7.35 Carcano surplus ammo

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Here in Oz, the 6.5 x 52 ammo was a "crap-shoot", (literally and metaphorically) back in the early 1970s. 7.35 at the time was a collector's rarity.

Because BOTH cartridges use "odd" size projectiles( .268" for he 6.5 and .300"

Like all surplus amo, if the price is right, it is worth the effort.. for the 7.35, the bullets are worth more than the ammo, in a way.

A while ago I stripped a pile of Portuguese 7,92 x 57 ball ammo (sS heavy ball) that a friend had "scored". Powder smelt "funny" and he had got the lot because the primers had a sense of humour and it looked "ugly". Powder then scattered on the garden beds., bullets into the tumbler. Cases FL sized, deprimed hydraulically and pockets de-crimped. Cases then pin polished and re-primed with Vihtavouro Kemira ,217 Berdan primers, filled with nice, fresh powder and reseat the now shiny bullets.

A lot of fooling around, but the cases and projectiles were fine.

A few hears ago I was given a couple of thousand rounds of 1980s-vintage Norinco "223 Ball" It had gone under in a local minor flood and the big soggy pile was scooped into a couple of plastc buckets and handed to me... Because of teh time the cartridges had been in contact with the wet packaging, a LOT of them had exterior that were corroded to some degree. Same deal as the 7.92 caper. Pull the bullets with my RCBS press-mounted puller (NOT a fin task, but thr powder stays in the case. Some of the rounds had water intrusion (dodgy neck and primer seals); and te powder was "off". The rest was salvaged and the actual, measured loading data noted on teh storage containers. Deprimed with a Lee "unuversal decapper die (earmuffs on, but nothing went POP. .

Brass triaged "unblemished" and "minor spots" went into the tumbler and the rest went into the "beer-fund" recycling bucket.. Pin-tumbled the bullets and stored in air-tight plastic jars.

Not a lot of fun, but for an old, retired bloke, worth the effort. Re-assembled with new CCI primers and the original powder load, the stuff works fine. Good "training" / plinking ammo for friends starting out. The brass is good for several subsequent reloads, too.

YMMV!

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Re-assembled with new CCI primers and the original powder load

I've done that SO much too. .303, 30/40 Krag, .236 USN, 30/30 Winchester and so on. Using cordite stick again was painful but a unique experience...