Used brass sold as new

[abunaitoo]

When cleaned with stainless pins, the brass comes out looking as good as new.
I'm wondering if some people are selling used brass as new brass after cleaning??????

I have some 30.30 brass I'll probably sell. Some of it looks unused.
They look unused to me, but I just don't know.
Wouldn't want to cheat anyone.

[labradigger1]

I have been worried about this as well. Sparkling clean does not mean new. Work hardening and head separation are two problems one could encounter with "new" brass.
Caveat emptor

[JSnover]

There was a member here (a brass dealer) a while back who claimed he could always tell once or twice fired from new, no matter what was done to it. But he never explained and got pretty upset when some of us asked him how he knew what was what.

[GRUMPA]

It's really easy to tell if they've been fired or not, just measure the power ring diameter which is next to impossible to hide.

I've seen folks selling brass as used when it's used, but I don't recall folks pulling a fast 1 when cleaned with the SS media. Not saying folks don't do it, I've never actually seen folks doing it.

[Love Life]

Selling used brass as new would be a very low class thing to do.

[Blammer]

new brass is fairly easy to tell.

Look at the case mouth, you can spot if it's been trimmed, chamfered or not. new brass will have a "jagged edge" about it.

Look at the case mouth and when you go to size it, pretty much NOTHING will touch your sizer save the case mouth/neck.

Look for ejector marks on the rim, or impressions of a bolt face.

New brass will have a distinct brass "color" about the inside of it. Different that ones that have been polished or cleaned.

[JeffinNZ]

But he never explained and got pretty upset when some of asked him how he knew what was what.

Ah ha. And there is lies (pun intended) the problem.

[Plate plinker]

pistol brass would be easy to spot with extractor marks on it. Rifle probably as Grumpa said. Buyer beware if its to good to be true........

[jcwit]

There seems to be a rat in every woodpile.

[retread]

Any time you buy "range pickups" you are being told the history of the brass is unknown. Folks selling these seem to price accordingly. My luck here on the site has been good.

[Blackwater]

You can usually tell by the little ring just above the base of the case. That's where the bottom of the sizer die hits the top of the shell holder. The shell holder has to be a bit loose, and the dies always leave a visible ring at that point. This is almost always a surefire way to tell if it's really new or just really well cleaned up. Also, the flash hole will usually show a little blackening, but I'm not entirely sure about that cleaned with SS pins. A buddy just started using them, and likes them. I'm resistant to change, and am afraid something that hard will wear my brass prematurely, and still use walnut hulls. Yeah, my knuckles DO in fact drag the ground, sometimes! Bu that's the best way to tell. I'm also not sure if the SS pins clean the inside of the cases as bright as they do the outsides? Can anyone comment on that, and the primer pockets? Us knuckle draggers need to know. We might actually want to jump into the 21st century!

[GRUMPA]

Blackwater......what your describing s what's called the "Power Ring" and is rather easy to spot.

For pictures.....I was going to post some but decided against it. If you click on the link, in my signature, it'll take you to my page in the VS section of the site. Click on the 8mm thread and 300Blackout thread and look at the pictures, for that matter almost any thread you click has pictures. Take a close look at them, you can enlarge them if you have your pointer over the picture and right click and hit "Open in new tab" and notice the inside is as clean as the outside. Believe me when I tell you I always get comments on how good the brass looks....

[SeabeeMan]

I pretty much assume that unless it comes in a sealed bag from the manufacturer, it is range pickup. I even question once fired unless I know exactly where it coming from.

[Steve77]

Inside, outside and primer pockets look like new when SS tumbling.

As for the ring on the brass from the die...I use a universal decapping die. So once fired brass that has been decaped and tumbled has no ring from the die and looks like new. Some guns with not so tight chambers often leave a line that I can see even after tumbling, but most do not.

[fatelk]

I ran into this issue not too long ago. I pulled apart several hundred rounds of old '50s Israeli 8x57 ammo. I'd had this ammo for decades; it was loose and somewhat tarnished (not bad). From what I've read it's great ammo- quality bullets and boxer primed brass, but corrosive primed and I was concerned about the age of the powder and the fact that it was a little tarnished so I pulled them all down. I carefully annealed them because of the age, then picked out 20 that had dents, loaded and fired them. They worked perfectly, just like new brass.

I then sized those 20 and wet tumbled them all together. Now I had a big pile of nice shiny, beautiful brass, 20 which are 1x and the rest unfired. I looked at them carefully and once I figured out what to look for it wasn't hard to pick them out. There was the ever-so-slight ring near the base, but the most obvious sign was the difference in the shoulder. The fired cases had slightly sharper lines from being fire formed in a chamber, whereas the new ones had the clean curves of new brass.

[reddog81]

Unless the brass is sealed in manufacturers packaging I'd assume it was fired. I also assume "once fired" brass could have been fired any number of times and inspect it accordingly.
I've never seen anyone trying to sell loose brass as new brass but I'm sure it has happened before.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Wouldn`t the selling of used brass for new brass be considered consumer fraud?Robert

[JSnover]

Wouldn`t the selling of used brass for new brass be considered consumer fraud?Robert

Yep. Like selling zinc ingots for lead, or any other product that isn't what the seller claims.

[dagger dog]

One reason why I don't clean, size, or de-prime my saleable used brass.

[leeggen]

Rats don't seem to last selling around here for long. We have a good group on here and most a trust worthy,but one must always be alurt.
CD