Are you picky about your brass?

[fatelk]

I'm thinking mostly about thick military or foreign 9mm brass as I type this, but also other calibers. I size my 9mm boolits to .358 mostly, and in thicker brass they leave more of a bulge. The bulge rarely seems to cause a problem, so maybe I'm being silly.

I can afford to be picky, since I have quite a bit of range brass that I've picked up over the years and I don't shoot a whole lot. In short, I've got way more brass than I'll ever use. I usually just pick out the US stuff (RP, WIN, FC, etc) and set the foreign and military brass aside. I have bags full of PMC, S&B, and whatever else that I'll never use.

Anyone else do this, or am I just being way too picky?

[TXGunNut]

Sort a hundred or so of each and see which variety works best for your boolit and firearm. Way back when I loaded 9mm I felt RP was best, WW too thin and Fed too brittle but things have likely changed since then. Picky is good! It's good to be able to be picky.

[jrap]

I am quite picky when I'm reloading for a rifle caliber but not nearly as much for when i load for a handgun

[Petrol & Powder]

I am quite picky when I'm reloading for a rifle caliber but not nearly as much for when i load for a handgun

/\ Pretty much sums up my feelings.

[Bzcraig]

I am quite picky when I'm reloading for a rifle caliber but not nearly as much for when i load for a handgun

This describes me also. I don't sort handgun brass at all.

[pjames32]

I usually don't sort handgun brass UNLESS I'm working to a max load. Then I do.
Rifle, unless just plinking loads, are sorted and worked up for one type of brass.
PJ

[sigep1764]

If a primer seats, the brass gets used in my 9mms.

[toallmy]

I am doing the same thing sort by h.s. helps me seating plump 9mm without squashing them down .the first time I saw loading block full of unsorted 9s filled with powder througher showed case capacity difference.since then I have been sorting by h.s.

[Anschutz]

If a primer seats, the brass gets used in my 9mms. Me too. I do set the nickle aside though.

[Misskimo]

Yeh. Im picky. Bought 500 from amazon 4 days ago. Came in today
sat out in the 60°f sun here in the arctic and seperated the 9mm
yeh. Maybe being to picky since its such a short barrel compared to a riffle

[dudel]

Picky is good when you set off hand held explosives close to your face.

[bessemer20]

I guess that I'm entirely too picky as I only load win brass for my handguns. I am also lucky that I sort brass for an indoor range and can trade in all of the other stuff. The win brass just seems to be the most uniform in my opinion.

[DR Owl Creek]

I am quite picky when I'm reloading for a rifle caliber but not nearly as much for when i load for a handgun

Yup!

Dave

[bunkysdad]

I am more picky about rifle ammo, sorting into brand lots to load, but I load what I can get. I mostly reload rifle milsurp calibers and 223. The pistol rounds can be mixed for plinking

[bunkysdad]

If you have unneeded brass for the Mosin, Swiss, or British 303 I would be interested in buying some. I will keep a watch on the proper threads.

[kentuckyshooter]

I have only loaded for the 9mm so far. I throw out any brass that the calaber is not clearly marked. Would hate to send a makorov threw my lugar by carelessness. Also had 100 rounds of zq1 brass i scraped. I had bought 2 boxes cause they were cheap. Every 2 or 3 rounds would fail to eject due to swelled brass. Just didnt wont to take a chance on reloading them.

[Blackwater]

Am I picky? Well, yes and no. Sooner or later, we all have to make concessions to the time available. When loading big lots of ammo for intense re-training, or just the pleasure of creating challenging scenarios, absolute accuracy isn't terribly important, so I just use what's available. This may be for quick, turn around on signal and shoot quickly or even instinctively type things, to long range stuff, or whatever my devious mind can cook up to challenge me and keep my mind from becoming set on any given set of parameters.

For hunting or load testing, or long range shooting, or anywhere else that requires utmost consistency and accuracy, I'll trim brass and may even weigh some of it to create some ultra consistent groups of brass for those special purposes. It just all depends on what you practically CAN do, really, and on what the needs are for the purpose you're loading for. That just seems to be the natural way to do this stuff to me.

[Tom W.]

As long as it's boxer primed my handgun brass gets loaded. I get a lot of it from an indoor range. If I have to buy brass I'll go with starline....

