7.62 x51 ammo identification

[Richo]

Can anybody tell me anything about these two types of 7.62 ammo that i have been offered, ie is it machine gun fodder, berden primed, corrosive primers, etc. I would like to reload the cases if possible.

[rox]

Can anybody tell me anything about these two types of 7.62 ammo that i have been offered, ie is it machine gun fodder, berden primed, corrosive primers, etc. I would like to reload the cases if possible.

Top is 2016 GGG, I'd guess using their own 147gr FMJ projectile. I've never seen a Berdan GGG case.

Bottom is DAG/MEN product: DM111. Quick research suggests these are sometimes a cupronickel-coated steel jacketed, and sometimes berdan primed.

There is plenty of information to be found about both products online generally and even on this forum. You have the batch numbers for both. Why not email the manufacturers for confirmation?

[Graham M]

https://www.men-defencetec.de/en/produkt/ball-dm111-a2/

[PeterN]

I have reloaded a few of the MEN 7.62x51mm cases using some old No.81 primers as an experiment. I have also reloaded some DAG, RG and South African cases, all Berdan primed. I don't shoot much 7.62x51mm and have a stock of various factory rounds to use up, so I don't do much reloading for this calibre.
Regards
Peter.

[ovenpaa]

I used to shoot the MEN in my Accuracy International for 600m plinking, when I could put my hands on it. As Bob suggested all that time ago, they are cupro-nickel coated.

As an aside, my AI barrel was up to about 8,000 rounds and was about to be retired as I had purchased a new 6,4x47 Lapua barrel. So we used the original AI barrel for testing a new cleaning product known as C2R. I remember it was over Christmas and Tim was visiting, the barrel was given a liberal coating of C2R and we went for a coffee, probably an hour later we came back and stated passing dampened patches through the barrel. Now I was always careful when it came to cleaning, the rifle was bore foamed when warm and then cleaned with KG-12 so as far as I was concerned it was clean (Pre borescope days) The first patches came out inky blue black and as we progressed had little silver flecks on them, this turned out to be the coating from the MEN rounds. I shot the barrel for a few more months and moved to the new barrel.

The MEN rounds were quite punchy, especially on warm days, but not corrosively primed.

[ukrifleman]

I bought a 1000 rounds of MEN 7.62 for my No4 Enfield conversion and used it to knock down fig 11's on military ranges out to 800 yards.
It is non corrosive as designated by the cross in a circle stamp.
It is reloadable if you have Berdan primers, just remember to remove the primer crimp before inserting a new primer.
Another factor to consider when reloading, is that military brass tends to be thicker walled than commercial hence less volume, so adjust powder charges accordingly.
There are various ways to de-prime a Berdan case, some use water (messy!) and I believe RCBS make a de-capping tool, but I prefer to punch out primers with my home made de-capping punch. I use a modified Lee chamfer tool to remove the primer crimp.

ukrifleman

[channel12]

Doesn't the cross in a circle mean it is loaded to NATO standard?

[PeterN]

Do you ever break your decapping pin? I have some French Gevelot .30-06 cases that will not decap with the Wamadet hydraulic decapper. Out of ten cases tried, only one decapped so I gave up. The primers seem to be well sealed and crimped. I have the RCBS Berdan decapping tool, but that does not seem to work on these cases, it just pulls through the primer. I don't want to do that any more as I am likely to break the pin. I could do with something like your tool. I could try it on some military 8MM Lebel cases I have. These are too big to fit the Wamadet cylinder. I know Wamadet did a bigger cylinder for .577 Snider and Martini-Henry cases, but I don't have that one.
Regards
Peter.

[Daryll]

Doesn't the cross in a circle mean it is loaded to NATO standard?

Yes it does, but part of the standard for NATO ammo is that its non-corrosive...

[ukrifleman]

Do you ever break your decapping pin?

Yes I have, I use the shank of a broken 1mm drill bit for the pin, fixed with Loctite into the punch.
The trick is, to make sure that the pin is located in one of the flash holes before hitting it!
The primers of MEN brass seem to knock out easily enough, I just seat a case in a shell holder on top of a metal v block and tap them out with a pair of pliers.
The Lee chamfer tool works well removing the primer crimp.
ukrifleman