Sorting 9mm Brass

[kingemandigger]

I'm sure other people do this and I think I've seen threads on it before, but was wondering if anyone has the same problems as me and sorts the brass they pick up @ the range. Recently, because of the shortage, I've been finding a lot of weird brands that seem to have too small dimentions to fit my cast .3565-.357 boolits. These include head stamps CBC (magtech), RTAG (rattlesnake brand), HRTRS (?), and older S&B with the primer sealant, and sometimes the GFL (fiocci) and NATO brass. All these seem slightly more difficult to size, seat the primer, and no matter how much I expand the case mouth, shave a ring of lead off of the boolit (effectively sizing it smaller and taking off my powder coating). Mabey this is due to metric sizes or different dimentions. I have no problems with fc r-p blazer etc. Does anyone have similar problems or prefer certain brands of brass?

[mdi]

I too shoot a lot of range "pick ups", most of the same mfgs you mention. One of my favorite bullets is a Lee 125 RNFP and I size it to .357" and I haven't experienced the problem you mention. I'm using Lee dies and all military brass has the primer pocket chamfered, a good amount of flare, and other then that, no difference in brass I can determine (and I sort by headstamp, mostly out of habit)...

BTW; I run the bullets through my sizer both before and after PC coating.

[dudel]

I pick up 9mm range brass. While I find some of the off brands, I find much more Federal and Winchester. Seems to be related to what's available at Walmart.

[btreanor]

Yup, I've had accuracy issues with mixed brass and boolits. I standardized with Winchester brass in 9mm because I had so much of it.

[kingemandigger]

Interesting to hear. I have noticed that the seating die (lee) forces the flaired case back to its original dimentions once the bullet is about 1/2 way seated and the sharp edge of the brass scrapes off both pc and lead. Ill post pics of some pulled bullets as soon as I can

[beex215]

cbc cases are terrible. they are so tight that the overall length is much higher than wanted.

[xacex]

I sort through it and only use the Winchester commercial brass, and R-P. They seem to be dimensionally similar with wall thickness, and I have a bunch of it. I have a bunch of federal, but won't use it because it has thinner walls. I don't toss the rest of the brass in case I need it someday, or if someone comes by that needs some 9mm cases I just toss those in a bucket for them without thinking twice about it. It has been a pain in the butt picking up all of that 9mm over the years, but i am glad I did. It seems to me that I see quite a bit less on the ground these days.

[bcp477]

I've had problems with certain headstamps, specifically bulged cases. One of my 9mm pistols has a very tight chamber, so the bulged cases often would not fully chamber. The cast bullets I use are mostly 0.357".

I have since fixed the problem by using a 38 special case flaring insert (the insert from a 38 special die)... which flares the case a good bit more than the 9mm flare insert. It also expands the cases much deeper than the 9mm insert, because the tapered portion of the insert is much longer (than the 9mm one). The result is that I can start the bullets into the cases with finger pressure, making sure that they go in straight. Then, I finish seating the bullets with my seating die. Finally, I use a Lee FCD die to just straighten out the case mouths - very light pressure.

As such, the bulged case problem has disappeared.....and I have no issues with bullet tension or chambering, even in my "tight" 9mm barrel.

I also have no problems with shaved bullets at all, now.

[tazman]

Interesting to hear. I have noticed that the seating die (lee) forces the flaired case back to its original dimentions once the bullet is about 1/2 way seated and the sharp edge of the brass scrapes off both pc and lead. Ill post pics of some pulled bullets as soon as I can

I had much the same problem. My solution was to back the seating die out so it doesn't crimp the case. Then crimp in a fourth die. It solved the shaving problem and gave me a much better crimp. I have had zero failures to feed since I went to this setup. Even boolits I had trouble with before such as semi-wadcutters go through without issues now.

[kingemandigger]

Tazman... Great advice. I didn't really think about that but it is true that the die is probably putig a slight crimp on the brass, thus shaving my bullet. Ill back it out some.

[kingemandigger]

I do have .38 spl dies to so I can use that method as well. However I don't have a factory crimp die to correct it. One thig I have noticed is If the case is flared too much it does not go smoothly into the seating die.

[Calamity Jake]

Most all foreign made 9MM brass get scraped in my house, I use a little IMI and S & B, the rest are made in USA.

