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Reloading a case of old corrosive ammo.

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timers15

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I have thousands of corrosive rounds for my K98. It's some kind of yugo surplus. Since the rounds need multiple hits to fire and because of corrosion, I've been pulling the bullets to use in new loads. I'm wondering: Could I use the powder too? The powder is not the corrosive part, right? All my research shows it's ok to use the same bullet and powder in a new case with new primer. When I pull the bullet I find 41.0-41.5 grains of powder.
What do you think?
 
Powder is not that expensive. Since you're going through all that effort, why not use a new powder that you can duplicate the loads with later. The new powder will burn cleaner.
 
timers15 said:
I have thousands of corrosive rounds for my K98. It's some kind of yugo surplus. Since the rounds need multiple hits to fire and because of corrosion, I've been pulling the bullets to use in new loads. I'm wondering: Could I use the powder too? The powder is not the corrosive part, right? All my research shows it's ok to use the same bullet and powder in a new case with new primer. When I pull the bullet I find 41.0-41.5 grains of powder.
What do you think?
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I did that about thirty years ago, when I latched onto 2K rounds of 50's vintage Chicom 7,92 ball for literally nothing. I weighed about ten of the existing charges, took an average, and assembled new loads using that charge. Cases were from mil '06 brass.

Everything was fine, except for when I discovered a bunch of that remanufactured ammo twenty-five years later and shot a round. The report was like a bomb went off, and you never saw a flatter, more cratered primer.
 
A stronger firing pin spring may negate the need to do anything else. If not, others may disagree but to me there is nothing wrong with using the existing powder. It's popularly done with turkish 8mm surplus all the time and the turkish powder will almost always be in poorer condition then the powder found in yugo surplus.

Now if you only want the best possible ammo to shoot out of your rifles, don't buy surplus ammo.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Varget powder is like $400 for 8 pounds. 900 (one case of corrosive yugo) yields 900*42/7000 = 5.4, so it's like $250 worth of powder in there. Plus 900 bullets.
Reloading supplies have exploded (pun intended) in price. 900 bullets is worth about $400!
Of course, I don't buy corrosive ammo now but I have some cases, and I don't want to subject my toy to corrosion so why not? If it works ok it's like $650 per case of reloading supplies!
So if the primers are about .20 a pop, these reloads will cost 900*.20=$180 or .20 a round.
So reworking the ammo will cost MORE than I paid for it originally. LOL!
I'll remanufacture a few and see how they are. Any issue I'll quit that plan.

But ....
100 new loads is like bullets 40, primers 20, powder 33 = $93 for 100 rounds.

Huh. Things to think about.

Edit ooops: 50 bullets for $18.00
 
A blanket 'Yes' or 'No' on reloading surplus powder is too sweeping. There are way too many factors to consider, usually the most decisive of which is storage conditions. By that I mean the storage conditions it was subject to before it got to you. Here are the general rules:

- Pull the bullets and powder from about ten randomly selected cartridges, from different packets and boxes, and from different locations inside the ammo case.
- Weigh each charge and note them.
- Inspect the inside of every empty case for powder adhering to the inner walls, along with any strong odor. Simply put, bad powder smells bad. Similarly, inspect the base of each bullet for corrosion or verdigris.
- Reload into modern cases but reduce the charge by 10% to start with.
- Test fire newly loaded rounds through a chrono and note the results.
- Inspect the fired cases for anomalies.

If there are no apparent problems, you are quite likely fine for the rest of the case. Bear in mind that ammunition was produced for consumption in barrels of a particular length and twist rate, with bullet weight chosen accordingly. The closer you get to matching those factors, the better your results should be. However, that shouldn't stop you from downloading the cases significantly if your results show more promise in that direction. For example, most of what I've read on reloading 8X56R touts using loads near or at the top of the load data for the powder I mainly use in milsurps (IMR 4064). In contrast, I've shot my best groups with a load that is way down the scale, 35 grains vs. the reported 46.2 grains.
 
timers15 said:
Thanks for all the comments. Varget powder is like $400 for 8 pounds. 900 (one case of corrosive yugo) yields 900*42/7000 = 5.4, so it's like $250 worth of powder in there. Plus 900 bullets.
Reloading supplies have exploded (pun intended) in price. 900 bullets is worth about $400!
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And how much does the gun you’re shooting it out of cost?

