Troublesome Brass Headstamp

[JAbee]

I'm trying to compile a list of brass head stamps that are not worth the time reloading. It can be for Rifle or Pistol, tough I'm really interested in 380auto, 40 S&W, 45 Colt, Rem 223, 7.62X39, and 30-30 Win . I recently read a post about 380 brass and culling all A-merc brass as it not worth reloading. I'm curious to see if there are many others out there.

[anotherred]

In 223 I've had some issues with MKE. It has a 3 point crimp on the primer with some green sealant. When resizing the brass, it will smear down leaving a small lip. Not always, but enough times if I see the brass it goes in the scrap. I've processed wayyyyyy too many 223 and this is the only one that gives me trouble.

[Shawlerbrook]

Interested in why certain headstamps are not worth reloading ? Please expand.Especially non-military calibers.

[JAbee]

I was hoping we could gear this tread to answer that exact question.

[maxreloader]

Amerc will literally jam in your sizing die and you will know there is an Amerc in there! Sellier & Bellot has tighter primer pockets than bark to a tree... besides that I havent really had many issues with brass.

[Bzcraig]

I had trouble with Perfecta when it broke a decapping pin. Put in a new pin and was still having trouble, figured out the flash holes are off center.

[Pipefitter]

Years ago I had problems with 9mm S&B brass, flash holes off center, flash holes smaller than normal, and tight primer pockets even after swaging. Solved the problem by selling the 9mm, haven't had one since (and also haven't bought any S&B ammo to reload).

[jsn]

There's another thread regarding some problem 9mm brass, the manufacturer probably makes some handgun ammo of the types you listed.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?320511-Oddball-9mm-Case

I had bad R-P 223 years ago, the primer pockets on some were so deep you couldn't uniform them with the proper tools.

Also had some MRP 9mm years ago where all of them showed higher pressure (flattened primers) with what was not a max load, and none of the other brass had that issue.

Today when I get brass I do a rough sort, grab 10-15 of each of the major headstamps, and process/test fire them to see if there are any issues, including weight sorting. What may have been an issue years ago may not be an issue today. There are rumors that Remington and Winchester no longer produce a majority of their brass anymore, anyway. A friend bought some factory PMC 5.56 and it had PSD headstamps.

I'm not sure there are any absolutes today.

[Hick]

223 Rem cases from G.F.L have off-center primer holes, which is a little hassle when decapping-- but not to the extent to break the decapping pin. I've run load comparisons and the off-center holes don't seem to affect general purpose shooting, but I still use them as last resort.

[jimb16]

Generally Aguilla is good but may sometimes have off center flash holes.

[anotherred]

223 Rem cases from G.F.L have off-center primer holes, which is a little hassle when decapping-- but not to the extent to break the decapping pin. I've run load comparisons and the off-center holes don't seem to affect general purpose shooting, but I still use them as last resort.

I remember having problems with this brass too at one time. I forget what it was, but I remember looking at the headstamp thinking "GFL or Good F'n Luck" is appropriate. There was a bunch in my last batch I processed and no problems.

[Tackleberry41]

I usually wont mess with military 223, not that I dont have the swagging tool to fix the primer pockets, its just rare to get a single brand in quantity. Only military I have messed with was due to it being all one brand, primer pockets already swagged, and was free along with the bullets to load.

I have had alot of issues with S&B brass. Tight primer pockets is one, but they seem to go out of their way to use special primers, even tho they make primers for reloading. Seems it would be cheaper and easier to make one kind. I bought some S&B 7.62x54 with the idea of keeping the brass. But they use a special primer, the pocket isnt deep enough for a regular rifle primer. So means reaming them, or just chucking them and buying proper brass. I had some S&B 22 hornet, again for the brass. Only the flash holes are undersized, the few I had were not worth messing with, so in the can they went.

I got a big thing of once fired 357 SIG, speer brand, every one had a overly small flash hole. I wasnt going to toss it, so went to the effort to fix them. And some Remington 357sig I bought had undersized flash holes.

I have noticed alot more crimped primers, even on civilian 223, guess just easier to crimp it all. Even been seeing it in 9mm.