Steel shell casings

I've looked & can't find any threads on this. I need some tips. I got some brass & steel shell casings last night. I noticed the steel casings have a small brass middle. How would I remove this? Or is it worth it? I tried a punch but all I do is knock the whole bullet and all out of my vise. If I squeeze the vice tighter then I can't get my punch through. Does anybody know a trick or am I wasting my time on such a small piece of brass?

I like to think every little bit adds up, but for the effort that sounds like a waste of time. There's got to be other items for you to scrap or break down that are more worthwhile. When I'm picking wire up off the street or breaking down certain transformers for the copper wire, I like to think 'that copper wire is worth at least 5 cents or so' and I throw it with the rest of my copper hoard. Those small brass buttons you're struggling to recover can't be worth more than a tiny fraction of a cent. That's just the way I think of it, and I spend a lot of time breaking things down for bits of copper, brass, aluminum.

How do I tell if the shells are reloadable? I never thought about this before, but maybe I could sell them to someone who would want to reload them.

Steel casings are not reload-able. The little brass piece is the primer. They normally come out with some firm pressure. The fact that these are steel and the primers are hard to remove indicates that they are military surplus and the primers are crimped in. I wouldn't put anymore effort into the project. Throw them in with your sheet/shred and call it good.

Thanks for the info everyone. Your always very helpful. Can't wait until I can be helpful to someone on this forum!!!

Let's just say you're dead set on getting the primers out. Here's how you do it. Take your casing and put it in a deep well socket that's just big enough to fit. Drop in your punch, hang onto the socket and give the punch a smack with the ol' hammer. The primer is shorter than the square hole the ratchet fits in and the right size socket keeps it centered over the hole so they just pop right out. Well, maybe not that easy with the steel ones but you get what I mean.

Thanks so much

Military shells have a different primer.
Normal shells have a centre hole in front of the primer and if you use a long thin pin punch you can push it out.

Once, while doing that to a shotgun shell, and as there was only 4 shells to do....
I used a jewelers screwdriver, the last shell with the live primer was different and the screwdriver went into the primer and set it off.
It fired out and went directly thru the end of my finger....

Google image - eesakiwi . For the photos.
Let me tell you, getting shot does not hurt. It STINGS!!!!!!. Its like a hornet stinging for a few hours, not just a few seconds..

So yeah, theresa danger to getting the primers out..

Military shells have a single peice primer. Inside the primer pocket there's two tiny pin holes and a peg in the centre.
The primer sits over the peg like a plastic cap out of a cap gun does.
Because there's less tolerence in the setup, its a lot harder to reload them.
The military don't want their used shells used against themselves.

You can buy a 'primer pick' to remove these primers, its sorta like a bottle opener.
But to reload these shells you need to drill out the centre peg before inserting the primer.

There's a bit of a fashion for bullet shell belts as a clothing accesory right now.
There's a shortage of these so anyone who's got one, is 'in the know' about where they got theirs.

I'm.making a belt for me, and 3 dog collars for someone else.
We, in NZ, buy Finlands etc expired tracers, remove tracer and put in hunting projectile for cheaper ammo.
I.buy the unused tracer bullets for hobby work.