Good brass/Bad brass

[ZbornacSVT]

What are everyone's feelings on the various brass offerings available? I am getting started on rolling my own and would like to tap into some of the veteran's knowledge a bit. Are there brands that should never be reloaded? Primer pocket issues? Anything of note? I

Mainly looking at range pickup pistol brass at the moment, but curious about rifle as well.

Thoughts?

 

[Lock n Load]

On rifle brass you just never know but, everyone is goo-goo over LC brass.

Ron over at tacticalshotgunner.com and I can both tell you that they had some bad lots. We had bulged brass and split cases in 2 different lots at the range in one day.

Federal also has some issues with primer pockets getting loose and not holding primers correctly, at least in .308.

I prefer the surplus for my M1As/ 7.62x51 and Rem/ WIN/ PMC and even LC for the ARs/ 5.56/ .223. Actually dealing with the surplus/ military crimped primer pockets force you to inspect all of the brass 100% which is never a bad thing.

Pistol brass, I have loaded all varieties and cant recall any that was scrapped out the first time around..... except that .40 brass shot thru the Glocks!!!

Just my ,

 

[Slow Hand]

For accuracy in rifle ammo, you'll want to stick with one brand and prefferably one lot of brass. I bought 100 rounds of Federal Gold Medal Match .308 ammo awhile back all fromt eh same lot. FGGM brass is some of the better out there and I figured all in the same lot would help out with accuracy. AS far as pistol brass, for plinking, I've never sorted brands. I use only Starline for heavy hunting loads. they make great brass and tha's a personal preference. I've only really had problems with a bag of nickled Remington .45 Colt brass. I was shooting mild loads and split about 30% of the cases on the first firing. One other I"d avoid is A-MERC .45 acp brass. I picked some up somewhere and the primer pockets were grossly oversized. Some primers fell out during loading and the others blew out upon firing. I only fired a few rounds of it before I realized what the problem was and tossed the rest of it. If you stil with any of the big name brands, you should have very little problems, Winchester, Remington, Federal, Starline, I've even had luck with Mag-Tech.

Doug k

 

[mospeada]

Pistol brass is pretty easy, as long as it is a brass case (not brass coated like some of the Russian stuff), you're OK. Nickel plated brass is OK too, but tends to split earlier.

I'm not sure whether you're planning on picking up factory brass you've shot or buying range brass from a dealer. If the latter, there are usually good deals on it at the Indy1500 and often you can pick your brand. My favorite is Winchester brass, but I'm not too picky. I just think Win is easier to resize.

 

[antsi]

It would help a lot to know what kind of ammo you are reloading for what purposes.

For pistol range ammo, it really doesn't matter much. Unless you are talking about badly damaged or bulged brass, you can reload range pick ups, with all different head stamps, usually without trimming, and still get better ammo than the range ammo you buy. I've never trimmed pistol brass, never tried to match head stamps, never worried about one brand versus another, and never had any problems.

People get a lot more picky with rifle brass. Favorite brands, same head stamp, same lot, etc.

Competitors get really nuts. Go to a benchrest or a high power forum to hear about all the backflips and contortions people will go through to get the most consistent results.

 

[ZbornacSVT]

Right now I am mainly setting up for 9mm and .223.

I have accumulated a few thousand cases or 9mm from mostly range pickup and I acquired some when I bought my press. Just looking to decide where to focus my efforts.

 

[DHolder]

I just read the comment about the Glock .40 cal brass. Could you elaborate on what you meant? Do you just not reload .40 cal? I have some range brass, and I would guess some of it could be from Glocks. I haven't reloaded any yet,(can't find any dies) what are your suggestions.

 

[Clay]

glocks tend to really ding up the brass when its ejected.

 

[No Time to Shoot]

I have a I guess "professional" reloader I use for my ammo and he won't take >40 brass fired from a glock. The cases are not fully supported while in the chamber causing bulges in them. Hence the occasional Kaboom!

 

[colt45er]

Can we have someone elaborate on this a little bit more.

If you have read my other posts, you probably know I am not a huge fan of Glocks. BUT I know they are fine firearms and most kabooms are from bad reloads. Shoot if I double charge a .40 it will blow up just about any gun.

If you have range pick up brass (which I do and I am sure others do as well) What is the best way to tell if it has been shot through a Glock? Past that, I can't imagine that all brass from Glock's is bad to reload.