By all means pull and reuse the bullets, but frankly dodgy powder just isn’t worth bothering with. Pat has a good methodology if you really insist on it, but note that this is a lot more complicated and involves a lot more equipment (you do have a chrono, right?) than just pulling and averaging loads.

I’ve said it before but even expensive reloading components are cheap compared to guns, and even expensive guns cost nothing compared to a hospital bill.

I’ve personally had old 8mm Mauser (50s Yugo) fail in a bad way and teach me exciting lessons about how the 98 action handles bad failures and gas rapidly going places it shouldn’t. That would have likely been a very bad day if I’d been shooting a Gew88. I’ve also seen, first hand, what a bad reload can do to a gun and a person. That was luckily a first aid kit moment rather than an ambulance moment, but he still needed stitches (pistol blew apart, likely a double charge).

I dont care to mix those two things. Maybe I’m being overly cautious but a few hundred bucks in mystery powder isn’t worth it to me.

Pat said:
A blanket 'Yes' or 'No' on reloading surplus powder is too sweeping. There are way too many factors to consider, usually the most decisive of which is storage conditions. By that I mean the storage conditions it was subject to before it got to you. Here are the general rules:
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This is the big thing that gives me pause when most people talk about this. If the ammo is already good and was stored well and is in good shape, people tend to just shoot it as is. They’re rarely talking about rebuilding Greek HXP or Swiss 7.5, its usually some random third world or ex-communist country’s ammo from the 50s-70s.

Once upon a time you could buy surplus US Govt powder cheap. Was equivalent-ish H335 I believe. I’d happily buy and shoot that mostly because I’m pretty OK with how the US government stores its ammo.

Some random stash of ammo that a post-Soviet country was selling off in the 90s to make a buck and sat in an importers warehouse in god knows what conditions for who knows how long? Way less confident.

Again, if it was stored right in the first place it probably wouldn’t need rebuilding.
 
8X57 brass is not as readily available as most calibers, same for .323 bullets. but since you have large quantity of both I would pull the bullets, decap & clean up the brass and when your ready replace with fresh primers, Wolf, CCI,Win etc. Fresh powder of your preference (I like IMR 4166) It would be best to weigh bullet to know what you loading for. Surplus could be std 198 or 145 FMJ, I have scored commercial 150 SP bullets on GB for cheap on occasion Just need to surf the reloading section.
 
k98dave said:
8X57 brass is not as readily available as most calibers, same for .323 bullets. but since you have large quantity of both I would pull the bullets, decap & clean up the brass and when your ready replace with fresh primers, Wolf, CCI,Win etc. Fresh powder of your preference (I like IMR 4166) It would be best to weigh bullet to know what you loading for. Surplus could be std 198 or 145 FMJ, I have scored commercial 150 SP bullets on GB for cheap on occasion Just need to surf the reloading section.
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Loaded brass degrades too. I've seen case head splits in old surplus. Long and the short of it is that one of the primary decomposition products of nitrocellulose is nitric acid, which degrades metal. You get weaker brass over time, basically. This is also one of the reasons you can see rust inside steel cases after long enough, even if they didn't get wrecked by water.

I know that I can come across as a bit strident on this. I'm far from an expert reloader, but I'm also not a complete idiot. I'm more knowledgable than some, less knowledgable than many, but have been doing it long enough to have a firm understanding of my risk tollerances and an appreciation for what I'm playing with. The reason I harp on this so much is because the sort of people who really are experts and can, in a knowledgeable fashion, weigh the risks and rewards of things like reusing non-projectile components aren't the sort of people asking questions about it on an internet forum. If someone knows what they're doing and is confident in their ability to do it safely, godspeed.