[upnorthwis]

The only sorting I do is to toss the ones with the bulged bases. Sizer die won't size that far down and you will get a false reading when you gage them. When I used to use them, I kept adjusting the taper crimp die down lower till they would go in gage. Finally had them so small they gave me the worst case of leading I had ever seen. Once I figured out what the problem was, bulged bases now go in scrap. Not worth it for me to buy bulge remover die either.

[dakotashooter2]

I've bent a few decaping pins on oddball brass with undersized flash holes.......

[tazman]

The only sorting I do is to toss the ones with the bulged bases. Sizer die won't size that far down and you will get a false reading when you gage them. When I used to use them, I kept adjusting the taper crimp die down lower till they would go in gage. Finally had them so small they gave me the worst case of leading I had ever seen. Once I figured out what the problem was, bulged bases now go in scrap. Not worth it for me to buy bulge remover die either.

The Lee factory crimp die is famous here for causing leading in just about all straight wall pistol cases. It sizes the case so it will chamber all right, but it sizes the boolit too small to fit properly so you get leading.
Since all my dies are Lee, I simply purchased a Lee taper crimp die. It doesn't have a seating system in it at all, just a taper crimp. I backed the seating die out far enough that it wouldn't even begin to crimp the case. Adjusted the seating depth and used the taper crimp die in the fourth hole on my turret. It does take a bit longer but the quality of my ammunition improve immensely. I no longer have any feeding issues at all and I did before.
I haven't had any issues with getting the boolit to start into the case. I adjusted the expander die so I had enough belling on the case the boolits fit right in.
My alloy is maybe a little harder than some so my boolits don't get sized down by the case when I seat them.

[Cherokee]

I use every boxer primed brass case I find, except there is one that has a thick lower body and what appears to be a pronounced inside shelf, half way down from the mouth, that the base of the bullet sets on - those go to scrap and I don't recall the HS. I process the same HS cases as a batch and have found some necks thicker than others but they all flare so there is no cast boolit shaving. Normal taper crimp with separate RCBS TC die.

[spfd1903]

If you still have lead smears on some brass/boolit combinations, a slight chamfer of the mouth I.D. will take the sharp edge off.

[MT Gianni]

I use a 35 cal expander in an M die and find it irons things out to accept .357 diameter. I only go to the first step flare not the second.

[tazman]

I use a 35 cal expander in an M die and find it irons things out to accept .357 diameter. I only go to the first step flare not the second.
I have been hearing about those on this site but have never seen one. I looked on Lyman's site and couldn't get any information or pictures to show how the expander looks or works. If you or someone could post some pictures of the important inside parts of the M die I would be appreciative.
Thanks

[bcp477]

Using a 38 special insert in the regular 9mm flaring die does the same thing.

[kingemandigger]

I use every boxer primed brass case I find, except there is one that has a thick lower body and what appears to be a pronounced inside shelf, half way down from the mouth, that the base of the bullet sets on - those go to scrap and I don't recall the HS. I process the same HS cases as a batch and have found some necks thicker than others but they all flare so there is no cast boolit shaving. Normal taper crimp with separate RCBS TC die.

I know exactly what you are talking about. Those have the headstamp "ammoload". What is weird is that the powder dosent actually seem to sit any higher in the case. Other than the bizzar shelf and seemingly similar case capacity, they load great.

[trapper9260]

Using a 38 special insert in the regular 9mm flaring die does the same thing.

Thank you for letting know on that ,i have not had any problems yet on my mix brass. but I know what to do now if I do.I size my boolits to 356 for 9mm and have no problems .No leading or feeding or shooting on target.
i

[captaint]

I load single stage with Lyman M dies, the 4 die set with the separate taper crimp die. First, any of us NOT chamfering the inside case mouth, I feel are asking for trouble. Heck, you only have to do it once and done. I size my 9's to just a hair under .358 and I haven't had any loading problems in any brass headstamp. I did, however, recently purchase 1K Mil (WW) cases just for consistency sake. After swaging the primer pockets, all is quite well with that brass..
Maybe I'm just lucky.... Mike

[mdi]

Interesting to hear. I have noticed that the seating die (lee) forces the flaired case back to its original dimentions once the bullet is about 1/2 way seated and the sharp edge of the brass scrapes off both pc and lead. Ill post pics of some pulled bullets as soon as I can
If any scraping occurs, you need to add more flare to the case mouth...