Whats you favorite headstamp?

[lightman]

Whats your favorite headstamp on the common calibers of range brass that you find? I'm talking 9mm, 40S&W and 45ACP.

I have more than a lifetime supply of the above calibers and I am steady adding to it! I'm thinking about thinning it down to a few chosen headstamps.

So, what headstamps would you keep and what would you get rid of?

Thanks ahead of time for your opinions.

[skeettx]

45 ACP LC Match

[lightman]

45 ACP LC Match

I wish I was picking those up rather than the off brand stuff that seems to be common. I have also shot other match cases like WCC or WRA Match. I'm still running a batch of LC-64 Match in 7.62. It measures and weighs nearly as consistently as Lapua.

[daboone]

My favorites are what I just picked up at the ranges I frequent.:wink:

[OS OK]

PMC

Have been using a batch of about 600 cases in the .45ACP for prolly 5 years now...lost count of the reloads I've done & some of the head stamps are almost unreadable. Since last December I am starting to see some case splits and case mouth splits, so far prolly 8 or so. They are showing up in the expander station. I think that's a pretty good run...and they are still going strong, tight primer pockets is what I watch for but my loads are not on the extreme but they are full power, 900FPS @ 200g. & 842FPS @ 230g. cast & PC'd.

[Tom W.]

Speer, if someone is just going to leave them on the floor....

[TheDoctor]

Starline.

[Shawlerbrook]

I shoot and reload mostly rifle and a few revolver calibers. Really don’t have a favorite, but probably have loaded more Winchester than the others.

[tdoor4570]

anything that is reloadable and in good shape I really don't care whose it is just so it works

[Walks]

Favorite Headstamp:

REM-UMC for Revolver.
SUPER-X or NORMA for Rifle
R-P for Pistol

Least favorite;

cbc
ppu
starline

[RogerDat]

Anything in a large enough quantity to provide consistent brass is good by me. Especially with revolver where the roll crimp depends on brass being consistent. Federal may not be the greatest brass but having several hundred of them makes for consistent results. I want the brass to stretch and age/deform at the same rate so things stay consistent.

To me having 50 or a 100 of a bolt action rifle brass that are the same headstamp also matters more than which specific headstamp. In auto loaders I would say the same applies. Biggest darn headache is sorting bucket of .223 by headstamp in order to fully prep several hundred of same headstamp.

I like PPU and in milsurp HXP has been good. Federal has been good in revolvers for me even though I think it feels a bit lighter than some other cases.

[Bazoo]

I like winchester brass. I'll use anything though if I got a batch of it. Got some federal that is going strong.

[Pereira]

RP because my initials are on them.:wink::bigsmyl2:

RP

[mac60]

I'm not particular and I use a little bit of all of it. Starline makes good brass though and I buy it when I can get it. I shoot a lot of C&R guns and usually end up with Prvi Partisan brass.

[goryshaw]

For revolvers primarily Starline, with FC a distant second, and R-P and WW bringing up the rear. Auto pistols I'm more egalitarian, besides I'm going to lose them pretty soon anyways.

Rifles tends to be FC for .223/5.56, .243 Win and 7.62/.308, HXP for .30-06, and PPU for misc milsurps. Got a lot of non-reloadable boxer and/or steel cased for some milsurps, but they aren't relevant.

[JoeJames]

Starline.

[maxreloader]

In pistol I'll use anything I can get in qty but will never use S&B or Amerc. In rifle I'm a lot more picky but try to stay away from PPU, S&B, Estate, Frontier, and many of the tri and quad-stab mil crimps.

[Hossfly]

I like em all.

[JWFilips]

PMC ......... they last forever

[eric123]

Lapua , but majority of my brass is R-P...

[Walter Laich]

in .45 Colt: whatever ends up in the empties bag. Some of mine are over 10 years old. I do anneal them evey couple of years mostly to play with the annealing machine.

[GhostHawk]

PPU ie Privi Partisan is my #1, closely followed by Starline then Winchester.

[DeputyDuke]

Favorite head stamp? TW-54.

[Rockzilla]

common calibers of range brass
LC 5.56, WCC, Win, R-P
45ACP = WRA,WCC,Match,WMA,Win,R-P, Federal,Speer
9mm = WMA,WCC,Win,R-P
all others either shoot n if lost no big deal.
it's range pickup....

Other brass of choice:
Lapua 308,338
TW-74 5.56
WRA 308, LC-77-79 Match, IMI
FA-64, LC-68-69 in 30/06
50 BMG any LC
just some....

-Rock

[lightman]

Thanks for the replys so far, even the ones that are not serious! I find very few 9mm, 40S&W and 45ACP with TW54, Lapua or even Starline headstamps but I'll be watching for them!

I have 9mm's and 40's by the 5 gallon bucket and I'm sorting through them. My plan is to keep several thousand of the better headstamps and scrap the rest. I'm just trying to pick the best cases out of the batch.

