Western 29 brass

[PaulK]

Bought a bag of Krag brass at a gunshow for $5. Probably close to 100 rds. in it.
All are headstamped "WESTERN 29"
Anyone heard of that?

[psteinmayer]

That's a new one. I've seen Western brass, but not with a number. Sounds somewhat old. I'd inspect carefully and use with discretion. I have some older Remington brass marked REM-USA, and old Winchester brass marked Super Speed which I occasionally use with lower pressure cast loads. Just gotta be careful.

[PaulK]

I'll do that prior to any reloading. Always cautious about gunshow brass in a bag. Figured for $5, may get a few usable.
Thanks.

[butlersrangers]

Likely, Western brass originally loaded in 1929. Company was purchased by Winchester and became Winchester-Western.

[psteinmayer]

Good call Chuck. I agree - probably 1929.

[RichWIS]

If 1929 vintage suggest you anneal, age embrittlement is likely on brass of that old.

[butlersrangers]

Oops, made my third mistake of the year!

Western Cartridge Company purchased the financially troubled Winchester Repeating Arms Co. in 1931, when the gun maker went into receivership. The merged companies became Winchester-Western.

"Western" component eventually became "Olin".

[PaulK]

Update on Western 29 brass:
They will not accept large rifle primers!!
Had to try large pistol. No issues. We'll see at the range.
Guess I was expecting too much for $5. LOL
Good thing I only loaded 20.

[butlersrangers]

Warning:

At the least, I would test some of your pistol primers, by 'firing' in otherwise empty cartridge cases, to make sure your Krag's firing pin does not penetrate the thinner cup of the pistol primers.

For good reason, there are pistol primers and there are rifle primers. They are different, especially, in regard to strength of metal 'cup'.
Most rifle firing-pins strike harder than pistol firing-pins. Also, the Krag rifle cartridge will develop 2 to 4 times the pressure of some pistol cartridges.

IMHO - Something is wrong.

Maybe the 'Western 29' cases had their primers 'crimped' in place.

Many U. S. military rifle cartridge cases utilized a primer crimp. This needs to be removed from the primer-pocket in order to seat a 'fresh' Large-Rifle Primer.
This is done with, (either swagging or cutting), primer pocket tools.

(A couple of primer-pocket tools that will remove 'crimp' - cost about $14 online):

[Whig]

Heck, you might get away with small pistol (CCI 550) or small rifle (CCI 450) magnum primers. Would fire hotter and probably give good ignition of your powder. Try a few to test.

If not, might be better to scrap them and look for real Krag brass.

I'd have probably made the same mistake. I've thrown out .45 brass with small primer holes. Trash.