[mercman]

I have several hundred 7.62 blanks in M60 links. I haven't sectioned any of the cases or taken a look at how they are made, but was wondering if anyone had trimmed and reloaded these cases into shootable ammo. If ammo should become scarce could be a possible source of brass. Just a random thought.

 

[Charlie Petty]

The NRA has always advised not to. Their reasoning is that blanks may have been loaded in substandard cases. Also depending on the type of crimp used the mouth are could be significantly weaker.

 

[Grump]

The original NRA advice was based on .30-06 blanks being sometimes (often?) made out of rejected brass. That stuff just had a red laquer-covered cardboard in the case mouth, and a super-fast powder that was sometimes used in pineapple GRENADES!!!

U.S. 7.62 NATO blanks are another critter altogether, being purpose-built with that fakey bulletnose in the front. My official but dontchadaresuemeif'nI'mwrong recommendation would be to section a case first, make SURE the case neck is not too thick for safe bulletseating, and also make SURE no case thickness elsewhere is less than other USGI brass.

It would promise to be an ugly, labor-intensive task. Hey, where's the puke emoticon??

 

[mercman]

Thanks, guys. I will play a bit with them and see whats up. Like I said it might prove to be a good 'down the road' avenue if bad things happen. I still have a couple of sand bags full of USGI spent brass that I haven't started using yet.

 

[WhiskyTango]

I considered using Hirtenberger L31A1 blanks for making 7.5 MAS, but the case web is significantly thinner than typical NATO brass, so I just bought commercial cases.

I have reloaded 1000 Lake City .30-06 blank cases at least 4 times with good results. The cases appear identical to ball ammo.

 

[Jeremy]

I considered using Hirtenberger L31A1 blanks for making 7.5 MAS, but the case web is significantly thinner than typical NATO brass, so I just bought commercial cases.

I have reloaded 1000 Lake City .30-06 blank cases at least 4 times with good results. The cases appear identical to ball ammo.

Do proceed with caution as "some" M1909 blanks WERE reloads on fired casings while others were new production brass.

I have in my collection an unfired blank that shows ejector marks in the brass from when it was fired the first time.