You occasionally see loose 50 caliber bullets at gun shows. It actually works pretty good on straight wall cases.
This must be a sickness, kind of like scrounging lead! I'm working my way through the 2nd of two 20mm ammo cans of scrounged 9mm brass. It don't make sense to spend much time on a bent 9mm case but..............
A Gerber pocket tool rides in my left utility pocket just for those bent beggers. I fix most of them.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the trouble with many shooting experts is not that they're ignorant; its just that they know so much that isn't so.
Your in good company. I've made what others would call junk usable again and what can't be reloaded are repurposed.
In my hunting survival pack I have no less than 8 old, damaged casings filled with small amounts of powder all sealed in case I happen to fall in water. Perfect for starting a fire when the weather conditions just won't let one get going.
Believe me, if you've ever been lost, wet or cold and need a fire (like I have been) the easiest way to get a fire going is the best way.
So yeah, those casing have an afterlife!
I am currently hand-trimming a pile of .223 cases I have laboriously converted to 7.62 Tokarev. Concurrently, am converting primer pockets on Berdan primed 7.5 Swiss to Boxer primer. If I charged a nominal hourly rate for my labor, they would cost me about $2.00 apiece.
I get it honestly; both my parents were raised during the Great Depression. I have trouble throwing away anything.
Wayne
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free
Sometimes a reloader just does things because he can. Or to see if he can. It don't have to make sense to anyone else!
I do all sorts of things that don't make a lot of sense to most folks. Trying to fix beat up brass is a small one. Making 7.62x25 brass from 38spl before it was available was fun. Making 22 CF brass from 5.7x28 is a real challenge and doesn't really make a lot of sense but I now know it can be done.
To me that's what it's about, knowing if I can do something.
Let’s hope us shooters/handloaders are not forced in becoming a bunch of anonymous “McGivers” by a tyrannical future government” but if that comes to pass the fact that many or most of us CAN improvise under less that ideal conditions is imperative.
Right now in our relatively free spaces we can make inquires within various venues about how to do most anything but let that totalitarian Genie out of the bottle and see where you stand.
What resides between your ears or what you can glean from someone in your trusted inner circle of friends is going to be about the some total of knowledge at your disposal.
Three44s
Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207
“There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”
I just like the challenge.
I also go to extreme lengths squeezing the last ounce of use from most everything. But in this case I’d have to agree with the OP’s wife.
I am guilty as charged! I have a set of tools by my bench for working over brass. I fix them as best i can. Load them with practice loads. Shoot um up and most of the time I can't tell the cases from non-damaged on the next reload. Like others have stated, It isn't because I have a shortage. It is because I want to see if I can. About the only brass I don't pick up are small cases = .25 /.32/ 380s (sometimes) I had a friend that loaded 380 and I save what I picked up for him but he moved to the big range in the sky last winter. I try not to pick up really muddy cases, in common calibers, anymore. But do scrounge odd cases and trade them to someone that has a gun to shoot them out of. If I shot a hundred rounds a week (in any of the guns I shoot) I would probably never run out of brass (or fixens to reload that brass). I , like many of you, have bought guns just because I have come into a large lot of brass or bullets or a set of dies to load a different caliber. I am weak!
I like reforming brass too. I also like when i find old weathered brass that turned almost black. Run it through the tumbler with some mothers and mineral spirits and its shines it up. Sometimes folks at the gun club will ask where did you get that ammo?
One round at a time.
Member of the NRA,GOA and FAOC. Gun clubs Zerby rod and gun club. Keystone Fish and Game Association.
I'm the same way...If I see it on the ground I salvage it and "save" it....even if I don't need it.....call it therapy
Death to every foe and traitor and hurrah, my boys, for freedom !
not here, just toss in scrap bucket headed to recycler, $1.40 per lb here.
Resurrecting damaged brass is good practice for whatever apocalypse comes along and I keep getting a little better at it. Haven't had much luck rebuilding primers yet though.
I just visited my brother a couple of weeks ago, he gave me almost a full five gallon bucket full of .243 brass. It was all once fired, and it was also ruined. He stored it in a wooden storage bin outside, and a family of rock chucks ate a hole in in and moved inside. Filled everything with dirt and pissed on everything. Brass is all corroded and only good for scrap. Dang, there is probably 2000 emptys in there. Oh well good thing I don't own a 243. the toolman.
I'm frugal I tell you! I try to fix all that brass because I... I.... I'm saving money! That's it! I know the savings will kick in real soon.....
I get it honestly; both my parents were raised during the Great Depression. I have trouble throwing away anything.
Wayne
This is me also. My grandma saved short pieces of string... "Why?" I asked.... "I'll tie them together to get the length I need." was the reply....
I will do anything to save a piece of spent brass,unless it is or has a crack/split in it then I take the pliers and crush the mouth shut.
I'm of a similar mindset as rmantoo, I like to feel a sense of the accomplishment. It's not about saving money or brass. I actually find all aspects of reloading fun and relaxing. If I don't feel like that I won't get started on a session. Many's the time I've corrected a ding or two in a common case. Maybe it's kind of OCD I don't know. If I can't fix the ding in a case it just goes into the scrap bucket, I never take chances on damaging my equipment and tools.
I used to salvage more mangled brass.
Now it depends on my mood.
I have taken too scrapping really tarnished brass.
It seems much more likely to split while reloading.
And since I reload on a progressive press I don’t like anything that breaks my rhythm.
That’s a chance for screwups to happen.
Really dirt filled brass is much more likely to get scrapped now days too.
I used to spend way to much time digging packed in dirt out, most of my brass was range pickup from an outdoor muddy range.
Now if the brass is one with the earth I just let it stay in peace.
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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 |