What is this caliber?

C

cdoc42

New member
I was at the range today and noticed a bunch of empty-fired brass lying around, and I guessed it was .308 Winchester.

The headstamp revealed "MEN93C0005." I paged through Lyman #5 and the closest cartridge was 7.62 x 39mm Russian. But that case measures 1.528" in length - this stranger is 2.001 - 2.005 (4 fired cases) with a fired mouth measuring 0.346" compared to the 39mm Russian's 0.337."

Any ideas?
 
A quick Google of the headstamp brought me to a page with headstamp info on 7.62x51 (308) NATO brass, and the MEN designation is the manufacturer (in this case it's German) and the rest is a lot number. That leads me to believe your brass should also have the NATO cross on it (circle with an x or + in it, depending on how you look at it). that would mean what you have is NATO brass. Odd, given it's length. That suggests to me that it's likely some 308 derived wildcat.

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.308 Winchester case drawing says case length 2.015 and the case mouth is 0.343" (unfired)

Also, these are max dimensions, so cases a bit less than that are very common.

I would expect German made 7.62mm NATO brass to be Berdan primed. IF so, then those cases are essentially "scrap brass" and not suitable for reloading.

Reloading Berdan primed cases is possible but in the US far from economically practical, and not even remotely practical with common cases such as 7.62 NATO. Add to this that the proper Berdan primers have been virtual unobtanium in the US for many years before the first ammo shortages and its simply not something one can do.
 
44 AMP said:
I would expect German made 7.62mm NATO brass to be Berdan primed. IF so, then those cases are essentially "scrap brass" and not suitable for reloading
Click to expand...

I'm wondering if that might be why they were left...

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nhyrum, you nailed it! There is, indeed, a tiny cross on the headstamp. I neglected to mention that. Thanks for searching! I wondered if they might be Berdan primed; I'll probably saw one apart to see. I only brought 4 home just to investigate.
 
shine a light into the case so you can see the bottom, one hole in the middle, its Boxer primed. Anything else (2 or sometimes 3), small holes and off center, its Berdan primed.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
You don't have to saw it apart. Just look into the case. If you see a pair of flash holes -- off center -- it's Berdan primed.
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Easy to see and Berdan primed is probably why left .
I use any Berdan primed cases I find to make dummy rounds (bullet but no powder - leave fired Berdan primer in place) for setting and adjusting bullet seating dies and don't use up good Boxer primed brass .
Thats one use for the blasted things ... don't try to decap them ... bent pin is result ...
Trust me on that ... my very first attempt to resize a 7.5 Swiss case in 1967 resulted in a bent decapping pin !
Gary
 
gwpercle said:
Easy to see and Berdan primed is probably why left .
I use any Berdan primed cases I find to make dummy rounds (bullet but no powder - leave fired Berdan primer in place) for setting and adjusting bullet seating dies and don't use up good Boxer primed brass .
Thats one use for the blasted things ... don't try to decap them ... bent pin is result ...
Trust me on that ... my very first attempt to resize a 7.5 Swiss case in 1967 resulted in a bent decapping pin !
Gary
Click to expand...
I decapped one once. took an awful lot of pressure, blew through one of the 2 holes. though it was just a firmly crimped primer. broke the pin on the 2nd one...
 
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