Blanco
04-19-2014, 08:26 AM
I recently acquired a substantial collection of 45 ACP brass.
I happened into this windfall a bit by accident. A fellow employee who I have been hunting with, purchased a used Dillon press from a gentleman who was no longer reloading. The story is, when my friend went to pick up the Dillon and was loading it up, the gentleman brought out several large boxes. He said" might as well take this too, I won't be needing it".
Each of the boxes contained on average 50lb's of 45 ACP brass. My friend knows that I shoot 45 and sent me an e-mail, he said that he only planned to reload 9mm and .40 S&W and was looking to trade off the 45 brass.
So I swapped him a 1# of Unique for 150 lb of brass. Great deal.... right?
Well there is always a good / bad / ugly in every deal.
Here is what my super sleuth detective powers have calculated.
The original owner was a competitive shooter. Most likely very avid shooter at one time. It appears he shot (most likely ) a Government model with an extra heavy firing pin spring. Most of the primers look like they were hit with small punch and almost pierced.
I would say the majority of the brass has been reloaded at least once, some of it multiple times. I have found several pieces that had stress cracks.
I have found some headstamps I have never seen before. One in particular is marked CZZ which seem to have a slightly small primer pocket? I do not think it is a crimp, but my Loadmaster crushes the primers on that brass on about 5 out of 10 ? my guess is it may be an oddball metric sized primer pocket ? I looked through some before de-priming them and on most the primer is bulged out ?
Now comes my most prolific issue.
The original owner must have also used a competition spring set. A good number of brass have a small ding in the face of the rim.
Nothing to really get excited about.
I use a Dillon drop in (headspace / chamber) gauge. The majority of what I have loaded up so far drops in and falls right back out, as it should. On about 1 in 10 the ding on the rim is just enough to prevent the rim from falling all the way into the gauge. On most very slight finger pressure will cause it to drop in. On a few the ding is big enough it won't fall in without removing a bit of brass burr.
My question for the seasoned reloaders is....
Since we are headspacing on the mouth of the case a small ding on the rim should not impede feeding, chambering or ejecting ?
I have not shot much of this ammunition as of yet but my Glock eats it without complaint.
Should this issue worry me ?
Is there a tool for trimming the OD of the rim on 45 ACP?
I happened into this windfall a bit by accident. A fellow employee who I have been hunting with, purchased a used Dillon press from a gentleman who was no longer reloading. The story is, when my friend went to pick up the Dillon and was loading it up, the gentleman brought out several large boxes. He said" might as well take this too, I won't be needing it".
Each of the boxes contained on average 50lb's of 45 ACP brass. My friend knows that I shoot 45 and sent me an e-mail, he said that he only planned to reload 9mm and .40 S&W and was looking to trade off the 45 brass.
So I swapped him a 1# of Unique for 150 lb of brass. Great deal.... right?
Well there is always a good / bad / ugly in every deal.
Here is what my super sleuth detective powers have calculated.
The original owner was a competitive shooter. Most likely very avid shooter at one time. It appears he shot (most likely ) a Government model with an extra heavy firing pin spring. Most of the primers look like they were hit with small punch and almost pierced.
I would say the majority of the brass has been reloaded at least once, some of it multiple times. I have found several pieces that had stress cracks.
I have found some headstamps I have never seen before. One in particular is marked CZZ which seem to have a slightly small primer pocket? I do not think it is a crimp, but my Loadmaster crushes the primers on that brass on about 5 out of 10 ? my guess is it may be an oddball metric sized primer pocket ? I looked through some before de-priming them and on most the primer is bulged out ?
Now comes my most prolific issue.
The original owner must have also used a competition spring set. A good number of brass have a small ding in the face of the rim.
Nothing to really get excited about.
I use a Dillon drop in (headspace / chamber) gauge. The majority of what I have loaded up so far drops in and falls right back out, as it should. On about 1 in 10 the ding on the rim is just enough to prevent the rim from falling all the way into the gauge. On most very slight finger pressure will cause it to drop in. On a few the ding is big enough it won't fall in without removing a bit of brass burr.
My question for the seasoned reloaders is....
Since we are headspacing on the mouth of the case a small ding on the rim should not impede feeding, chambering or ejecting ?
I have not shot much of this ammunition as of yet but my Glock eats it without complaint.
Should this issue worry me ?
Is there a tool for trimming the OD of the rim on 45 ACP?