45 ACP Brass Question

[mpbarry1]

I just got a lot of 45 ACP brass with mixed headstamps. I found a few AMERC brass, which by the threads I've seen here are junk. also in the lot are some foreign made stuff from India, Brazil, and Isreal.

ACP 98
PMP
*I*
CBC

Also some GFL headstamp which appears to be Fiocchi.

I'm wondering if i should toss, or load for rabbits, or just put these in the mix with the rest of my brass.

Most of the brass is RP, Winchester, SB, and Federal. Probably 20% of the foreign stuff.

I'm shooting a Sig P220, so it has a pretty tight chamber. Loading 4.9 grains of win 231 under a 200 Gr SWC.

Thanks.

[stubshaft]

Back when I shot IPSC anything that resembled 45 brass got loaded.

[Love Life]

I believe the *I* headstamp is independence. Good brass from what I have used.

[ReloaderFred]

It's all good, with the exception of the A-Merc, which is junk. The *I* is Independance, made in the U.S. The CBC is Brazilian and the ACP is from Armscor, in the Phillipines.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[mpbarry1]

Thanks guys! Didn't know about the independence brass. Thought it was India. Lol.

[bobthenailer]

I have mabey 20 brands of 45 acp brass. ive never had any problem with any brand but i do sort by brand , i have approx 1,200+ rounds of odd ball brass with assorted headstamps that i dont have at least 200 or more of to use on a regular basis , ive used all of the brands that were staited in the previous posts + some others, i use it when i dont care if i loose it or not, but i do look for it .

[2wheelDuke]

For general shooting, I'm using pretty much all of the above in my mixed headstamp batch. I'm not having any issues. If they pass inspection, load em up and shoot em.

And just for the heck of it, I run new-to-me brass thru my Lee FCD to make sure it'll fit. I've had some range pickup brass not play nice with the tight chamber on my 1911.

[475BH]

I have some CBC and it has held up the same as Winchester.
I also have some S&B (?) that has been the same, so if you ever pick any of that up it would be worth keeping.
BTW they have been loaded app. 10 times and w/ 5gr. w-231 and 200 gr. swc's. all look fine, not trimmed yet. Extractor grooves a lil dinged up, but they feed and extract as new.

[Frosty Boolit]

For me S&B have really tight primer pockets and sometimes a crimp so unles I have at least a hundred I just toss it in the scrap bin. As for the PMP I found it to be Pretoria Metal Pressings in south africa and they load ok but with only 3 loadings and many splits, I'd load 'em once and not even look for them.

[Tom W.]

I ain't that picky, as most of my .45 acp loads get fired at paper at the range..

[MT Gianni]

Sort your RP, Win and Fed then mix the rest. Do a few groups of each and see if your gun prefers one over the other.

[KCSO]

The biggest problem I have had with 45 acp brass was with jacketed bullets at 451. Remington brass is thinner than other brands and unless you size different it won't hold the bullet tight. I have also ran into brass with sp primer holes. Usually I sort my brass into compatible batches and keep all the Remington brass for my revolvers with the fatter 452 453 cast bullets.

[fivegunner]

The biggest problem with .45 ACP Brass is finding a case that is for small pistol primers . other than that like what every body else said if it look`s good relaod it!:bigsmyl2:

[southpaw]

I have just started loading for the 45 acp. I have loaded about 2k of them so far and found that the S&B brass primer pockets to be tight. I just use my deburring tool to open them a little. The AMERC brass is junk. The flash hole seems to be drilled in the center but the primer pocket is drilled off center. A few that I put the calipers on were off center .02"-.03". This makes seating the primer a little difficult. Also for some reason they do not get belled like the rest of the brass. I measured and they are the same length as my other brass (case length and wall thickness).

When loading and a primer won't seat easily I take it out and if it is a amerc it gets put to the side. Other than that all brass gets mixed.

Jerry Jr.

[GMT210]

I always thought *I* was Starling brass, at least that is what the brass that I bought from starline has on it.

Attached is a listing of Headstamps

GMT210

[ReloaderFred]

No, Starline is *--*. It's a star, line, star headstamp. Independance is *I*, or asterisk, Capital I, asterisk. I don't have any of the Independance ammo boxes left, but I have lots of the brass in different calibers. It's sold at Sportsmans Warehouse, Wholesale Sportsman and several other outlets.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[GMT210]

ReloaderFred,

I stand or sit corrected. I had to go downstairs and look at my Starline brass, and it is indeed*--*.

GMT210

[mpbarry1]

Here's what I decided to do. I sorted everything by domestic (CCI, *I*, Speer, PMC, starline), Remington, Winchester, Federal, and the foreign brass in different cans. I also seperated the S&B. I seperated out the A-MERC and NT brass. Tossed the NT.

I plan on trying to load the A-merc one time for rabbits/desert rounds. I wont pick it up. I only got about 30 of those.

I loaded up 10 S&B with no problems seating the Dies, and they shot great. I'm putting them in my Mixed brass bucket. I think they are good brass! Got about 250 of those.

Now I think I'll just add the foreign stuff to the off brand domestic stuff and keep it as a mixed brass bucket. (about 800)

Saving the Remington for cast because of the thinner wall. (which is what i shoot anyway.) I'll try it first. (500 or so)

Not sure what to do the Federal. still thinking about adding it to the mixed bucket. (200 or so)

The winchester has a lot of crimped pockets, so I'm gonna save it for a while until i have time to work it. I'll save it for the time I'm actually good with the a handgun. (About 700)

Thanks for all of the advice guys.

[ReloaderFred]

If this helps, this is what I've found as far as wall thickness in .45 acp brass over the 30+ years I've been loading that caliber. In order of the thickest first:

Winchester
Federal
PMC (depending on when it was made, and by whom)
S&B
Speer/CCI
R-P

If you can keep a primer in the A-Merc brass, you might get a load out of them. I know of one guy who even glued the primers in the pockets just because he was determined to get a load out of it.

The NT brass is good brass. The .45 acp doesn't really require a large primer to ignite such a small charge of powder. And it's a total waste of raw materials to throw any brass away, especially when it's fully reloadable. And with crimped primers, you just have to remove the crimp one time and then load the brass until you lose it.

As for the S&B brass, I really like it. I prime with a Ram Prime die, so tight primer pockets aren't an issue. The brass lasts a long, long time.

You'll also run into .45 acp brass with large flash holes. Don't toss it, as it's going to become more and more common. Just load it like you would any other brass and you won't be able to tell any difference on target. The same holds true of the small primed brass, you won't be able to tell the difference.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[lar45]

I would just watch out for military brass.

When I first started loading 45acp, I used my buddies load, stuffed it into TZZ brass and headed to the range. I had 230 LRN going 1300fps!
I backed off 15% and worked up to 900fps. The brass held up wonderfully.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

In my serious IPSC days, up to and including an STI they built for me, I shot 45 acp brass until I wore the head stamp off of it. Never even looked at the brand.
I got lucky two years ago, my local PD all carry 45's. I bought 5000 once fired from their range for $20 per thousand. All commercial.

Rich

[mpbarry1]

Wow Rich. Do they have any more for $20/1000? :)