[samari46]

For years I think I was the champion brass scrounger at our old range. With the exception of a 40mm ammo can full of once fired 38spl jacketed and wadcutter brass. All of my other pistol brass was pickups. 40 S&W,45 auto. I'd sit down after tumbling a very closely inspect all the cases. Obvious brass striker fired glock brass went into the scrap bucket, all Amerc, MFS and one other brand also. Don't reload 9mm as it's so cheap. Rifle brass like the 400 of Federal 308 and '06 were saved. Still shooting some of the South African 5.56 and as it's berdan into the bucket. Bought a huge box of once fired 30-30 so working with that. I have mil surp brass in both 7.62 and '06 so that will keep me busy. PPU brass from Grafs in 7.65x53 Argentine and 7.55x55 Swiss. And my 1935 Finn Model 27 has 300 Hansen Cartridge brass. With some Norma tucked away. When I got the model 27 you had two choices for boxer primed brass. Hansen or Norma. I got a deal on 15 boxes of Hansen at a gun show and it's all I've ever used in the Finn. I've been shooting for close to the 50 year mark and a lot of the stuff mentioned was picked up or bought over that time. With the exception of some bulk buys from Midway when they did that most of what I have come in dribs and drabs. Except for the pistol and revolver brass. I know I have a big box of WCC 78 match around the house just haven't found it yet. I could go one but you get where I'm going. Frank

[Taterhead]

Handgun: Starline by a wide margin. Only brass that I will buy for handgun. Exceptions are FC for wide diameter cast 9mm and R-P for cast 45 auto.

[gloob]

For rifle, it's w/e I have the most once-fired of. Working up a load, it's nice that I can make more of it.
In handguns... who cares? I bought some 9mm brass on Craiglist, and whadya know, the guy took his time to sort out and dump off his S&B brass. (It was obvious because it wasn't once-fired; many of them had been marked around the primer pocket with a sharpie.) Good riddance for him, good cheap brass for me. My guns and reloading press don't care, at all.

One thing I learned the hard way, if you pick up rifle brass be sure to gauge the headspace before sizing it. If it's grossly stretched out, you can't put the genie back into the bottle, and after you've resized it you will not know... until you fire it, and the brass splits and jams your rifle.

[shtur]

45 ACP is TZZ Match, lasts forever

[Pete44mag]

What ever I can pick up at the range and reload. Beggars can't be choosers.

[jsizemore]

45 ACP is TZZ Match, lasts forever

Mine too.

[ioon44]

I like the 45 ACP TZZ Match, most of mine has 1986 head stamp.

[Peregrine]

nny, the old commie PPU.

[OS OK]

45 ACP is TZZ Match, lasts forever

That's pretty much how I feel about PMC, I lost count somewhere around 18 times reloaded (got my sub batches mixed together by accident when cleaning them) but I've been running exclusively about 600 cases from prolly 5 years ago...my loads are not on the extreme but they are full power .45ACP, 900FPS @ 200g. & 842FPS @ 230g. cast & PC'd.
As a side note, I use a .45C cowboy expander so I'm working that brass pretty good and I don't scrimp on the bell.

Do you have an idea of how many times youve reloaded and your power level on your TZZ cases?

When they do fail, if they have failed you...is it the case splitting at the case mouth or side of the case or loosening of primer pockets?

I've been seperating the TZZ cases and bagging them for years...had no idea they were so reliable.

[bobthenailer]

Starline

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Federal, Winchester, PMC, and Remington are all in my 38/357 rotation and get a lot of use. None stands out as being better or worse than another. I think I split one Federal case, and a few Remingtons that have been reloaded dozens of times have cracked mouths.

[Carrier]

Federal and Winchester that I reload for 38/357 have been loaded so many times I lost count. I bought a bag of new Starline for 38 wadcutters and was really disappointed as the case lengths were not even close. I trimmed them all and seem to be ok now. Not sure if this was unusual for Starline or not but haven’t bought any since.

[lightman]

After reading everyones replys, I guess my thread title and my 1st post were kind of contradictory. I've been depriming, tumbling, sorting and storing my brass stash ever since Christmas. I was more interested in what headstamp of 9mm and 40 S&W that you would keep and what you would sell or trade. I have 5 gallon buckets or 20mm ammo cans of each and just don't need that much. I'm probably not going to find any Lapua, Norma, RWS or even Starline in these calibers. But, I'll sure be keeping it if I do.

In 9mm and 40 S&W, I'm thinking about keeping the Federal RP and Winchester. Or any one of those headstamps. Right now I have nearly 30 different headstamps in 9mm not counting the military cases.

[Buck Butcher]

9mm brass I prefer Win. It’s what seems to show up the most by headstamp in range brass.

I remove all Aguilla from range pickups because it seems too thick. I’m sure there are others that can run it but my 9’s like a hefty boolit .358+ and the aguilla doesn’t feed too well being a little fat.

[ioon44]

Lightman, With the amount of brass you have keeping the Federal RP and Winchester would be a good move, I keep these 3 head stamps and also Blazer,Speer & PMC.

With 40 S&W I don't find as many different head stamps and do tend to keeping the Federal RP and Winchester.

[Moleman-]

I like Rem, Win, most nato circle cross stamped and after that what ever is free! I've been loading some WIN and RP 45acp for 30 years with mild loads. You can still make out the headstamp for the most part, but next to a new case the difference is easy to see as the stamping looks to be both skinnier and only about 1/4 as deep or flat. Rarely a primer pocket will be loose, usually they get pitched because they don't have adequate neck tension anymore. Cast boolits will mask the neck tension issue until the next time you load up some fmj and the bullets are loose.