[gwpercle]

Sized to .357 , they leave less of a bulge.
I can't afford to be picky....I reload anything I can scrounge.
Gary

[tygar]

I dont have a rifle that I don't sort, weigh, anneal, neck size some & check as close as possible. Pistol, unless for a match is thrown in the case feeder & make bullets fast & if it has a problem, my scrap bucket is right close.

[dtknowles]

I am not sure I am picky but for my 9 mms I have more brass than I know what to do with so for practice ammo I use only brass win brass and for self defense loads I use nickel win brass. I sold off thousands of pieces of other 9 mm brass and still have a few thousand I can't be bothered to deal with. I always have sorted brass by headstamps on everything, not picky just OCD. I am picky about my bench rest brass.

Tim

[Alan in Vermont]

I have started to not only sort my handgun brass by headstamp but I am also trimming it all to a uniform length. So far only rimmed stuff. I was surprised at just how much case lengths varied, all of them were not yet at the "trim to" dimension but short by various amounts. 38s varied over .050", enough to where some cases would get almost no mouth flare or crimp while others looked like a funnel and the crimp was crushed into place. Now they all get the same degree of expansion & crimp. It may not matter one lick but I can't help but think that it is one variable eliminated and that can only help with accuracy.

38 & 357 are pretty much all done now, the rest will get trimmed as they get unloaded. Haven't done 41 mag yet, need a trimmer pilot for that caliber. Not sure I want to mess with the small boatload of 45 ACP I have but I'm leaning in that direction.

[Shiloh]

Somewhat picky about 38 Special and .357. The rest of the handguns?? Not so much. Rilfes?? Yes, I'm a lot more picky.

Shiloh

[wv109323]

I am about like you. I have enough 9MM to use just the brands I know will go through my Dillon 550. Life is too short to swag crimped primer pockets in 9MM brass.

[ioon44]

I'm thinking mostly about thick military or foreign 9mm brass as I type this, but also other calibers. I size my 9mm boolits to .358 mostly, and in thicker brass they leave more of a bulge. The bulge rarely seems to cause a problem, so maybe I'm being silly.

I can afford to be picky, since I have quite a bit of range brass that I've picked up over the years and I don't shoot a whole lot. In short, I've got way more brass than I'll ever use. I usually just pick out the US stuff (RP, WIN, FC, etc) and set the foreign and military brass aside. I have bags full of PMC, S&B, and whatever else that I'll never use.

Anyone else do this, or am I just being way too picky?

I load 9mm with .3575" boolits and the only brass that has bulged to where it won't chamber is CBC, every thing else works fine.

[Alexn20]

I chuck all 9MM brass by CBC. I have also noticed CBC bulges significantly more than all other manufacturers. I have picked up enough range brass in 9MM it isn't worth the effort.

[Eddie2002]

The longer I reload the pickier I've gotten with my brass. Only shoot .380 ACP for hand gun right now but will sort different manufacturers. Loading full loads for the rifles I sort, trim and double check everything. Odd rifle brass gets loaded as plinkers for 50 yds.

[captaint]

I just sort my pistola brass by headstamp. I have enough that it's easy to spend a few minutes sorting it out..Trim ?? NO..
I spend a lot more time on my rifle brass, but I hardy remember ever picking up rifle brass. 223 maybe.. Haven't shot matches in quite a while though.

[gloob]

My 9mm sizing die is tight, necessitating an oversize expander. Hence, I size my cases from the inside, not the outside. The thicker brass does bulge more, but my expander puts the bulge there, not the bullet. So the thickness of the brass doesn't matter, so long as my guns' chambers will accommodate. Which mine unerringly do, in this caliber - even with CBC and cast bullets. Thicker brass just makes for a better fit to the chamber and less gas blowby. I'm ok with thick brass in this caliber, due to my circumstances. I once bought a couple thousand cases from Backpage, locally. I was somewhat amused to see this guy had sorted out all his S&B cases to dump on me. I didn't mind, at all.

OTOH, in 40SW, I have to avoid thicker brass, because my Glock 27 won't chamber thick cases with cast bullets, unless I crimp enough to swage the bullet.

In 45ACP, I have to pay attention to thin brass, if I want to load jacketed bullets. In that caliber, my sizing die is loose. Ditto for 223.

So I care when it matters, and I don't care when it doesn't matter.

[FISH4BUGS]

I am quite picky when I'm reloading for a rifle caliber but not nearly as much for when i load for a handgun
Brass brand is irrelvant when I load for submachine guns. 380, 9mm and 45....who cares? As long as they go bang I am a happy camper. For the auto rifles 223 and 308 makes no difference also. Just trim each time and pay attention to reloading.
I have probably 5000 miltary 9mm waiting for processing....someday.

