I bought some inexpensive European ammo for the .06. You get what you pay for and it' s junk. This stuff is Greek and made " to NATO specs" , which clears up why those guys wanted no part of Iraq, but that' s another story. I' m considering pulling the bullets and reloading with better powder, at a reduced load. Some of the cartridges were duds. The brass is pretty good. My questions are:
1. Is this a stupid idea?
2. Do I replace the primers?
3. If so, is there a danger popping a live primer?
4. What other problems do I need to worry about?

Thanks.

I' ve heard nothing but similar reports about the greek crap.

I would just pull the bullets, put in some new powder and reseat the bullets and use as plinking loads. My other suggestion is more labor intensive and I' m not sure if its worth your time- take the empty cases to a safe location and fire off the primers in your rifle, then decap and reprime and start over. In fact before repriming, I would resize the cases also, I' ve heard of some of these rounds not fitting in chambers also.[:@]

I would pull the bullet, dump the powder & pop out the primer.

BE CAREFUL with primers! IF they are typical crimped-in military style primers, you can' t SAFELY decap the cases without killing them first! You also can' t easily deprime the cases if the primers are Berdan type. Water might or might not kill them. Oil will, but it is a mess to clean up afterward.

I don' t know what caused your duds, but if it is the primers, you' d have to replace the primers (pull acouple of them to see if the primers fired or not), before reloading the cases. If the primers work O.K., you could recharge the cases with a known powder and use to old bullets, if you want to.

just pull one bullet...dump the powder and check to see if the primer has Berdan or Boxer flashholes.

If the flashhole is more than one (berdan primed)...and the one should be in the center of the case.....in front of the primer) if there is more than one flashhole you' ll have a very bad time repriming the case, because it' s very difficult to remove the spent primer.

Assuming you have boxer primed brass, pull the bullets, dump the powder, fire the primed brass, thoroughly clean the barrel of your gun, resize and reprime and make some real ammo.

Depending on your intent, and if the bullets are FMJ, you might want to toss them as well in favor of a softpoint style of bullet.

If your brass is Berdan primed, pull the bullets, dump the powder, remove the decapping pin from the sizing die, full length resize the brass, load powder and bullets to taste. After firing the brass leave it in a trash can.

From all of the various ways to make a decent cartridge from what you got, I think I would trash them all, get some real U.S. brass and chalk the whole idea to a bad experience. Find a friend that doesn' t reload and uses a 30-06. Have him save his brass. My stepson uses a 30-06, doesn' t reload and he gave me about 200 mt brass. I' m set.

Russ

I got to agree with russ on this one throw it away and buy some decent brass

your talking about possibly blowing stuff up in your face to save $20 (cost of win brass)

I was stupid once and set of a primer i was lucky i didnt get hurt but i can tell you the neighbors called the police and my ears didnt stop ringing for a week

i am sure there was at least triple the $20 worth of damage to my ears

I havent used that greek stuff( was looking at some tho) sorry to hear its junk Mass- hope you didnt buy to much?

Have used nato/ danish 30/06 ammo that came in bandollers , with m1 grand clips, but i knew it was brendin primed ^wasnt going to relaod it.( about 350 rounds worth)

But no problems with it all all, shot good groups too( maybe some countrys nato specs arent the same as others?


Beware the greeks bearing gifts?

I have been where you are
But let me say this, It is not worth getting hurt or dead over a few bucks.
the ones that you have tried & would not fire are the real killers as they could go off any time after the primer has been hit.
Reload NO throw the things in the junk of course in a safe place
Why get hurt for a few bucks.
Also if you have never decaped BRENDIN primers & you reload these rounds get ready for a lot of work.
They will break your depriming punch.
You will have to ream every primer pocket
some times you have to drill out the primer hole.
A lot of work for a few bucks saved.

I have to agree with Russ Otten Why would you want to bother, junk the whole mess and start over . If the cartridge is as bad as stated what makes you think the case is that good to even want to reload it .