[tanktrack]

any one have a list or idea of what years of 50 cal brass to stay away from for reloading purposes i have access to a bunch of different years 1 time fired from 1943 to 2016 mostly lake city, winchester and some of the ww2 year company's that made it. i had heard the newer stuff is not that good to reload more than once say from 2000 to present mostly looking for the reload-ability on the newer brass any help appreciated thanks

 

[belt fed frog]

The older is better softer and thicker , LC from 2005 on until recently is junk Hard and thin , the more soft and "plastic" a case is the longer it will last .
A friend of mine got hold of some DM44 and was floored at how consistent it is from case to case and sizes like butter, he is saving it for Match loading !!
Run it through a size die and you can feel the difference !!

But you are loading for a belt fed are you not ? So just stick to soft brass and you will get the most out of it, there is another key to brass life and that is neck annealing because brass work hardens if you anneal the necks it will not split some do it every reload (suggested for belt fed ) to every 3rd loading in tight chambers .

There is a tool used by match shooters that is not widely available invented by a Mass scale manufacturer reloader that checks for the dreaded separation bulge in the lower case just above the head and also allows you to see how much shoulder "bump" in a case , it looks like this

It is rather simple the back two pins check for the Bulge the two in front are the datum point of the shoulder and your read out is the dial indicator .
For a Match shooter you would take a case fresh out of the chamber and zero the indicator ,then on resizing set the shoulder back "bump" it back .003" at most . Oh it also reads case head squareness by rolling the case pressed into the gauge .

For a belt fed just as for a precision rifle the less you "work" the brass by dimensional change from firing the longer it will last in number of reloading`s !!
it will grow over firings so it needs to be trimmed for length . Annealing must only be on the neck and shoulder ,anneal the whole case and you have a Bomb !!

You can get most of this out of a tube case gauge type for less money But it takes time !! Hense he invented this gem 2-3 second and on tho the next ....:jedicrying: sadly we are loosing a Vet ,a manufacturer and most importantly a Friend to ill health ......He passed the rights on to another, an Armalite AR-50 gunsmith of considerable repute some one i know of but have never met .
Yea it is kinda spendy over $100 but i will not reload with out one !

 

[medalguy]

^^^ Good info. When I was reloading .50 I never used any brass 2000 or later just to be on the safe side. And I agree anneal the necks every reload. It does take time but brass is not cheap and it will definitely get you a lot more reloads.

 

[belt fed frog]

In Match shooting good soft brass will last 20 reloads but this N`th degree loading for a specific chamber ,a little know fact is that no two chambers even from the same manufacturer are the same ,they are like finger prints .

 

[L999here]

...from M2HB.org...

Although the above site has been gone for awhile,there were several threads on this particular topic. In the sum of the opinions by many .50 BMG shooters...match grade,competition and just target shooters....most agreed that any mil spec brass made after 1995 was suspect. This was for reloaded .50BMG fired out of match grade bolt actions,semi-auto mag fed and belt fed FA. Did not matter which type was used...they all experienced the same effects...splits and head separations upon second firing with over 80% failures. This is not a cost effective method of reloading. So...you may find some .50 brass made after 1995....but there is no definative proof that a particular year is without defects. In summation,I personally do not buy or reload any .50BMG brass cases made after 1995. And agree that the brass made during WW2 is especially good for continued reloading. I have been reloading .50BMG since 1992 and was introduced to .50BMG by Kent Lomont (Jan 2012-RIP) who started me out during a Fort Wayne gun show after I purchased a TNW M2HB ser# 201. That gun...new and un-fired...resides in a military museum as a display piece. Had to buy a State Arms 'Big-Bertha' to develop my loads... LOL.

 

[belt fed frog]

I know of quite a few batches of post 95` that meet the criteria for good brass but it would take me days to remember who and what year ,most are Non US manufacture ....This is my 39th year in 50`s and reloading for them .

 

[wasatchjon]

The older is better softer and thicker , LC from 2005 on until recently is junk Hard and thin , the more soft and "plastic" a case is the longer it will last .
A friend of mine got hold of some DM44 and was floored at how consistent it is from case to case and sizes like butter, he is saving it for Match loading !!
Run it through a size die and you can feel the difference !!

But you are loading for a belt fed are you not ? So just stick to soft brass and you will get the most out of it, there is another key to brass life and that is neck annealing because brass work hardens if you anneal the necks it will not split some do it every reload (suggested for belt fed ) to every 3rd loading in tight chambers .

There is a tool used by match shooters that is not widely available invented by a Mass scale manufacturer reloader that checks for the dreaded separation bulge in the lower case just above the head and also allows you to see how much shoulder "bump" in a case , it looks like this View attachment 85993 View attachment 85995 View attachment 85997 View attachment 85999
It is rather simple the back two pins check for the Bulge the two in front are the datum point of the shoulder and your read out is the dial indicator .
For a Match shooter you would take a case fresh out of the chamber and zero the indicator ,then on resizing set the shoulder back "bump" it back .003" at most . Oh it also reads case head squareness by rolling the case pressed into the gauge .

For a belt fed just as for a precision rifle the less you "work" the brass by dimensional change from firing the longer it will last in number of reloading`s !!
it will grow over firings so it needs to be trimmed for length . Annealing must only be on the neck and shoulder ,anneal the whole case and you have a Bomb !!

You can get most of this out of a tube case gauge type for less money But it takes time !! Hense he invented this gem 2-3 second and on tho the next ....:jedicrying: sadly we are loosing a Vet ,a manufacturer and most importantly a Friend to ill health ......He passed the rights on to another, an Armalite AR-50 gunsmith of considerable repute some one i know of but have never met .
Yea it is kinda spendy over $100 but i will not reload with out one !

Neat tool. I have a few different types of shoulder bump gauges for smaller calibers but never seen one for the 50. Any chance you have this new dudes contact info somewhere?

 

[belt fed frog]

wasatchjon,

PM sent

 

[MG08]

I have experienced several head separations, but only on 3rd or 4th go around reloads of the post 2000-ish brass. I have tons of it, as I got a ton of new ammo so I am starting with fairly known brass as it is. I run my M2HB with a very tight headspace and generally dont get the problem with all the brass. I ended up getting a "gun" borescope off amazon lst year that allows me to quickly inspect the interior base of the brass ( I set the scope up in a small vise on the bench and just slide the brass down) It really depends on how much you are loading, what you are loading for and where you get brass. Trophy wife tends to get a little heavy trigger fingered on the 50 and the M249....