PDA

View Full Version : Beat up 5.56 round restoration.


markm
08-16-20, 08:56
This ran over, abandoned in the desert factory round has been sitting in the bed of the truck for a while. I was washing the truck and picked it up.

Looks like an XM855 round with a 2014 headstamp. Primer had a light strike.

I'm going to be rebuilding it today because it's hot as hell here, and I like doing weird stuff like this.

https://i.imgur.com/4Z3iUhD.jpg

The round has about 26.6 gr of ball powder still in excellent condition despite the brass showing signs that it's been in at least one rain storm. Primer pocket is still shiny, and the bullet has neck seal and sticks to a magnet.

https://i.imgur.com/Hlw5pua.jpg
czgunner
08-16-20, 09:57
I’ve always wondered about decapping a live primer. No issues with them going off?
markm
08-16-20, 11:36
I’ve always wondered about decapping a live primer. No issues with them going off?

No. Never. I've popped hundred of them over the years for various reasons. I did have one go off in my single stage when I whipped the priming arm out of operation. There was a partially mashed primer in the cup, and I'm used to whipping the priming arm against the press to clear debris from the cup. Bang! No damage or injury, just a shocker.
markm
08-16-20, 13:26
After 3 hrs stainless steel wet tumbling next to a non-abused piece of brass in the same tumble.

https://i.imgur.com/dJgzOqO.jpg

Resized and neck sized:

https://i.imgur.com/NoL5NWD.jpg

Final round as good as new and ready for next weekend's match! :cool:

https://i.imgur.com/A062juI.jpg
1168
08-16-20, 14:18
Markm doing the Lord’s Work on a Sunday.
TheTick
08-16-20, 17:37
You're a better man than I.

I would have sent that round as is. I simply would have closed my eyes and winced when pulling the trigger.
duece71
08-16-20, 17:40
Do you have any idea on the make of powder? It looks a lot like Ramshot TAC. (Nah, probably isn’t that stuff).
Vegas
08-16-20, 18:54
You're a better man than I.

I would have sent that round as is. I simply would have closed my eyes and winced when pulling the trigger.

Agreed. I would be a liar if I said I had never done that before.
Straight Shooter
08-16-20, 19:45
With ammo prices now...there is merit here. :D
vicious_cb
08-17-20, 01:58
When 2020 is so bad you have to restore beat up ammo.
markm
08-17-20, 08:31
You're a better man than I.

I would have sent that round as is. I simply would have closed my eyes and winced when pulling the trigger.

It would never have chambered or I would have just fired it.


Do you have any idea on the make of powder? It looks a lot like Ramshot TAC. (Nah, probably isn’t that stuff).

No idea. All ball looks the same. Whatever Fed/LC would run in M855.
AndyLate
08-22-20, 12:22
I picked up a 9mm ball round in front of some new age hippie weirdo health store and threw it in the back of my truck for a year or so - it was quite dark but fired fine.

Andy
markm
08-22-20, 14:16
I'm going to fire form the remaining dents out of this round this weekend. The interesting thing about this round is how well the cartridge looked inside. People flip out about ammo storage but if this round could fit in a chamber, it would have fired just fine.
Artos
08-22-20, 17:45
That round looks smoother than some of the roll your own I've seen on the range from being drowned in lube during FL...some folks have no business touching a press.
markm
08-24-20, 08:46
I shot this round yesterday and popped the 500 yard steel. Now the brass is fire formed back into the regular rotation.
Vegas
08-24-20, 12:35
Any pic of it post firing?
markm
08-24-20, 14:10
Any pic of it post firing?

I can get one after work. I baggied it up.