That said, if someone is looking for an entry point into reloading activities beyond basic cartridge assembly, making 8mm brass is pretty easy and a good way to learn a lot of the associated bits of knowledge that help explain other aspects of the hobby and come in handy down the road. Annealing, for one. It's pretty trivial to make 8mm out of .30-06, really just a resize and trim.

THAT said, Prvi 8mm brass is really easy to get online. It's not the best in the world, but it works well enough for general purpose shooting. If you're into waters where you care enough about brass quaity to want something better you probably know enough to know what you need to buy anyway.

edit: but yeah, absolutely reuse the bullets. Which reminds me I REALLY need to get around to tearing down my last few bandoleers of Turkish 8mm
 
I have done exactly what I described with both Turk and Greek surplus. Never any issues at all with cases. I full length resize and then trim length to spec. I had started with some 700 rds. and on the 3rd reload cycle however I don't load to full mil power either. I have both Privi & Norma brass and Privi 198 grain FMJ's also that I use in K98/Gew 98. On G43 I stick to recycled mil brass and lighter 150 grain as it tends to beat up case necks with full power loading even with adjustable gas piston on ejection. Winchester brass I found to be very thin and seen a few neck splits on 1st reload attempt.
 
I know this post is a few months old but I figured I would chime in. I do actually reuse the bullet and powder in a reloadable commercial case with a new primer. Most of these cases are 8mm cases but some are other cases I have resized to 8mm.

However when it comes to the powder I look at it and if it shows issues like being clumpy, corroded ect, it gets tossed. If the powder is fine I use it but I always download the “factory” powder load by 10-15%.

I shoot these in my K98’s and I am not going for the full potential of what I can get out of the bullet, it’s plinking ammo and is used as such. And with a reduced powder charge it’s a lot more pleasant to shoot. I haven’t had an issue at all, not sure how they would cycle my MG13 but it’s on the list of finding out
 
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Lots of work, I"d up the striker spring to a new Wolf spring (https://www.gunsprings.com/MAUSER/1898/cID2/mID40/dID175) and shoot the stuff in an old Turk or RC. Now if it is an original matching K98K, then I,d reload and use new powder or new factory 8mm at a buck a shot or more at current prices. Why use garbage in a $2000 or more rifle😲

Is the old brass brittle? Some split. Use new brass, new powder, new primer and just use the old bullets.... Hence in dogs, I just up the spring to 22 or 24 and shoot 5 cent ammo. 50s Yugo has case splits and hard primers like old turk ammo.
 
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Most of this old corrosive ammo is Berdan primed, so if the primers are bad you aren't going to be able to easily replace them. Add the likelihood of brittleness and case splits, and the brass is pretty much a throwaway if you can't get them the fire. You could save the powder and dump it into a new primed case with the old bullet if you are really a penny pincher.
 
Yes they are Berdan primed. I bought some 8mm factory and kept the shells. So far, so good. The performance of my reloads are excellent. Thanks for all the comments and information everyone.
 
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And if you do not have a stash of berdan primers( I assumed you do??), conversion to boxer on old 1950 brass is not worth it. Got a drill press ? Better if it is the late 1970s Yugo brass. Way to much effort.:rolleyes: Just use new Prvi or Starline brass and the pulled Yugo bullet.(y) I am lazy. I would pull the tips and buy Prvi 8mm, shoot it, then reload the boxer Prvi brass with the Yugo bullets. But if it is a dog Mauser, just up the spring with a Wolf 22 pound spring and 95% of the Yugo 1950s stuff will go bang and throw the cartridges in the brass barrel.:censored:
 
I’ve been shooting Portuguese loads, FNM 71-15, non-corrosive. I pulled about 20 rounds to test consistency. Powder smelled like pepper (good - smell like vinegar is bad). Loads shoot fairly accurately and fired primers look good. Extraction is moderate (subjective term I know).
Has anyone ,else used this ammo and if so what are your results?
 
I bought 220 rounds of 1970s FNM ammo from an auction last year.
Having now used about 30% of it, my experience is more or less identical to yours.
It’s pretty good for 50 years old, but a bit sooty compared to new factory ammo and the extractor seems to chew up the case rims just a tad more than usual albeit the cases do come out no problem.

AG
 
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