 

[sprky777]

brass fired in a glock usually can be identified by the primer.
The glock breech face has a rectangular slot for the firing pin and leaves the same shaped impression on the primer.

 

[IndyGunworks]

I have been reloading onced fired brass out of glocks for years and have never had any problems.... as far as them being dinged up on ejection????? i have never had any cases dinged up from ejection whatsover.... if you are concerned take the casing and roll it between your fingers.... if there is a bulge you will feel it....

the pro reloader probably wont take casings fired from a glock because if they were previous handloads and it did blow after he reloaded it he would be liable....

i say shoot them up..... 15 firings on my 9mm casings ALL FROM A GLOCK..... no issues whatsoever....

 

[jtmarine1911]

I have not had any problems with Winchester brass and I load it for a dozen different calibers, matter of fact everything I have bought to reload is Winchester, except my 204 and 45Colt which I use Nosler custom and Starline because lets just say my 45Colt is a little HOT! With literally thousands of Winchester cases I have as many as 20 reloads on a few lots of my 308 and 223, many of the 308 fired in an M1A and AR-10 and all the 223 in my ARs and the only case I had an issue with was one I forgot to chamfer and crumpled the neck on with a flat-base. I figured if their brass is good enough for Black Hills it is good enough for me. I also load many calibers in Remington and Federal brass that was left over from factory ammo in my 7 Mags and have not had any issues. The only (common) rifle brass I will tell you to watch out for is Federal's NATO brass in 7.62NATO, it tends to be harder and likes to split case necks after as few as one reload.

As far as range brass goes, INSPECT, INSPECT, and INSPECT!! I have shot alot of it and have found some that makes me wonder if it blew up the gun it had been fired in. As far as brass from Glocks, never had any problems from range brass fired from them, but I did find one that was bulged, it was from a 45.

Good Luck in your Quest!

 

[No Time to Shoot]

It was just the .40 Glocks that had a problem. They were more likely to bulge when firing if the load was hot or slightly over charged, could also be from a weak case wall, this isn't as much of a problem in most guns because the casing is fully supported in the barrel but most glocks especially the earlier ones in .40 did not fully support the case head. So if he reloaded it and gave it to me with the cases structural integrity now compromised it more than likely Kaboom.

 

[keyser]

FWIW, reloading 9mm, I've never had good luck loading S&B, the primer pockets are very tight and won't seat primers without alot of force and they tend to bind up my progressive press so I sort those out.

You can typically tell if it is a Glock fired case if it has the square protrusion around the firing pin indent in the primer.

 

[Leadeye]

Starline brass is my personal favorite.

 

[modelflyer2003]

I have a I guess "professional" reloader I use for my ammo and he won't take >40 brass fired from a glock. The cases are not fully supported while in the chamber causing bulges in them. Hence the occasional Kaboom!

I am new also and just ordered a Lee Deluxe kit. I plan on loading 9mm fired from my glock 26. I have heard of case bulging and the whole unsupported barrel thing, but won't the dies remove the bulge and get it back to specs?

 

[chipmaker]

I just got 2k of 45 acp range brass in all was pretty good, main thing loog for double primer flash holes and small pistol primer cases!

 

[XtremeVel]

I am new also and just ordered a Lee Deluxe kit. I plan on loading 9mm fired from my glock 26. I have heard of case bulging and the whole unsupported barrel thing, but won't the dies remove the bulge and get it back to specs?

Don't worry about it in 9mm. It's the .40 that its known for. My sizing die has always taken the bulge out, but it's the repeated " weakening " of the case wall that may cause a issue. Some Glock .40's have 2 issues. They have a bit less support like mentioned above, but some also have chambers that are a good .003 to .005 larger in diameter. Now, I have never had an issue with the mentioned factory barrels, but I do have much tighter chambers in my after - market barrels for when I shoot reloads using cases multiply times.

As for picking up range brass... I pay much more attention to whether it has been reloaded already several times, and not so much attention to whether it was shot out of a Glock or not.

 

[buzzard pickins]

LEE has a new tool to fight against Glock bulge. use it in conjunction with your factory crip die.Looks simple bought one at 1500 haven't tried it yet.
HANDLOAD LOONEY'S will buy anything.
Remember if you order factory direct Starline pays the freight.