two factory rifles, Ruger #1 and Browning 1885, and two rifles I built Rem 700 and VZ24. The other 7mmRMs just get to go to the range sometimes. I am building more 7mmRM rifles, this year.

 

[sirbassist]

so what you're saying is that as long as the primer pockets are good, dont worry about the ring from pressure testing?

 

[Clark]

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond or not covered by currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The Firing Line, nor the staff of TFL assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.

My brass is coming from Crawfordville, which is coming from St Marks.
I just put another check in the mail this morning
Does my brass look like yours?

I measured the bolt actions cross section of metal and Sav 110, Rem 700, Win M70, and Mauser 98 are all close.
My VZ24 bolt and receiver just start yielding at ~~108 kpsi converted from 7x57mm or 8x57mm to 7mmRM. That makes the primer pocket huge.
The falling blocks I have are stronger, and the break action even stronger still.
Meanwhile the belted magnum primer pockets are starting to give up at less than ~~ 80kpsi.
I have not seen any kind of failure associated with the testing spot on the brass.

What makes me feel safer is temperature stable powder, and having worked up higher loads with eye protection while shooting at paper. I then hunt in various weather with no eye protection at lower loads. So I need that built in safety margin when hunting.

 

[sirbassist]

yes, the ring is the same. you're confusing me with the talk about running high pressures in your rifles. i just wanted to make sure that the brass i have wouldnt fail becasue of the ring at normal(or maybe a little hot) pressures. i have no intention of running anywhere near 100k psi

 

[F. Guffey]

I do not know how some reloaders have all the luck. There is a member on this forum that has gone through 100,000 + test cases. Like Blue Bell Ice Cream where they ate some and sold the rest. The man will never want of a case. In the beginning he was not unaware of the test imprints. He ask me what I would do; I told him I would size and then shoot them over and over and over.

The information a reloader must understand when using the test case is: the test was not an attempt to destroy the gun.

F. Guffey

 

[sirbassist]

thanks for the info. so far, pretty much everyone has said something along the lines of "they're fine, just shoot them", except for a couple people that haven't had any actual experience with them. im still hoping that i can exchange them and it will be a non issue, but if i cant, i feel a lot better about using them now.