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Posted: 12/30/2010 3:53:35 PM EDT
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Anyone know who makes it? Is it any good?
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It's made by PMC for the Military, if you buy any that's been run through an M2 be sure to do a good inspection on it. M2's can ruin brass in 1 firing if the gun wasn't headspaced properly when it was set up. Even being run through an M2 that was set up properly the brass still gets stretched a lot and might only be good for a few reloads.
Buyer beware and be safe! |
Thank you for the reply! 
Didn`t know if the brass was made by an offshore vendor or not. I suspect it is. Did a Google search on it but didn`t come up with any info on it. Know of a few suppliers selling the stuff at a decent price. Was wondering if anyone had used it or not. From what I have found, appears to be of recent manufacture. Would LC brass wind up the same way with M2 use? Suspect it would. |
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Yes, M2's can ruin any brass....if not properly set up.
It gets blown out and stretched to a large degree. FWIW, I bought a lot of 240pcs of PMJ and Lake City 07 and 09 brass online...Initial inspections culled 80pcs, and I found about 25 more after the tumbling....many had to be culled after 2-3 reloads. I generally stay away from machine gun brass. The price is often very good, but is also a bit deceiving. On the other hand, it's a good way to make dummy rounds and pens...LOL That being said, I didn't really have any complaints with the PMJ or commercial PMC brass...but I also don't have near the experience as many others when it comes to the big 50. YMMV. |
| Yep! I think that is one UGLY sign that something is really wrong with the brass. In culling some brass I bought over the weekend at the local funshow, I found about 10 pieces that had hairline vertical splits in the case necks. Everything else looked OK. Was wondering if there may be some other signs I should look for. |
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Check the insides for irregularities such as hairline cracks or stretching.
I've seen several pieces of M2 brass that was stretched badly just above the case-head. You can shine a light down the neck and look for a ring/shadow where the brass is thinner due to stretching, and use a "L" shaped piece of wire to feel for irregularities or incipient splits. How much is too much? Good question, I've yet to come across anyone locally to give me a good idea...so I usually cull out any brass that shows much stretching at all, just above the case head. I've cut a few cases it half that had some BAD thinning in this area, and found the brass to be 1/2 as thick as the walls just above the ring. Better safe than sorry when you're talking about that much powder! If you feel ANY irregularity or crack/split with your "L" shaped feeler, stop using the brass. Since this stuff probably got ejected into the rocks and dirty, and stumbled over, and tossed carelessly into boxes, you need to look for dings, dents, and inclusions as well. |
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Thank you folks for the info! There seems to be more variables to watch out for in the BMG world, than what I was used to seeing in the smaller caliber arena. Trying to stay safe while enjoying the sport.
One other question I hope someone can answer. Is there anything to know about resized projectiles. I see some sites advertising this & others don`t. I would think that as long as the projectile is the normal diameter, it should be safe for shooting. What I have seen so far is from machine or collet pulled bullets. The machine pulled stuff usually has a groove ( indentation) down the side of it. Will that hurt your accuracy & cartridge pressure? With a groove, I would think that one would lose gas pressure around the projectile while it is traveling down the barrel. Am I right on this one or are the indentations a "not to worry" issue? |
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You should resize ANY pulled bullets you buy, no matter how they were pulled.
IF you shoot an over-sized, or out of round bullet, you will be creating a high pressure situation...as you try and squeeze the extra large bullet down the bore. This could be hazardous to yourself, your rifle, and possibly bystanders! Lee makes a cast lead sizing die for about $13 that actually works very well for this. Many people use it. There are other companies selling similar units for nearly $100 more. The lee works fine (use lots of lube!). There are stories of people shooting sub MOA groups with bullets pulled with vice grips. The cut won't have a large effect on accuracy––but remember you are also shooting the cheapest, recycled bullets out there...so you can't have too high of hopes anyway! FWIW, the sizing process will flatted out the majority of the marks/cuts on the bullet. You may end up culling a few VERY badly cut ones, or those that don't seem to want to size very well....but at $0.15-0.35 cents a piece, does it matter? There are a few sources out there selling re-sized, pulled bullets. They usually sort this into different quality "grades." You should be able to souce some good, pulled and sized bullets with no marks if this is a large concern for you. These is also a flood of south african 690gr ball on the market right now....you can find these new, never loaded, for as low as $0.45 shipped if you poke around. |
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1st stage of case failure (hairline stress lines in the brass)
this can be found by running an angled pick or home made feeler bent at a 90 degree angle down the shell to feel for a ridge in the brass 
2nd stage (burn marks coming through the brass) 
final stage (total case failure) when i ejected the brass the rimmed portion of the case came out and the rest of the brass stayed in the chamber 
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