Is all Brass created equal?

[Metal Wonder Nine Guy]

While I don't reload (yet), I do pick up my brass at the range. And I was thinking -does the consistency of brass vary from brand to brand? For instance, I heard at the range that Blazer Brass is fairly easy to load. But that was one person. What brands have good brass?

[oteroman]

No. Some is better than others.
I reload it all. I don?t sort.
I use a Dillon 1050
So military crips are no issue.
To me sorting for stepped brass is not worth the effort.
For competition probable, but still I wouldn?t do it for practice ammo.
Someone will chin in with a list of less desirable brass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[M1A4ME]

You only want boxer primed brass (single hole in the bottom center of the brass.)

You don't want berdan primed brass (double holes off set from the bottom center of the brass.)

There is some 9MM brass out there with a "step" in the inside of the case.  You can easily see it as a ledge that runs around the inside of the case a bit down from the case mouth.  You don't want that brass either, boxer primed or not.  The ledge causes two problems.  One is that it reduces internal capacity which will increase chamber pressure vs. regular cases.  The second is it keeps you from using heavier bullets because heavier bullets are longer which results in the bottom of the bullet being pressed into/against the ledge, damaging the bullet and the brass.

Some brass will have a crimped in primer.  That's a ring of displaced brass around the primer pocket that allows the old primer to be pushed out of the case but keeps you from being able to insert a new primer.  That crimp ring has to be removed before you can insert a new primer (one time thing, meaning after you correct the issue once, you'll never have to do it again on that piece of brass).  There are several tools/methods for removing that crimp ring.

While I pick all the brass up to use, too, I've read that Federal .223/5.56X45 marked brass does not have the life of other brands.  People say the primer pocket hole will get "loose after 2 or 3 loadings and no longer secure the new primer in the primer pocket.  I still use it.  When it gets to the point that it's loose the hand priming tools I use make it easy to detect when seating a new primer.  Then I can pull that brass out of the batch of brass I'm working with at the time.

Some people have issues with particular brands of brass on the presses/dies they use.  For example, my RCBS 9MM resizing die was pretty bad about pushing the primers out of Speer/CCI 9MM brass and the end of the primer punch would stick in the primer.  Then, when I moved the press arm to raise the die back up off the case the primer would partially re-insert into the primer pocket and stick the case in the shell holder.  A second partial trip into the resizing die would usuallly knock the old primer off the tip of the punch/pin, but it was aggravating.  Someone on the forum here told me to remove the primer punch/pin and stone/grind and angle on one side of the rounded tip of the punch/pin.  That worked for me very well.  I only occasionally have that issue now.

[Earl Keese]

Sorting for stepped brass is absolutely worthwhile. I look in every case before it goes in the case feeder.

[Wobbly]

Welcome aboard !

All good info above.  ^^

I pick it all up and reload about 99% of what I pick up. People that sort their brass by name find that one brand or another gives longer service, but if you're like most of us, you'll simply loose the brass in the weeds before the maximum life has been reached !! So for the novice, I say just pick it all up and go from there.

You definitely want to avoid...
? Steel or brass plated steel. This will ruin your dies and doesn't form up properly. Run a strong magnet through your assortment and they'll jump on board. You'll actually be surprised what you catch.
? It does need to be Boxer primed, and display one central primer hole instead of the 2 tiny "snake bite" primer holes of Berdan primed brass. (Most of these are steel, and so caught by the magnet trick.)
? Then finally the brass with the internal "step" is a known safety hazard. These have been withdrawn from circulation, but you still find them a lot on public ranges. Their interior looks like...



? Crimped primers on Mil-Spec brass can be a pain, but a common countersink tool will permanently remove the crimp area in about 1 second.


See if you can't find an empty Folgers plastic coffee canister, and when you fill one of those you'll have all the brass you need to start reloading.

And ask questions. We're here to help.   

[George16]

Different manufacturers have different dimensions for their own brass. I sort all the brass I get and load the same brass since my Dillon is already setup for that particular brass. I remove and throw away any stopped breads I encounter.

These are the brands that use stepped brass:
FM
iM/IT
Maxxtech (some don?t, some do)
Ammoload

[Dan_69GTX]

What was said!

In general I reload all good brass as a "mixed" batch.

If you are reloading for testing or precision, you wanna keep the same headstamp together for the most consistency.

If you are reloading 147gr in a 9mm and it is for a barrel that requires shorter OAL, then some brass won't work because the case wall thickens quicker causing a bulge so the case will not chamber correctly.

and ....  Welcome!  I've learned a TON here (and am still doing so).

[Wobbly]

Here's another good thing about picking up every piece you see...

You're also going to pick up a lot of 40S&W and 380Auto, which looks a lot like 9x19 Luger. But you can trade that 1 for 1 on BrassBucket.Net for what you need.

http://brassbucket.net/

 

[robert1804]

I find there is a difference with the different headstamps. I sort for Starline, FC, WW, and RP. They vary enough in thickness to make a big difference in bullet tension. FC is the thinnest, Starline and WW are in the middle and RP is the thickest. I load both .355 and .356 bullets so all FC brass is sized with a Lee U-die to give enough bullet tension with .355 bullets. I also use a U-die on some WW. I use a turret press now, but if I went to a progressive and didn't sort the brass, I'd use a u-die for all of it.

Lee U-Die

[Mods added clarification as to brand of die]

[andrew1220]

Sorting for stepped brass is absolutely worthwhile. I look in every case before it goes in the case feeder.

THIS! Also I scrap CBC and Aguila cases as the casewalls seem to be rather thick which creates a bulge and won't allow rounds to chamber in my guns.

[toteone]

Interesting case bulge comments.  I load PD 124 JHP which are .355 diameter and they show case bulge in ALL cases that I reload.  I also reload 98% of all 9mm cases I pick up.  The case bulge I am referring to is due to depth of seating of bullet.  My seating depth measured from bottom of bulge to top of case is always .225.  I use a Dillon 550C with Dillon dies and get great consistent results.

Was not aware that bulge can stop ammo from chambering....I have never experienced that.

[M1A4ME]

Some resizing dies "squeeze" the brass down to a smaller diameter than others.  My Lee resizing die gives me a coke bottle looking reload once the bullets are seated.  My RCBS dies just give me a nice straight case reload.

Could be the reason for the problem case bulge is the stepped cases are smaller ID down inside where the step begins and forcefully seating a longer (heavier or just needing to be seated deeper due to bullet shape/design) causes the case to swell at that step as the bullet base is jammed into it/past it.

And, some cases are just thicker walled than others.  The die sizes them to the same OD but the bullet would make the top look wider once it was seated.

[80vette]

I like Speer brass. I keep the brass separated by headstamp