old 30.06 ammo

[TDH]

Ok guys I picked up so old 06 stuff today with some unique head stamps
EW 43
DEN 43 Ok I got that one ---Denver
SL 43
SL 4
FMCS 1951
FN 57
Any ideas what I got? I've got about 25 roubds of the EW 43

[jonnyc]

This should help:
Headstamp Codes - International Ammunition Association

[browningautorifle]

I'm sure you're aware this ammo will be corrosive primed. Make sure you take precautions when cleaning. IF you fire it.

[TDH]

Thank You jonnyc and yes Jim I am well aware of it. Most of it looks to have been reloaded at one point and I pulled several apart and weighed the charges running between 49 and 63 grains of powder. The powder looks like 4895 but I think I'll just pull them all but the EW43 scrap the powder and reprime most of it. The bullets I pulled were mixed as well There was 3 that were half jacketed weighing in at 100 grains and several are 125 grain soft points only one was 150 grain ball . There were several other intresting finds in the box like 5 rounds of 25/20. I had heard of it but never seen it before. A box + of 30/40 Kraig and a couple of rounds that look to be 7.7 Jap.

[browningautorifle]

Then you have the most valuable parts, the case and the bullet. The rest for sure will be questionable.

[TDH]

always better safe than sorry

[USGI]

I think you'll find the FN57 is berdan primed, so you might as well just shoot it up. - Bob

[TDH]

The FN57 was Berdan primed.
I processed the LC brass and went to trim it and cracked the necks on on several so I annealed it I eneded up throwing 35 cases away for the necks break ing out. I reloaded the rest and shot 25 rounds on Sunday. Of the 25 rounds 13 ended up with split necks. It didn't shoot bad so I'll probably pull the rest and pitch the rest of that brass. Like I said before better safe than sorry.

[joem]

SL 43 and SL 4 were made in St. Louis Mo. at the small arms plant The primers are corrosive and some of the brass seems to be brittle and subject to neck splits. Some not so much.

[jimb16]

If you want to save the brass that didn't split, try annealing it. Sometimes that does the trick. I've been shooting a ton of that old brass with moderate loads for years and almost never have a case split.