Are you picky about your brass?

[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.