Talking about reloading earlier got me thinking, maybe I should share these 30-06 Dummy or other wise known as Action Proving Rounds I make for the Garands, (I'll say it first, Dummy for Dummy Wilson, now that's out of the way, I'll carry on) These are great for testing your Garand for function by hand cycling through your rifle without using live ammo and accidentally shooing your neighbor. These have become very popular and I have made a lot of them for many of my friends. They are easy to make and I have lots of CMP ammo as most of you do. All I do is pull the bullets, dump the powder, pop the primers, re-seat the bullets and the drill holes in the cases for an easy visual identification.
First I use a bullet seating die to push the bullet just a tad deeper into the case, it only takes a few thousands. This breaks the bond of the bullet sealant that's used on military ammo and make it much easier to pull the bullet. I then use a Hornady Collet Bullet Pullet to pull the bullets, there collet style pullers make it fast and easy, they leave no marks on the bullet and no powder is spilt. Then I dump the powder, put the empty case in my rifle and fire it to pop the primer. Once this step is done, I take an old bore brush in my hand drill and use it to clean the bullet sealant from the case and roughen the inside of the case mouth. I carefully run the base of the bullets across the wire brush on my bench grinder to remove the sealant and roughen them up as well. Once this is done, I take a drop of Red Loctite and apply it to both the inside of the case mouth and the base of the bullet, it only takes a tiny bit! Care must be used not to get the Loctite inside your bullet seating die! I thoroughly clean my seating die with brake cleaner and a pistol cleaning rod with patches, then apply a light coat of oil to the die. The brake cleaner will remove the Loctite and also all the oil, if you don't apply a light coat, it will rust quickly! The reason I use the Loctite is to keep the bullet firmly in place and from moving backwards into the case from repeated cycling through the rifle. I seat the bullets to the proper depth with my seating die but I adjust the die to only seat the bullet while backed off so as not to crimp the case. The I use the Lee Collet Crimping die, I apply a very heavy crimp as seen in the photo, again, this is done to keep the bullet from moving back in the case. Please note!! This is a much heaver crimp then should ever be applied to a live reloaded round! This heavy crimp is only used for these Dummy Rounds! Never apply a crimp this heavy to a live round or it could case excessive chamber pressure when fired! Not a good thing.....
Now that the round is re-assembled, all that's left is to drill the holes in the case, if so desired. I find it's easy to quickly identify the rounds with the holes, this way I'm sure I didn't pick up a clip of live ammo by mistake. I found three evenly spaced holes works well because no matter where the round is positioned in a clip, there is always at least one hole showing, with only two holes, it's possible for the cartridge to sit just right and nether of the holes would be seen. All I do here is first I mark three lines on the end of the case using a magic marker, I just go by eye to mark them evenly spaced. I mount my vise on my drill press tables and open the jaws just enough to let the case rest between the them and on top of the jaws, kind of like V-block so the case is just resting there and then you can rotate it to drill your three holes. Using a flat magnet I had kicking around, (mine is about three inches in diameter) I put the magnet on the end of the jaws to be used as a stop so the tip of the bullet will rest against the magnet and then the drill hits the case the same depth from the tip of the bullet down each time. I set the cartridge in the mouth of the vise, rotate it to have one the marks on the end to line up with one of the jaws as a reference point and drill my hole, rotate to the next line and repeat, drill all three holes and your done! Some of the brass shavings from drill may be left inside the case, simply rotate the case slowly in your hands while tilting back and forth and it will fall out. A little brake cleaner on a rag will clean the magic marker lines off the end of the case then your finished.
If I lost you anywhere in the description, shoot me an email, Ill be glad to help you out.
Guy, Thanks for the rounds! I have used them on several rifles and they help.
Best yet, you did it for free.
Any time sir! I'm glad they are working out for you, let me know if you want more and I can do them up when I get ready for the next batch. For my friends, I do it for free, all other pay cash. LOL
The ones you did for me work great Guy..come to think of it thanks for doing it for free..!!
