Is 7.62 casing brass?

[fishhead]

Is a 7.62 x 50 casing brass?

I found a bunch out in the woods but they looked funny and now after carrying one in my pocket it looks like it's been dipped in some clear very hard finish. I can't even scratch it with the metal tip of a pen.

[Cabin Fever]

I don't believe there is a 7.62 x 50 cartridge.

Cartridges with close dimensions are 7.62 x 39, 7.62 x 51, and 7.62 x 54r.

The 7.62 x 39 generally has a steel casing.

The 7.62 x 51 (.308) generally has a brass casing.

The 7.62 x 54r generally has a steel casing.

Steel casings are typically painted with some type of enamel-like paint.

Do you have a magnet? What numbers/letters are on the headstamp?

[fishhead]

I left it at work but it's probably a 51 not 50. I'll try a magnet tomorrow.

Thanks.

[tarbe]

Sounds like you found some steel case, lacquered 7.62 x 51 from Russia.

[fishhead]

Too bad because I was going to add it to my brass collection. I'll give it the magnet test to be sure.

[MichaelK!]

It might be brass, but one additional thing to check is the primer hole. Hold the case mouth up to the light and look down in the bottum of the case at the flash hole. If you see one large central hole it is boxer primed and easily reloadable.

If however you instead see two smaller side-by-side holes it is Berdan primed. A lot of european brass is berdan primed. It CAN be reloaded, but with much, much more difficulty, and special "not readily available" berdan primers are required.

[fishhead]

I tried a magnet and the magnet picked up the casing.

It looks like 7.62x39 but I wouldn't swear to it without a magnifying glass.

[Nimrod]

I have an SKS that uses 7.62X39 ammo. If you want to reload it you have to find ammo or cases that are boxer primed brass cases. Don't flame me for this statement. Some folks say you can reload steel cases and others say you can convert berdan primed to boxer primed. I won't try to resize steel cases and ruin the dies and I won't mess around trying to drill out the primer hole to get a boxer primer to fit.

You can buy soviet block surplus ammo for about 25 cents a round but they are always steel cases and berdan primed. (anouther issue is the berdan primers are usually corrosive so you have to clean your gun IMMEDIATLY after you get done shooting it). Ammo with boxer primers and brass cases is available but at over twice the cost. You can buy the new, empty brass but it's pricy too.

I did run across a thread that recommends you measure the diameter of your barrell and buy bullets of the correct diameter for reloading. It seems the manufacturing tolerances weren't very good so some rifles have slightly bigger bores and can't be made accurate shooting the normal size bullets.

[fishhead]

I was just going to pick them up for scrap.