New brass vs once fired brass

[domainfitz]

The books say don't use once fired brass. does it really matter? It's .40 s&w ammo

[cf5757]

Never reuse once fired brass . . . Until you get it reloaded. Question is what books? Most of my brass started out as never fired and has lived into the been fired too many times to count category. Always do proper brass prep, discard any that are going south, (more prevalent as a rifle issue than handgun) should get multiple uses out of brass. So can't see why not use once fired brass

[max range]

My question too. What book are you referring to?

[Alvarez Kelly]

I'll bet they are talking about "glocked" .40 S&W brass. They can get bulged from the unsupported chamber. Lots of folks freak out and won't reload them...

[LUBEDUDE]

"Don't use once fired brass" ? What's the point of reloading then? At least in my book.

[domainfitz]

"CAUTION: Load only cases which you have
obtained as new unfired brass or which you have on
hand as the result of firing new factory ammo in the
firearm for which you wish to reload. A few pennies
saved on bargain so called "once-fired" brass makes little
sense when one considers the cost of a firearm and/or
medical treatment, or worse. Stay with new cases and
keep the selection of brass worry-free and safe"

By Lymans reloading manual 48th edition.

[Kull]

I'll bet they are talking about "glocked" .40 S&W brass. They can get bulged from the unsupported chamber. Lots of folks freak out and won't reload them...

This was my first thought. That bit from Lyman sounds like they're just warning against using someone else once fired brass.

[country gent]

some of the reasons for this warning are you dont know the history of the brass. It may have been fired in a firearm with chamber issues, You dont actually know the history of it. On range brass can you tell once fired from 10 reloads?, Yoy dont know how its been cared for, I have used once fired millitary brass for years with the only issue being occasionally I got machine gun brass that had to be sized alot to chamber and function in my M1As match chambers. I see guys picking up brass at the club and indoor ranges all the time. Then they complain that they are only getting 2 or 3reloads ouut of a case.

[40Super]

I'd say it has to do with known ka-booms from weekened brass that was bulged or overstressed from hot charges.

[km101]

Sounds like "lawyer-speak" to me. You know, one of those obligatory statements on flammable items, etc.
It's there to Cover Their A--. The corporate atty. had them put it in.

[domainfitz]

I thought so. Thanks

[jlucke69]

I try not to buy brass new unless I get a heck of a deal on it. Almost everything I have been using for the last 10 years has been purchased as once fired, or scrounged off the range.

[Bwana]

This is aimed at the new to, dare I say it "ignorant" reloading person. Some folks stay "new to reloading" a long time it seems. Suppose you have one of these people and they have been told its fine to use once fired brass so they decide to use range pick-ups. I have thrown rifle cases with the incipient signs of casehead seperation down range. Picked up brass like that too that wasn't mine. I knew what was going on and threw it back down range a little further. Newbie most likely wouldn't have a clue and therefore there might be a problem. That is what this book entry is trying to address. The answer is knowledge.

[W.R.Buchanan]

One of the basic parts of reloading is inspecting your cases to determine if they are good or not.

I very seldom fire a factory loaded round in any gun I own, currently with the exception of my new Browning O/U .410 which I am still getting setup to load for. I bought a thousand O/F hulls specifically for supplying that gun. If you don't buy O/F hulls you will have no choice but to buy factory loaded ammo and shoot it to yeild hulls for reloading. since I wanted to shoot the gun I had to buy some factory ammo. :shock:

A box of 25 Winchester AA.410's is currently $12.50 or 50 cents each I can reload them for about .15 cents a round or $3.75 a box. This is worth doing if you plan to shoot alot.

One thing to consider about once fired factory loaded ammunition is that virtually all modern centerfire cartridges are loaded to near maximum.

This holds true for most Pistol rounds like .40 S&W as well. However the unsupported chamber issue is not peculiar to just Glocks, Most auto pistols have loose chambers for feeding reliability purposes, so they all bulge the cases to a certain extent. It is just more noticable on .40S&W cases due to the high pressure that the round is factory loaded to.

If you reload it, just load it to nice midrange velocities and the cases won't bulge and you will get some number of reloads out of them. If you need super performance ammo for something, go buy super performance factory ammo. It's not like you are going to shoot that much of it.

Removing the bulge is a necessary case preparation for .40S&W.

I can't shoot a whole lot of .44 Magnum Factory **** Kicker loads, and all .44 magnum factory ammo is loaded right up to the max. The hottest reloads I shoot are less than 90% of factory. On the other hand I load some .44 Spec. well above any factory loadings. But I mostly shoot light to midrange loads in both just because they do what I need.

Point of all this is most reloading should be done to less than factory specifications IMO. You can have some hot ones for hunting or shooting at cars etc. , but no paper target or beer can will ever know if you shot it with a hot round or a midrange or light round. You can shoot more with light ones than heavy ones.

At the end of the day, part of reloading is determining if your cases, no matter where they come from, are safe to reload. The vast majority of cases I reload come off the ground at my range, so I actually have to look at them before I reload them.

You do to!

Randy

[doulos]

I once saw 3 off duty cops at my gun range throw out almost 400 "once fired" Federal .45 cap cases. They were horse playing dumping everything in one fellows range bag. When he realized it they were driving off. He got pissed and dumped it all out into a garbage can. Bet you can guess who those cases went home with.