Any time my friend!! Any time! And thanks for coming and spending time with me while I was in the hospital and the generous gifts. You've done much more than that for me, I'm still trying to think of ways to pay you back for all you've done!
Ive seen this post of the dummy rounds and thought of alternatives.
Cant think of an alternative method at the moment other than drilling a hole in a live case an emptying the contents.
You can still find original dummy cartidges around, the M1906 and M40 in 30 cal and the M63 in 7.62x51mm all with fluted case. Also a number of dummy 30 cal came from Denmark too. Also have seen dummy cartridges in 45 acp and 30 M1 carbine.
I hope you all know that was a joke! Right!
Id did come to mind thou.
Naaa!
Swooooo, I am glad it was a joke hahahaha. Kind like emptying them by hammering them like we did with caps when I was young. Nice ringing in my ears now. Rick B
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If I cant fix it,, It must REALLY be broken!
Mr. Wilson, I'm expecting my first Garand sometime in April. I like my neighbors, so could you please send 8 rounds to me? I would be glad to cover your expenses. Thank you!
It's going to be a month or two before I can make up any more of these dummy rounds. I can't get upstairs to my gun and reloading room, I'm on the mend from having my left foot amputated. I ended up with a bad infection in the ankle from a simple operation to remove two screws that were bothering me a little. I had originally fell and broke that ankle a few ago, at that time the had to put screws in to hold the bones in place. When they took the screws out, they never put me on any antibiotics and few days after the operation I had puss coming from the incision. Then the doctor put me on a course of antibiotics but even after weeks it was still draining. I complained and the doc told me it was only ankle fluid. He didn't follow up with blood tests until it was really bad and then it was too late, I should never had let them take them out.
Anyways, enough of that. I have made a lot of these Dummy Rounds for close friends, I started out giving a bunch to Tim Shufflin and he loved them. The word got out and before I knew it everyone was asking for them. And I don't mind doing it for my buds, they have all been very good to me in the past. But I really wasn't trying to advertise or take orders for these here, that wasn't my intention at all. I just wanted to share with folks how I made them and figured those with reloading equipment may like to see how I made them. But if only a few of you fellows here want some, I'll be happy to make some extras while I'm at it. I have a couple more buddies that have asked for some and I told them once I get healed up I'll do them up all at once, it's a lot easier to make up a bunch rather then a few now and then. All I ask is please don't spread the word around!! LOL
Now as far as price?? I haven't given that any thought, been doing them for free for my close friends, does a $1.00 each plus what ever the postage charges are sound fair? If you want them in clips, I do have a bunch of JMO clips you can have them for a $1.00 each, I have read a lot of fellows frown on those JMO clips but I have used them and they work fine for the dummy rounds. I'll be using the CMP Greek ammo I have here, you can have them with or without the holes, it's your call. Personally I like them with the holes, easy to visually verify your not mistakenly stuffing a clip of live ammo in the gun.
I'll probably forget so how about you email me, remind me and I'll email you back, by then I should have a pretty good idea when I'll be able to get these made up. Please give me at least a month or so then send me an email at benellinut@stny.rr.com put in the subject line "DUMMY ROUNDS" in caps so it will catch my eye, I get a lot of crap and spam emails anymore there days.
Very sorry to hear about your health problems, Mr. Wilson. Take your time and get better.
I appreciate the kind words sir but please don't feel sorry for me, I'm finally on the road to recovery and getting my life back! It was several months of fighting the infection and trying to save my foot with nothing happening but just sitting idle. Now I'm on the upside of the whole deal with all the pain and suffering behind me. By the time spring gets here I'll be up and walking on my new foot! They tell me I'll be able to do anything I want, hunt, hike, run, boating, yard work and such. They say the only thing that will hold me back is my determination.
, I am glad it was a joke hahahaha. Kind like emptying them by hammering 
them like we did with caps when I was young. Nice ringing in my ears
now. Rick B
