I have a bit if cabin fever and was thinking about buying between 1-3k pieces of unprocessed brass to clean and convert to 300 BO. It seems like all I can find is pretty cleaned or processed. Does anyone have a good source? Thanks in advance.

http://www.brassbombers.com/223-556_c2.htm

Check the "on sale" links and look at the "as is" groups for WWC, TAA OR LC head stamps. This is unprocessed brass.

If you're going to convert it to blackout brass, look for lake city blank brass.

Everglades Ammo has it for $52/k, though they are out of stock right now.

I'm sure it's available elsewhere as well.

Thanks for the idea, they had damaged brass in stock that seemed like it will work fine for conversion. At 5 cents a piece shipped no big deal to scrap a couple. For my own future knowledge, andthing special with the blanks or are they standard cases that were redirected from normal ammo to blank production?

quote:

Originally posted by dryw13:
Thanks for the idea, they had damaged brass in stock that seemed like it will work fine for conversion. At 5 cents a piece shipped no big deal to scrap a couple. For my own future knowledge, andthing special with the blanks or are they standard cases that were redirected from normal ammo to blank production?

They are standard cases, but the necks have a rose crimp on them since there was no bullet.

Also, there's a rollmark around the case, about halfway down. Some of them, the rollmark is DEEP, almost like a cannelure. I throw those in the scrap bucket. But I've made thousands of pieces of blackout brass from blanks, and fired them multiple times. No issues.

Damaged brass is another good idea. I have a lot of that, too. Found some place that was selling "SAW Brass" (from an M249). Most of the case mouths were pretty well destroyed/crushed. I was fine with it.

If you have a stainless tumbler, cut them dirty, then throw them into the stainless tumbler. Not only will it make them clean, but it also knocks all the sharp edges off the brass, making them much safer/easier to handle.

I throw the neck/shoulders in my scrap bucket for weight at the local recycler.

Thanks that's great advice, I built myself a stainless tumbler using a 1/4 HP motor and a 3 foot section of 6" sewer pipe a couple years back. Living five miles from the Buffalo pellet factory I was able to get the stainless media direct for not even half price which put me over the edge. I was going to clean them before cutting but that sounds like a much better idea.

Sure thing.

One thing though - I do stainless tumble mine with the primers in. This is because the case mouths are already too trashed (or crimped, in the case of blanks), to get a decapping rod in there, and I don't want to handle them after they've been cut since you get all manner of brass slivers in your hands.

Makes the water EXTRA shitty, but other than that, seems to not hurt much. Decap them as soon as you get them out of the tumbler so the primer pockets dry while the rest of the brass is drying, and then run them over the swager.

I've found using the large guide bar to work better than the small guide bar (but still using the small primer pocket swage rod, of course).

YMMV.

Have fun with it. It's satisfying, but also very time consuming.

With mine, I also anneal them after they've been cut/tumbled/decapped/swaged. Then I run them up into a Forster sizing die without the expander ball, and then the next station is a K&M Mandrel, and then the last station is a Forster sizing die, but with the expander ball.

The two sizing dies with the mandrel in between helps to get rid of any kinks in the new case neck caused by dings in the body of the parent case.

Then after they are all sized up and formed, I tumble the lube off in corn cob, then trim them with a TriWay, and they are ready to go.

I never timed myself, but it truly is a labor of love.

What do you plan to use to cut them? The little 2" Harbof Freight chop saw works great, and someone sells a jig to hold the brass correctly. I think I got it from a guy on 300blktalk.com maybe? I don't remember, it's been a few years. Was like $35 or something.


Also, with some of the brass, you'll need to look at the case head. Especially if you order "damaged" brass - it's probably from an M249. Those things are hell on case rims, very violent extraction. You'll notice part of the rim has been "pulled out" or "pulled off". You might even find a few broken rims. Some of them you can return to usable condition with a file, others should just be scrapped. Investigating for which ones you want to scrap prior to cutting & forming and all that stuff will help to save you headache down the road. If the rim is damaged, it won't sit flat on the press, and you'll smash the case mouth into the bottom of the sizing die, crushing it. Or it'll pull free of the shellplate because part of the rim was torn away.

Lots of little things you'll pick up along the way. Enjoy, and post pics! Make sure to tell us what your final process is.


Buffalo pellet factory? In Buffalo, NY? Wherebouts? I'm originally from Cheektovegas..

A trip to harbor freight after work next week is planned. I bought what I think your describing for the job earlier, a spring loaded anodized one from a member on 300blktalk.

Small world, I live in North Buffalo now after growing up closer to Albany. I'm planning on moving somewhere gun friendlier, among many other reasons, in a couple months. In a house now and a bit of time on my hands. Will be in an apartment after the move so figured get the noisy stuff done now.

I spent some time in North Buffalo in my early 20's. Had a place a few blocks from the Darwin Martin house, over near the zoo.

There are several other ex-WNYer's on here too.

Getting out of NYS was one of the best things I ever did.

Try Potomacbrass.com. Good prices on bulk.

o5