How much brass do you buy

I bumbled along a while reloading what I had from factory and maybe buying 100 at the time when I needed it. Early last year I got tired of that and purchased 1000 rounds of .357 brass and 500 rounds of .41 mag. Makes me happy to load good brass.

Very rarely I will buy some rifle brass, usually for that I just by Privi ammo as a brass donor.
9mm, .380, .45, .223 I scrounge.
I have about 4 times as much 9mm brass as SPPs but I still scrounge some, probably need to seek help, but I am afraid it is to late to be cured.

The question "How Much Brass Do You Buy" is a 'non sequitor' that should not have been allowed on this forum in the first place.

People with no surplus of cases will be looking to buy every case they can. People who anticipated a future shortage are already "sitting pretty" on the brass they have.

Those still looking for cases find themselves in a "seller's market"

Except for 9mm and 38 special plinking ammo, I buy all my brass. I like brass for serious shooting to all be from the same manufacturer, and for rifle, from the same lot.

AJC1 said:

I always collect a big pile and sort by headstamp. I cant seem to find 357 on the range and the fustrating exercises of loading mixed brass has crept into my life. .005 might not be much to some but more than double my normal acceptable tollerance.

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And then you get the bozos who trim their brass to below spec' and leave it like rabbit turds for brass chickens to find.

Soonerpesek said:

I have not seen spent brass from a machine gun, is it beat up any more than from a semi auto/ bolt gun...?

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Well a MG has a much more generous chamber to assure positive ejection. To that end the brass is expanded more at the web end than a typical chamber allows. A lot of dies do not size that area down far enough to get it back in spec. The small base dies do a better job on that abused swollen brass. Still some are still to big to fit a normal chamber or case gage after sizing even after using SB dies.

All my handgun brass (straight sided brass) (38 Spl. 9mm, 9mm largo, 45ACP and 44Mag) is a combo of pick up and cases from factory ammo.
All my rifle brass is from either buy (Lapua & ADG) or factory ammo (243, 30-06, 7MM Mag)
All my rifle brass is anealled each firing (EP Integrations 2.0 annealing machine )
However, now days due to the covid created shortages of ammo, there is almost no range pickup brass at my local range. I can be one of two shooters during the week.

Soonerpesek said:

I have not seen spent brass from a machine gun, is it beat up any more than from a semi auto/ bolt gun...?

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Just the fluted chamber guns...HK and a Eastern Europe something or other...normally just toss those, as mentioned I get some much of it, it isn't worth the effort to sort. I've never had issues with resizing a d loading any of it...granted I'm mostly interested in pistol caliber as well as 223/5.56, 308 and 06

GE-Mini-Gun said:

Just the fluted chamber guns...HK and a Eastern Europe something or other...normally just toss those, as mentioned I get some much of it, it isn't worth the effort to sort. I've never had issues with resizing a d loading any of it...granted I'm mostly interested in pistol caliber as well as 223/5.56, 308 and 06

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I got to be honest and say I've never trusted range finds for high pressure chambers like the .30-06. Could be I'm wrong all these decades but it just never seemed smart to me to pick up a piece of brass someone else left behind. It's kind of like chewing the gum you find under a desk.

I'm the type of reloader that loads "in the middle" if it shoots an inch or under at 100, I'm good, as I'm not shooting for money nor am I shooting impress anyone. Worse thing that has happened was a head separated on a 308 case...no idea if it was one of the machine gun brass as it was a Remington case...never have had an issue with 223/556

Only range brass I pick up are some .223, 45 or 357. I already have more 9mm than I'll ever use - same for 38, 32swl, 7mag and 7-08

AJC1 said:

Dam bro I feel all dirty now, ha ha ha. Still picking them up though.

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I know for me if I leave brass behind it's because it's beat and I don't really want to try and use it again. I figure prolly most folks are like that - around here, anyway. At the public range you take your life in your hands picking up brass. I've seen fistfights between brass chickens when the range was hot.

Anybody ever been to the Ocala Forest FWC range near Mill Dam probably seen it, too. And worse... I haven't b een out there in almost ten years so it *might* be better but, somehow I kind of doubt it. Don't really want to find out.

Had to buy all my 6 Dasher brass and my 6 PPC brass
just don't find Lapua 220 Russian, Lapua 6BR, or Alpha OCD 6 Dasher brass laying around.
and I bought my Lapua 6.5-284 Norma brass and components, loaded rounds were 3.50 ish a piece.

I did buy 300WinMag brass as I wanted to try the ADG brass for it....that was a convenience buy more than anything though.

otherwise it's recycled brass from shooting factory or brass shot at the farm that I collect after everyone else is done. Corner up the tarps and dump into buckets.

It's a sellers' market. They're getting $500 for a five gallon bucket of 9mm (6 cents each). Unless you're desperate, I wouldn't buy any brass, prices will come down.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/903093097.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

I know for me if I leave brass behind it's because it's beat and I don't really want to try and use it again. I figure prolly most folks are like that - around here, anyway. At the public range you take your life in your hands picking up brass. I've seen fistfights between brass chickens when the range was hot.

Anybody ever been to the Ocala Forest FWC range near Mill Dam probably seen it, too. And worse... I haven't b een out there in almost ten years so it *might* be better but, somehow I kind of doubt it. Don't really want to find out.

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Whereas at the main club near Tallahassee, it seems very few reload as I find tons of 9mm and 223 brass along with 38, 357, 40, 45, 10mm, 308, 270, 30-06, even 45-70. I'll scrounge the 45 and 357

I have to buy 380 sometimes. When my 380 brass hits the floor it somehow transforms into 9mm Luger brass.

I have more brass then I will ever use.
I pick up all the brass I see on the ground at the gravel pits we go to no matter what calibers they happen to be.
I started selling range brass and started buying brass from the pit scrounged. I sold well over a ton of range brass since last October.
All my rifle hunting rounds are made from mixed head stamped range brass that I picked up or bought.
I get deer ever year, one shot/one kill.
It doesn't get any better than that.
I have a bunch of wet tumbled range brass that I need to move. I will be getting another three hundred pounds of it in a couple of weeks to separate, wet tumble and sell.

The only brass I have had to buy is .357 Sig.

My range lets me pick up all I want, so I have only bought what I can't find laying on the grounds at the range.
I have so much brass I have been loading .223/5.56 for over three years & have yet to reload that brass a 2nd time.
I guess I need to start selling it & stop hording it. LOL

I bought 500 pieces of 9mm brass to get started. After that pick ups, or more accurately hand overs. Will now only accept 9mm handed directly from shooter to me. Lately all I see at the outdoor range are reloaders, all scrounging brass.

Gratefully I have a big enough stash and my back thanks me.