Are .50 Cal cases from WWII still reloadable?

[Monmouth]

I cam across about 150 pieces of .50 cal brass with the following headstamps: LK 88, LC 4, SL45. A search indicated that two of these are from the '40s and one from the '80s, but am I correct?

The brass appears to be once fired due to the primer crimps, but not a .50 reloader and would yield to expert advice. Is this brass still reloadable? I tossed it all in my tumbler and let the stainless pins clean it all up nicely.

Lastly, this is the first time I actually held a small quantity of .50 cal. I've seen the semi-auto (never fired one or heard one fired in person) and a box of live ammo, but a group of cases is very impressive.

 

[flashhole]

Why do you think they would not be loadable? Are they made of brass? Clear the crimp in the primer pocket and load em up.

 

[Apothus]

I thought brass fired in machine guns was highly undesirable because of the abuse that the firing mechanism puts on the brass, and because the chambers are so sloppy that the brass expands way too much? I may be wrong in assuming your brass was fired in an MG, but that's just where my mind automatically went(no pun intended). Also, crimped primer pockets add a pain in the ass factor? Just wondering aloud

 

[armorpl8chikn]

I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume the cases from the 40's were fired in a machine gun. Unless they were torn down and the primers left intact, which I would think was unlikely.

 

[wakajawaka]

I might consider annealing before sizing.

 

[RHunter]

You will know how bad the case is when you go to try to size it. If it is excessively difficult to size then it is stretched pretty bad. I have loaded a few thousand for my Barrett that were brass from the 40's and 50's and did not have any issues but I did cull about 10% for various reasons.... But I also cull about 10% of new LC production brass for the exact same reasons...

If it is clean and sizes well, I'd use it for sure.

 

[Monmouth]

Thank you for replies. I don't have a .50, but after handling the brass sure makes a man start to think. Unfortunately, having a .50 around here is like have racing a Ferrari in a parking lot, very few places allow the caliber and distance is capped at 200 meters.

 

[former naval person]

Older fired military brass had corrosive primers until 1954. Except for carbine brass which was always non corrosive. Whether that makes a difference in the brass aging brittleness or not I cannot say. However, a friend used some 06 cases from 1944 for mild hunting loads for his Browning Auto rifle. One split down the side and blew off the floorplate and bent the hell out of the magazine. Fortunately the solid side and back of the BAR saved his eyes. Personally I don't reload brass older than 1960. And that is 50+ years old.

 

[kd185]

yup
its all no good
sent it to me for proper disposal (or reuse)
just kidding
as long as its not stretched to badly its fine

 

[Serpent408]

As with obtaining any brass from an unknown source, I strongly suggest inspecting each piece very carefully if you intend to reload. A 50BMG powder load is significantly more than common long rifle cartridges-- "they may hurt you, but the 50 will definitely kill you!" (Think larger powder charge than hand grenade.)
I had obtained surplus "virgin" 50BMG brass only to discover that it was de-milled by use of a "tractor pulling" method of removing the projectiles, thus bending the case necks in nearly 20 per cent of the lot, a few other cases split after first firing. Not a great deal!
I use and reload SL 43 & LC 45 50BMG cases (from known lot #) for my match loads without much culling of brass.
Annealing the brass prior to resizing should resolve any question of brittleness.

 

[LanceS4803]

I use and reload SL 43 & LC 45 50BMG cases (from known lot #) for my match loads without much culling of brass. Annealing the brass prior to resizing should resolve any question of brittleness.

What setup are you using to reload 50BMG?
The RCBS kit used to be about the only game in town.

 

[former naval person]

Br careful. Be very careful. A split case...not just the neck...may destroy your plaything...including your eyes.

 

[Serpent408]

I still use the RCBS 50BMG reloading press with modified RCBS dies. Straight line presses such as Hollywood and CH4D's Rock Crusher are much more expensive, of which I haven't found any advantage in my end product. CH4D offers variable bushing resizing dies, and Viersco (Black Diamond Rifles) makes custom die sets. I purchased a custom made decapping rod sized to my match bullet diameters from K&M, and made a bullet seater plug to match the metplat. I strongly suggest using an M2 Precision primer seater. Mike makes quality products including match grade FL sizing and micrometer seating dies. I use a NECO concentricity gauge (specific for 50 BMG), another dandy case head concentricity gauge made for me by Martin List, and a K&M primer seat uniformer with a K&M flash hole deburring tool. For other case prep steps, a Forster case trimmer with matching diameter for resizing die, and case neck trimmer.
There are many more suppliers of 50BMG specific custom reloading items, most advertise with F.C.S.A. magazine VHP.

 

[LanceS4803]

Thanks for all the info. I had totally forgotten about FCSA. Will have to check back in to that.