I noticed Jeff Bartlett has once fire machine gun 7.62 brass for $20 per 100. Looking at PolyGunBag I see he has IVI 69 pull down, never fired brass for $21 per 100. I will take unfired over machinegun brass any day of the week, so I ordered a few hundred to see how it would load. I ordered Monday and got it Thursday (he's in Ohio & I'm in WV...about 110 miles away). Here is what I got:
I noticed the case mouths were a little dinged, so I decided to neck size the cases:
The primers had been removed, but the crimp was still there, so went to work with the Dillon primer pocket swager to uncrimp the cases:
I checked the cases in a case length guage and even though the picture is a little fuzzy, you can see the cases are short enough they don't need to be full length sized:
Next, I decided to prime using WLR primers. I have used the nickel plated WLR primers for years, but this will be my first try with the plain brass WLRs. Made sure all primers were seated below flush:
Before priming, I weighed a LC 07 case and compared with an IVI 69 case:
LC cases weigh about 175 grs....the IVI are 10 grains heavier @ 185:
My normal charge with my favorite powder is 41.5 grains with a 168 SMK. Since I'm using heavier brass, a slightly different primer and a different tip, I set the powder throw to a reduced charge of 40 grains...no need to blow anything up today:
Some years ago, the DCM gave away cases of 5000 Lapua 170 grain match tips...I still have some of those in my stash. No need to blow SMKs down the tube for practice ammo:
So I get my routine set up by dumping a few charges through the powder throw and then begin loading brass for real. I check my overall length to make sure the rounds will fit an M-14 mag...yep...good to go:
About an hour later I've Knocked out 100 rds of ammo:
IVI 69 with the NATO symbol....looks like factory ammo:
Now all I need is a nice spring day to try em out at the range...(it was snow showers this morning...so not today). I don't work for this guy, or even know him, but if you're looking for like new GI brass (that's 40 years + old)...this guy has some...for a few more days, anyway.
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