[Ola]

I chuck all 9MM brass by CBC. I have also noticed CBC bulges significantly more than all other manufacturers. I have picked up enough range brass in 9MM it isn't worth the effort.

I use the 9mm CBC in standard loads. If the load is hot, I use other brands because the capacity of the CBC-case is smaller (as Alexn20 has noticed).

On the other hand, if one is seeking the ultimate inexpensive load for 9mm, with CBC-brass one can sometimes use a little less powder :)

[jwber]

I toss CBC, Tula (Brass) and Amerc in the scrap bucket. Does not play nice with deeply seated .358 boolits in 9mm.

[opos]

I'm picky and getting more so...don't shoot any rifle brass except my own...I buy PPU loaded ammo..get one firing to "fire form" my brass and then collet die neck size my own brass only...Handguns I load 44 special and 45 Colt only...just my own brass..have loaded other calibers in the past and had bad experineces with "range brass" or with some of that famous "internet once fired" brass...bought some "once fired" 7mm years ago and the primer pockets were big enough you could have gotten a berdan primer to fit...never again.

[Harter66]

Almost all of my auto brass is win now . Mostly because that's what there was the most of on the public range when I was able to pick it up . For a long time I didn't worry about mixed HS then I got an S&B stuck with a load that had always "been just fine" in 9mm. I do have several HS that go in the same bucket Speer,CCI and Blazer . The rest get sorted and bagged for whenever.

I would at least sort by major head stamp WCC generally goes in the ww and win bucket.

[Charlie U.]

Yes, Used to be a little picky.....as I get more into reloading I find I'm being more picky.

[MikeS]

Being picky is a good thing. But like anything else it can be taken to an extreme. I try and keep my brass segregated by headstamp, but other than berdan primed cases (where there are plenty of boxer primed ones available) I'll use almost any brand brass I have, unless, and until I have a problem with a particular brand, then I won't use it anymore.

One thing I could never understand is some folks that go to extremes with their rifle brass, cleaning it, weighing it, measuring the capacity in cc's of water of each case, etc. & then they never do any prep to their pistol brass, just shoot it, pick it up off the range floor, and throw it in the hopper of their progressive reloader! I don't own a progressive press, won't own one, I treat my pistol brass as well as I treat my rifle brass, I tumble them after each shooting, after having decapping so the primer pocket can get clean too, I check/ trim case length as needed, without going overboard. I guess everyone has their way of doing things.

[dragon813gt]

Sort of. For rifles absolutely. I only buy new brass as I've been burnt w/ "once fired" brass. No cost savings when every case has incipient case head separation. Only exception to the rule is LC brass. For pistols I don't care. I throw S&B in the scrap pile because it requires more effort to size and the primer pockets are usually to small. For revolvers there is only one brand I use, Starline.

[robertsm53]

I trash the S&B brass, I have had to many primer seating problems with that brand, other than that not picky at all.

[captain-03]

I am quite picky when I'm reloading for a rifle caliber but not nearly as much for when i load for a handgun

I am in this camp!!

[waltherboy4040]

For pistol as long as the brass looks good and the pocket is tight I use it. I don't care for nickle coated brass tho, seems like it splits very easily.

[RKJ]

I don't sort my pistol brass unless I'm using it for a hunting load. I don't sort for the autos usually, just clean em and load em. I do sort for rifle brass as I don't load that many for hunting, it just makes me feel a little better. Also, I've found when using military brass (9mm/45) that I don't have to clean up the primer pocket very much. I'm using LEE and RCBS dies and when depriming and the majority of them pop out the crimp along with the primer. When I hit one that won't prime I just pull it off the press and toss it for later. It is a little more time consuming but not as much as depriming a bunch of brass.

