Once fired brass

[samari46]

I also had a buddy who taught cww classes. He really got tired of sweeping up all the once fired brass. I just happened to ask him if I could have some of the 38 special brass. He cheerfully handed me the broom and dust pan and said it's all yours. Safe to say I have a 40mm ammo can so won't run out anytime soon and that was some years back. A lot of it has the cannelure on the case so safe to assume it's wadcutter brass. The rest is mostly Remington with no ring. gave up scrounging brass long ago, my back is reminding me of how much I've picked up and inspected then tumbled. Frank

[FISH4BUGS]

I also had a buddy who taught cww classes. He really got tired of sweeping up all the once fired brass. I just happened to ask him if I could have some of the 38 special brass. He cheerfully handed me the broom and dust pan and said it's all yours. Safe to say I have a 40mm ammo can so won't run out anytime soon and that was some years back. A lot of it has the cannelure on the case so safe to assume it's wadcutter brass. The rest is mostly Remington with no ring. gave up scrounging brass long ago, my back is reminding me of how much I've picked up and inspected then tumbled. Frank

I have 5 gallon buckets of 38, 9mm, 380, 44 mag, 357, 223 (3 of those) and 308 brass.
I STILL pick through the brass buckets at the range and pick up loose brass.
I am a hopeless brass junkie.
My name is Donald and I am a hoarder.

[Lloyd Smale]

I guess if I didn't reload id leave it myself. To old and my back is to bad to pick up brass that's worth a buck a lb. That's lots of bending over to buy a candy bar.

Or who would leave all that scrap brass at $1 a pound just lying there. When my coffee can of primers & defective cases I have crushed gets full I take it in for money! Which I promptly spend on lead Left the house with a coffee can inside a bucket come back with the bucket. All looks the same from dear wife's viewpoint.

[Lloyd Smale]

Only way to really say without ANY doubt its once fired is if you bought it yourself and fired it. That said I feel pretty safe buying it of someone here. Even if its been fired twice and looks good its no big deal. Just look it over for signs of neck splitting or case head separation and load it and go shooting. I have much more problem trying to stretch the absolute last bit of life out of my brass then I have with buying once fired. Some of the calibers like the 7stw, 300 ultra 8mag and the weatherbys are hard to find and expensive and its tough for me to toss them when there might be one more firing in them. Handgun brass I don't even worry about. Pretty much in my experience is if your gun wont shoot out of battery and you don't use something that looks like a guppy growing by the base the case will split from expanding the neck well before it will give out at the base.

[mold maker]

If not factory fresh new, it's just brass. Since chambers vary greatly when new and some are worn from many years service, none of it is equal after the first firing. Inspect it and load at your own risk, period.

[redhawk0]

"Once" upon a time...it was fired.

redhawk

[higgins]

In my considerable scavenging experience, reloaded rifle brass is often shinier than once-fired commercial brass, so one cannot go by shine alone. Crimped primers and primer seal are reliable indicators of being once-fired, but most of the time once-fired brass just "looks right" to the experienced eye; visible annealing, etc. Finding several of the same headstamp further convinces me - reloaders don't leave it on the ground. As it's not as easy to pick up brass as it used to be, I'm more selective now. I don't pick up 9mm, .40, .223 much any more.

I've noticed that some indoor ranges sell commercially reloaded handgun ammunition, but I guess in their mind that constitutes factory loaded.

[jimlj]

[QUOTE=fatelk;4448321]

On a totally unrelated note, I have a NIB Colt Python for sale, cheap.



I have several hundred pounds of "once fired brass" I'd trade for that NIB Colt Python.

[RogerDat]

I guess it depends on what the meaning of "once" is

Or it could depend on what you mean by "is"

I hit the brass bucket after law enforcement practice once pulled out two 5 gallon buckets worth. Recovered pile of .38's pile of .223 which I could use and a bunch of 9mm and 40 S&W which I don't use. Did that stop me? No it did NOT! I have at least a couple of coffee cans in many common caliber brass size. Doesn't take up much room, a used set of dies can be had for $20 or even less. It may be that some family member or friend will purchase something in those calibers, heck I might and brass and a couple of dies doesn't take up much room or spoil. Never know when a few hundred .308 cases will be just the thing needed.

I sometimes sell good finds. It is all range pickup I will note stuff that I believe is clearly reloaded, primer crimp gone, silver primer where brass is expected, etc. I will note that it appears primer crimp is intact. My goal is to have the buyer know as much as I know about the brass from inspecting so they can make an informed decision. There are people here I would accept 1x claims for brass, they are the same folks that specify unknown firings or known more than 1x etc. which is why I buy most of what I buy used from here.

[RED BEAR]

It is almost impossible to know for sure it is once fired unless the range requires only new ammo to be used.

[lightman]

It is almost impossible to know for sure it is once fired unless the range requires only new ammo to be used.

I'm not sure that you know even then, for sure! About the best we can do is look at the clues and make an assumption. If the brass looks shiney and is near a factory box without load data written on it, its probably once fired. Military brass with the brass primer intact and the crimp in place is pretty certain to be once fired. Most reloaders won't leave their brass unless its a match where you can't recover it.

Some reloaders have a habit of leaving their brass when they consider the usefull life has been used up. This is a practice that I like to see discontinued.

[owejia]

I have some 38 spl nickel that has been reloaded so many times the nickel is almost wore off. Straight wall cartridges never worry me unless the primers are loose.

[RogerDat]

....

Some reloaders have a habit of leaving their brass when they consider the usefull life has been used up. This is a practice that I like to see discontinued.

+ 100% on this. Smash the bad brass case mouth, then sell them as scrap. You get money for the scrap and no one accidentally or through lack of experience ends up hurt from brass you know is worn out.

Not everyone will know what to look as far as worn brass and even those that do may miss something you already know is on its last legs when you fired it. When I'm going through a scrap bucket I'm paying for the brass, in exchange I get calibers I sort out to keep. Finding wore out brass is a bummer and forces me to do extra checking on that caliber as I sort out what I'm going to buy, but worse is the stretched cases that I can't detect as easily until I get it home with strong light and a bent wire pick. By then I'm already out the money.

If you know the case is bad it is a touch of class and courtesy
to make sure no one will use it or mistake it as good case.

[Livin_cincy]

" Once fired... Twice Shot "

[RED BEAR]

i buy once fired all the time can't really afford new brass. i use lee lube and inspect every round as i lube it and at every stage of reloading.

[dale2242]

I normally sell range pickup brass.
I state that in my ad.
How do I know how many times it`s been shot.
I try to keep my prices low enough to make up for any bad brass...dale