[EDG]

I can tell good brass from abused brass and I much prefer good once fired brass based on what you get for what you pay. Most of my once fired brass originated in indoor rifle ranges and has never been on the ground. However I am not a pistol shooter and I look at every case I load. It is apparent that many pistol shooters don't. They only discover small pistol primers in 45 ACP brass when it jams their progressive. With rifle brass I tend to look at it as actually being safer than new brass. After all it has been proof fired. Any soft or defective cases will have failed before reaching me.

[domainfitz]

All .40 cal brass Will use small pistol primers won't they?

[mold maker]

The books say don't use once fired brass. does it really matter? It's .40 s&w ammo

If I were making and selling new brass, I'd recommend the same thing.
I haven't bought factory, new brass (except starline 45-70) or loaded ammo, in years.
You have to look at who will profit by such a statement.
I always pick up all brass, and sort it at home. Trash brass is still brass at the scrap yard.

[km101]

All .40 cal brass Will use small pistol primers won't they?


ALL of the .40S&W brass that I have ever seen/reloaded has had small primers. Never heard of anything different.

[W.R.Buchanan]

.40 S&W is small primers,, However 10MM brass uses large primers.

Some .45 ACP brass uses small primers now, but the majority is Large Pistol Primer.

.45 ACP brass will last almost indefiately, so any you find are probably good . I pick up everyone I see.

My Glock 21 has had exactly 2 factory rounds fired in it. Nothing but reloads. Bought the pistol because I had accumulated too much .45 ACP brass,,,,Had to shoot them up.

Any bad brass you find can go into a scrap bucket and be recycled for nearly $2.00 a lb. currently.

Randy

[jlucke69]

"Bought the pistol because I had accumulated too much .45 ACP brass,,,,Had to shoot them up."

That's funny, I always thought I was the only one who bought an new gun because I had so much brass available for it.

[David2011]

Some of my .45ACP brass has been used so many times you can no longer read the headstamps. Most of my loads in that caliber are pretty light and won't cycle an off the shelf 1911 so the brass gets little stress. IPSC shooters including myself have found that .40 S&W is self limiting because it cracks after several uses. It's not a big deal and nothing bad happens; just quit reloading it when you find that it has cracked. They make a very different sound from good cases and are easy to detect by dropping on a wooden table top by the handful. You'll immediately hear the difference when you get a cracked case.

On the other hand, I would never pick up 9mm that was left on the ground in pistol bays where IPSC/USPSA matches are shot. Some open shooters load 9mm to "9mm Major" which is sending a 147 grain bullet at 1500-1550 fps. I wouldn't want to reuse that brass. Any 9mm found at a pistol bay with a fixed firing line has probably not been shot in an Open class pistol and I wouldn't be afraid of it.

David

[Bwana]

Some of my .45ACP brass has been used so many times you can no longer read the headstamps. Most of my loads in that caliber are pretty light and won't cycle an off the shelf 1911 so the brass gets little stress. IPSC shooters including myself have found that .40 S&W is self limiting because it cracks after several uses. It's not a big deal and nothing bad happens; just quit reloading it when you find that it has cracked. They make a very different sound from good cases and are easy to detect by dropping on a wooden table top by the handful. You'll immediately hear the difference when you get a cracked case.

On the other hand, I would never pick up 9mm that was left on the ground in pistol bays where IPSC/USPSA matches are shot. Some open shooters load 9mm to "9mm Major" which is sending a 147 grain bullet at 1500-1550 fps. I wouldn't want to reuse that brass. Any 9mm found at a pistol bay with a fixed firing line has probably not been shot in an Open class pistol and I wouldn't be afraid of it.

David

A 147gr bullet makes major at 1123fps. My 9mm selfdefense loads make "major" out of my G19. A 125gr bullet at 1330fps.

[40Super]

Save the spent primers for scrap brass also. It adds up pretty quick.

[Mk42gunner]

"CAUTION: Load only cases which you have
obtained as new unfired brass or which you have on
hand as the result of firing new factory ammo in the
firearm for which you wish to reload. A few pennies
saved on bargain so called "once-fired" brass makes little
sense when one considers the cost of a firearm and/or
medical treatment, or worse. Stay with new cases and
keep the selection of brass worry-free and safe"

By Lymans reloading manual 48th edition.

Lyman's 48th came out a long time before the .40 S&W or Glocks were even thought of, unless I am sorely mistaken.

My take on it is a lot of reloaders were still using either tong tools or Truline Jr,'s which mostly necksized brass so there was a good chance once fired brass from another gun wouldn't chamber.

Robert

[nvald1982]

yes .40 S&W uses small pistol primers

[nvald1982]

I have reload 3-5k rounds for 40s&w haven't had any problems with over pressure. also if you have a glock it is wise to change out the barrel before you shoot any reloads! look into KKM Percision, Barstow, or stormlake. I am using a KKM precision barrel 40 s&w conversion to 9mm and the 40 S&W barrel

[nvald1982]

oh also I have bought and undersizing die from guns evolution which is a lee die. it works but if you have never used it before on a so called glocked brass, it will create a hour glass figure with you seat your projectile. it may look really bad but when I researched it a lot people stated that what happens to brass when you undersize it. test on a chorography and no high pressure. hornady new dimension dies work pretty good never had a bullet fail a case gauge. 2-3 bullets out 500 failed caliper overall length. I even checked the completed round in my barrel separated from the gun