[Big Boomer]

Yesterday I sorted a few thousand pieces of "once-fired" 9mm brass purchased from a member of this forum at a very reasonable price. However, it was not all once-fired. Some brass had very flat primers and had been obviously overloaded. I will see how loose the primer pockets are when I de-prime them by hand and toss those too easily de-primed . I sorted the brass into FC, R-P, WIN, Blazer and "other" categories. However, since Speer is the same as Blazer and showed up frequently, I will probably put those into the same batch. PMC and S&B showed up frequently, too. Some complain about S&B but I have always found it very useable as well as CBC. I clean them with a vibratory tumbler by separate batches and will load Sierra's fine 115 gr. JHP bullet in my carry ammo for a Sig P938. Something I never saw before showed up in some of the "other" brass ... a "ledge" down toward the head of the inside of the cases of some odd brass that would prevent a bullet from being seated too deeply. Also would make the head of the brass stronger. Will have to separate them out and test regarding head strength. Had never seen that before. I practice using a lead 125 gr. Lee boolit in whatever "other" brass is handy, though if I am wanting best accuracy I use same headstamp for uniformity. Big Boomer

[jwber]

Something I never saw before showed up in some of the "other" brass ... a "ledge" down toward the head of the inside of the cases of some odd brass that would prevent a bullet from being seated too deeply. Also would make the head of the brass stronger. Will have to separate them out and test regarding head strength. Had never seen that before.

AMMOLOAD, IMT have those ledges...they hit the scrap bucket right away. I've seen multiple pictures of those cases separating at the ledge.

[lobowolf761]

If you have unneeded brass for the Mosin, Swiss, or British 303 I would be interested in buying some. I will keep a watch on the proper threads.
Check out Powder Valley for brass. I have bought from them for my Swiss,Moisin and 7.7 Jap. I have been using the Privi brass in those calibers and others including 8x57. This outfit in out of Kansas.

[fatelk]

AMMOLOAD, IMT have those ledges...they hit the scrap bucket right away. I've seen multiple pictures of those cases separating at the ledge.

I've been using any that I get to trim to 9x18 Makarov. My theory is that it's a thicker base, thinner neck, and a lower pressure round. I haven't shot enough of them yet to know if it's a good theory. Any trouble and they go in the scrap bucket.

[jsizemore]

My first wildcat was a 25 Bullberry in my Contender. That's a 30-30 case necked to 25 caliber. An article in Handloader magazine (Nov-Dec 1989/ #142) said that if I used W-W brass I wouldn't have to ream or turn the necks on my brass. Guess what? Necks were too thick so I had to learn how to ream and turn necks. It's been a long slippery slope since. So, If it's an accurate round then it should be brass from the same Lot and for the rest, whatever you got. By the way, the 25BB still shoots minute of turkey head at 150 meters with cast and hole in the horn at 200.

[therealhitman]

Is the mouth cracked? No? Ream the pocket and use it! [smilie=w:

[popper]

I was surprised when I first saw those stepped cases. SIL gets range reloads with that stuff, it works fine. I load a heavier boolit and they don't fit. The ones I tried didn't have the 9mm hourglass shape, easier to 'chamber check'.

[Motor]

Big Boomer. Just because primers are flat it doesn't necessarily mean a hot load.I've been a brass scavenger for over 30 years and have found many factory loaded casings that "look" like they were loaded way too hot. It has a lot to do with what they were fired in.

When inspecting brass I look at 2 key things to determine if its once fired or not. 1) Primer color. Most factory ammo has brass colored primers not all but most. 2) Marks on the case body indicating that the case has been resized. Combining 1) and 2) will usually tell you if it's once fired or not.

Also knowing what brands use silver primers helps a lot too. I know you can get brass colored primers I use some myself but I find it rare to pick up reloaded brass with brass colored primers. Unless it's my own. LOL
Motor

[Hondo 60]

Picky? Maybe.

I use the MTM plastic ammo boxes & try like the dickens to keep, what was originally one box, all together.
Most of my brass was once factory ammo.
Partial boxes drive me nuts.

[bangerjim]

If it is round, made of brass, and not cracked.......I shoot it in all pistols.

I take more care with bottlenecks.

banger

[lobowolf761]

Just what banger said but I do sort by head stamp.

[Mauser48]

I dont care for rifle or pistol. Unless I'm loading match ammo for rifle or I'm doing 223. I only sort out military from commercial in 223 but dont separate every manufacture.

[Big Boomer]

Motor: That's why I de-prime by hand any case primers that have the appearance of being overloads, which means that instead of just dumping brass into the Dillon XL 650 auto case dispenser, I examine each one by hand. If the primer is equally difficult to exit the primer pocket with the tap of a little brass hammer, then I am reasonably assured that it was not an overload. Anyway, that's the methodology I employ. Anything suspicious goes into the recycle bucket. I value all the firearms I possess and give them their just due. Big Boomer