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BRASS

Here's a spot for everything about the brass cartridges.

US Military Headstamps:

Most brass has the headstamp, indicating location of manufacture, followed by year: i.e "LC 86" would be Lake City Army Ammunition Plant manufactured in 1986. In 1944, the date was abbreviated with just a '4' (rather than '44'). There may be other instances of abbreviation as well.

DM Des Moines Ordnance Plant, Des Moines IA
FA Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia PA
KS Kelly Springfield, Allegheny Ordnance Plant, Cumberland MD
LC Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, Independence MO
LM Lowell MA
M Milwaukee Ordnance Plant, Milwaukee WI
RA Remington Arms, Bridgeport CT
REM-UMC Remington-Union Metallic Cartridge, Bridgeport CT
SD Sparklet Devices, Dover OH
SL St. Louis Ordnance Plant, St. Louis MO
SMCO Stant Manufacturing Co., Connersville IN
TW Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, Minneapolis MN
U Utah Ordnance Plant, Salt Lake City UT - Late
UT Utah Ordnance Plant, Salt Lake City UT - Early
W Winchester - Prototype and test rounds
WCC Winchester-OLIN, E.Alton IL
WRA Winchester Repeating Arms, New Haven CT

Other Headstamps:

IKI - Yugoslavian
IMI - Israeli Military industries. This is the 'favored' brass right now for competition.
R1M3/A80 - S. African (Berdan Primed)
TE - French. The 'T' indicates Toulouse plant, the E (unknown) indicates where the brass is made.
CAL 50 - Winchester. The only non-military manufactured brass of which I know.

'Typical' primer pocket dimensions

These aren't any kind of official spec, but some typical pocket dimensions are: