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Thread: once fired brass...uh huh.

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    once fired brass...uh huh.

    i bought a bunch of 44 mag brass about 2500 to 3000 ....seller states "once fired"

    they were all cleaned real shiney!

    so i decapped them ...sized and flared them.

    i'm "o.c.d." so i like sorting brass by head stamps up to a point....8 or 9 separate jugs... one for CBC
    one for W-W SUPER ...one for PMC .....R-P ....FC you know, nice and neat.

    so on to priming....

    i use the RCBS bench mounted "APS" priming machine ...its good and it can be fast!

    but the primers were going in way too easy....thought it was my imagination.

    after priming about 1200 i had a few jugs with all their respective headstamps
    all finished ..........when i spied a couple free loose primers in the bottom of the jug.

    ****....worst fears confirmed.

    so i poured out the contents of that jug .....cbc brass....and examined a couple...they look okay.
    let me try putting a skinny ice pick inside the shell case ...thru the primer hole ...onto the new primer's anvil on the inside ...and push....no it didn't detonate...it fell out.

    so i sat down and did the same over 1200 times ...they all fell out ...of every brand of brass i had.

    thought i had a bad batch winchester Large Pistol primers....as they measure by my mic's at .2094
    which is only 6 ten-thousandths small.

    then used pin gages on the brass .....almost consistently a .209 pin fits in with very little looseness.
    my guess is not a half a thousandth loose.

    .210 will not go into any of them.

    they are supposed to be so tight that you cannot push them back out with a probe ...right?
    of course i'm right!

    so i looked even closer to the primer pockets.....8 out of 10 has a faint red ring close to the heads surface.

    red paint

    my "once fired" brass has been fired so many times the primers pockets were loose for him...so he painted the primers in.

    then cleaned them in ss pins so well you could hardly tell without using a microscope (which i have)
    evidence of red paint on the pocket wall where the flash hole is ...(likely used a q-tip)

    also on the winchester brand they were shiney too. except the rim and head stamps were pretty scratched up.

    i imagine that my "once fired" 44 magnum brass has probably seen more than a dozen re-loads
    maybe more.

    i have maybe 10,000 rounds of 44 mag....and that's more than i'll be alive to shoot...but that's not the point.

    it aggravates me to be taken by a huckster.

    i can't say who i bought from because i bought from multiple sources....that info is lost on me.

    spent the last 2 days painting in primers in brass i know i won't want to reload.

    i'll leave time capsule notes in the ammo instructing my son in law what's up and why they are painted ....and to not try to reload them as it is more of a time waster than its worth.

    ratz!

    rant over.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master


    Nueces's Avatar
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    I've seen cases with remnants of red paint about the primer pockets, but they had been factory proof loads. Fired just once, but at very high pressures. Could be what you got, hey?

  3. #3
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    I wish you did know the vendor so you could confront the Bass turd. I bought "once fired 7.62 NATO " brass once and I had to stand to fl size them with lots of lube. In a rare case of rational thought I only loaded 3 rounds and they would not chamber in my rifle. I called the seller & after reporting my problem he admitted they might have been once fired in an M60. He refunded my money and didn't want the brass back. I hammered it flat-ish and gave it to the scrap yard. Thank goodness it was only 100 rds.
    Last edited by Texas by God; 03-04-2017 at 10:43 PM.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Threw away about 1,500 "once-fired" .357mag cases earlier this week. Not the worst though, last year I tossed about 3 gal of .38 special that must have been used by a bullseye shooter for a decade, even found loaded misfires in with the brass. Most vendors are good, not all.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    I bought some once fired 38-55 cases and when they arrived anyone could tell they had been fired multiple times and without cleaning. Once fired brass should look almost as bright shiny as new brass. Some people just can't resist lying over a few dollars .
    A GUN THAT'S COCKED AND UNLOADED AIN'T GOOD FOR NUTHIN'........... ROOSTER COGBURN

  6. #6
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    Live and learn. I will never buy brass on this forum again ever. Buyer beware.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Are you using Win Gold primers (newer)
    or Win Silver Primers (Older)
    You can check the size of primers with a Mic
    I have found CCI are a bit bigger when I Checked My last batch

    I was priming some of my older rifle Brass and the primers were seating easy (Win Gold)
    switched to CCI and they went from easy--------> to these are OK

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    This primer thing has me scratching my head. I had several hundred Winchester 243 cases that I loaded using white box silver primers, went in nice and tight. That made them 2x fired after I fired them. When I went to load them for round three I switched to a blue box gold color primers. They were so loose they fell in the pockets and you could tap the rim and they would fall out. Tried more of the white box silvers and they were so tight I really had to pull hard on the Forster lever to get them in. I opened a brand new bag of Winchester brass and the gold Winchester primers just fall in and out. Talked to another guy and he had the same thing with Brand new right out of the bag Winchester brass and Winchester gold primers. I didn't ever pull out the calipers. Winchester has problems. Wish I could find some Tula's. Now those go in tight.

  9. #9
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    mozeppa, What a bum deal! I'd be smokin mad. People around my area know to NOT pick up my brass if i leave it on the ground, its very well used. Bummer somebody would cheat ya like that! Pretty sad world we live in these days, there are Con artist crooks that do nothing more everyday than strategize how to steal your credit cards, bank cards, etc. i wish i could have lived in my Grandparents time, where a handshake and your word was all that was needed.
    Last edited by 54bore; 03-05-2017 at 05:18 AM.

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy 44deerslayer's Avatar
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    Boy that sucks iv had that happen to me on 308s from the gun shows

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    using anything but winchester brand is not an option...

    only because i have over 160 thousand.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    Sorry for you mozeppa...good rant...I too am as OCD about brass.

    I would start looking closer at the information provided by the seller in his avatar...how much they want to reveal about themselves is probably indicative of their trustability level.

    I too have also noticed an increase in claims of 'Once Fired' and it has run the red flag up for me.

    "We are getting a pretty low grade of stock around here!"
    a m e r i c a n p r a v d a

    Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!

    “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell

  13. #13
    Boolit Master



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    I may get taken once by a person but I try not to let it happen again.
    Are my kids/grandkids more important than "o"'s kids, to me they are,darn tooting they are!!! They deserve the same armed protection afforded "o"'s kids.
    I have been hoodwinked but not by"o"
    In God we trust,in "o" never trust
    Support those that support the Constitution and the 2nd Amendant

  14. #14
    Boolit Master 1johnlb's Avatar
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    Mozeppa all is not lost. I've fixed many 308 and 8mm Mauser cases without issue and see no reason why 44 mag can't be done the same way. I used a process layed out by Larry G. In his tread converting Berean primed cases. It involves the use of an arbor through the case and lightly striking a ball bearing sitting in the primer pocket. Yeah it adds a one time step to the process but it better than scrapping all the brass.

    Sorry wrong thread he used a swagger
    Last edited by 1johnlb; 03-05-2017 at 09:49 AM.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    Now I understand why some guys ONLYwant dirty,non- deprimed brass. I think a while back there were Polls on dirty or clean preferred.
    I'm no expert here but I find if a seller has "brass for sale", you have to ask history.
    If they say tumbled,de primed, resized etc... you have to guess, or check seller history?
    If they state range pick ups,most looks to be once fired, you have 75/20 chance it is. (5% ?)
    If posted, My once fired, should be go to go !
    And the old guy," These were loaded several times", still life, look good etc...You get what you bought!

    I do believe most on here are all good folks. If you wait a month or two to open the box and inspect then I think it's your own fault ( I guilty of this) because I think you would loose your recourse to return or question the seller.

    I prefer to buy on here mostly. I Have bought on other forums,vendors and only a few times got some mix of **** brass with the good.

    I like dirty brass !

    Mike

  16. #16
    Boolit Master


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    If it's that old, you should start seeing mouth splits as soon as you start belling the cases.

  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I've made numerous purchases of brass from forum members. I've never been disappointed with either quantity or quality. Sure there have always been a few that I culled, After all it's USED brass. I have never had reason to question the integrity of the seller. It's up to the buyer to immediately inspect and affirm the expected product.
    I feel sorry for those that have been wronged.
    Information not shared. is wasted.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
    farmerjim's Avatar
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    I got one batch of brass from here that was terrible. Will not buy anything from them again. All others have been great.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have sold a bunch of brass over the years. If I do not know the history, I state that. I do not clean it, I always thought that cleaning brass before selling it was a way to hide older brass.

  20. #20
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    RogerDat's Avatar
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    Range brass is range brass, new brass 1x fired by me is 1x fired. I clean mostly because I don't want to store dirty brass and I run it through a bucket with citric acid wash to clean out lead compound powder residue from primer. I may give it a trip through the crushed walnut to further clean it. It lets one easily see if that is a surface stain that will easily clean off since it is gone or deep tarnish since it is still there. I leave the primers in. Far as I know most commercial brass uses brass primers so the silver ones are almost certainly reloads.

    I am sorting range brass for my own use, I will snag anything that I think others can use, a lot of times I sell/trade it at gun show where buyer can inspect. For unusual calibers I'll offer it here. Things such as 35 Rem or 45 Win Mag and other stuff that isn't commonly available used. Once I had a bunch of commercial 30-06 that looked good so I sold it here. Not having staked primers seemed like it was worth passing on to members rather than selling to brass vendor.

    Recent brass was sort of rough shape, so I offered it at a low price to allow some rejects, with offer to refund purchase price if shipped back. I'll eat shipping to you if you think condition warrants you eating cost of shipping back to me for a refund of brass price. I don't think what I do is somehow "special" most here who sell brass are people who are unwilling to diminish their good name over the amount of money involved in a typical brass deal. I would also say it is on the buyer to check condition on arrival in order to give them a chance to make explanation or good on your order.

    All the brass I have purchased here has been as expected, I make it a point to add my comment to straight shooters and deadbeats reviews or suggest them as a source. Better than slamming the lesser suppliers is promoting the good ones by providing your positive reviews.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check