Handloading WW2 or post-war cartridges

[Sundancer]

Sorry to ask a newbie question, but I want to handload 8x56R (Hungarian/Mannlicher) and new brass is super expensive and spotty in availability. My initial reaction is don’t handload old WW2 cartridge casings just because of age, corrosion, brittleness, etc but I want to get the advice of people who know better. Should I just buy the expensive brass cases and be done with it? Anyone have experience reloading these? Thanks.

I understand I can reshape 7.62x54R brass, which maybe is a better alternative and from what I can tell, the OAL will be a little shorter which won’t be an issue as it is rimmed. Anyone have experience with that and any advice to share there?

Thanks


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[guzma393]

Sorry to ask a newbie question, but I want to handload 8x56R (Hungarian/Mannlicher) and new brass is super expensive and spotty in availability. My initial reaction is don’t handload old WW2 cartridge casings just because of age, corrosion, brittleness, etc but I want to get the advice of people who know better. Should I just buy the expensive brass cases and be done with it? Anyone have experience reloading these? Thanks.

I understand I can reshape 7.62x54R brass, which maybe is a better alternative and from what I can tell, the OAL will be a little shorter which won’t be an issue as it is rimmed. Anyone have experience with that and any advice to share there?

Thanks


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I've reconditioned ww2 surplus 30-06 before. It had a brown patina to them, but cleaned up nicely when ran through a wet tumbler with ss pins. Brass does get brittle overtime, but could be softened back through annealing the neck and shoulder. Once annealed, they loaded up and fired just fine.

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[ken792]

Age alone won’t weaken the brass, but ammonia exposure will. I reload WWII .30/06 and .30 Carbine brass all the time because it’s good quality and uses common primers.

If you have appropriate Berdan primers or convert the 8x56R to Boxer, then you should be fine. Annealing the brass should also be beneficial if it wasn’t already annealed during manufacture

 

[K-43]

I've made 8x56R from 7.62x54R commercial boxer primed brass. The neck is way short, but usable.
Anneal the case shoulder/neck before full length sizing. Then fireform. The neck will fill out to 8x56R dimensions with a healthy load. Fireforming may be spotty if using lower power loads like cast bullets with Reddot and Unique.
Below is a 38 Nazi, a 7.62x54 annealed, resized w/Hornady 205g & 44g VV N140 ready to fireform, and a Hornady factory 205g.
You can clearly see the short neck. It still works, just no crimping in the cannelure for the Hornady and PRVI bullets.

 

[Sundancer]

I've made 8x56R from 7.62x54R commercial boxer primed brass. The neck is way short, but usable.
Anneal the case shoulder/neck before full length sizing. Then fireform. The neck will fill out to 8x56R dimensions with a healthy load. Fireforming may be spotty if using lower power loads like cast bullets with Reddot and Unique.
Below is a 38 Nazi, a 7.62x54 annealed, resized w/Hornady 205g & 44g VV N140 ready to fireform, and a Hornady factory 205g.
You can clearly see the short neck. It still works, just no crimping in the cannelure for the Hornady and PRVI bullets.

View attachment 461724

Aha! Awesome. So, a few questions (sorry), after fireforming how are you reloading the cartridges - are you using a collet die set and if so for 8x56R? For the initial loading are you using a 7.62x54R set of dies? Lastly, what prep and what caliber is that bullet? I can’t find that weight! I assume it is a 338? Thanks!


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[K-43]

I'm just using a Lee 8x56R die set.
Initial sizing of the 7.62 is in the 8x56R full length die. Anneal first or you may split some necks. Lube inside the necks real well or you may get a stuck case! Experience speaks.
The bullet I use for fireforming is the PRVI 205g, .330" spitzer. Least expensive available .330".
No crimps on the converted 7.62 brass. Jacketed bullets are just seated and no need to crimp. Cast bullets are seated so that they touch the lands, so no crimp needed to get a good ignition.
I've used the Lee #90775 bullet. If you don't cast, Western Bullet Co. and a couple of others sell them sized and lubed.
Not my go to rifle for cast, LOL, Gew 88 in 8x57 is.
P.S. The short neck is no worse than the 300 Savage neck as far as holding the bullet. I've never had a problem with that either.