9mm brass - is there a significant difference

[sirgilligan]

In preparation to learn how to size and trim some 9mm brass I sorted it by head stamp.

I have the following head stamps:

FC
.FC.
WIN
R-P
CBC
PMC

I have purchased some nice hollow point rounds to make some self defense loads.

Are any of those brands of brass considered better than the other? If there is some significant difference I can save those for the self defense rounds and use the others for plinking rounds. I imagine they are probably all about equal, but you never know unless you ask.

 

[Walkalong]

Those are all fine. If you want consistency, use one headstamp only.

That said, I would not advise someone very new to reloading to load their own defensive ammo, and not because of legal concerns.

 

[oldandslow]

sg,

I've reloaded over 100,000 pistol rounds in the last ten years (9mm, .45acp, 38sp, .357mag, 44sp) and have never had to trim a straight walled pistol case. They don't seem to elongate like bottlenecked rifle cases. And there is no need to separate 9mm cases by headstamp for most general shooting needs.

best wishes- oldandslow

 

[notaglockfanboy]

I am with Walkalong, I wouldn't advise a new reloader to load defensive ammo. There are so many factors that could go terribly wrong. Get some experience before you trust your life with experimental ammo, I mean is a $35 savings on a box of quality defensive ammo worth your life??

 

[jrdolall]

I have loaded about 3,000 rounds of 9mm in the past year which is how long I have been reloading. All FMJ and I haven't sorted a single piece of brass based on the stamp. I probably have 20 different headstamps that I have loaded and I can't tell any difference.
Of course I am not shooting matches or requiring great accuracy. I JUST WANT IT TO GO BANG AND HIT A TARGET AT 10 YARDS.

 

[sirgilligan]

Thanks all. I figure that there isn't much difference. I don't mind sorting them and loading all of one kind before I move to another.

I won't do any self defense rounds to start with, I just wanted to know if there was a significant brass difference and I could set the better ones aside and save them for when I am ready.

 

[JonB]

For range fodder i dont sort at all. Any i find that are crimped get tossed, life is too short to decrimp primer pockets on 9mm.

Also for carry defense ammo i used Hornady Critical defense or Gold dots.

 

[mstreddy]

SirGilligan,
I know that you are pretty new to reloading and have a lot of thoughts and questions. On trimming 9MM -- don't bother. You may sort by headstamp to find some consistency in the brass. Different brass does have different thickness, primer pockets, etc, and I do notice sometimes when I'm running them in my LNL AP.

I'll be honest, I don't sort 9MM brass at all, maybe I should, but in the end, it all sizes fine, primers seat fine, and rounds seat just fine. I also load a bunch of military crimped 9MM - WCC, WMA and a couple of others. I can tell when I size/deprime, but they end up priming fine on the LNL.

But, again, trimming 9MM is not necessary at all. Save your trimming for your revolver rounds, not your autoloaders.

 

[sirgilligan]

Thanks again.

I did not notice any of mine having crimped primers.

All of these were shot out of either a Browning Hi Power or a CZ 85B, both have chambers that support the case almost identically, and all of them resized easily, with not much force at all.

Thanks for the tip on length, I spot checked a few and all of them were within spec just like you all have said.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I didn't sort when I started, not that long ago, but I started when I started loading hotter loads (to make the powder factor in competition).

I feel that the consistency within a head stamp just makes more sense when trying to develop a accurate load...but then I'm sorting OAL out to .002"; and I'm loading on a progressive.

I think you'll find that different manufacturers produce brass of different wall thicknesses and internal volume

 

[Walkalong]

There are so many makes of 9MM brass that it is all over the place in case thickness and weight. If you are loading on the ragged edge of hot, it makes sense to sort cases, or if you want all the gilt edged accuracy you can get, it does as well.

That said, 99% of my 9MM shooting is just casual target shooting/plinking, and I can't shoot the difference in mixed cases vs sorted, and until recently was not loading anything right up against the edge of too much. For that I am going to try some sorted cases again when I get to tweaking the last little bit. And even then, in the end I'll likely back off of what I feel, and the books show, is max.

I have a bunch of 9MM cases, and have some sorted out and even primed, but they are just laying around for some day when I might need them, and for causal shooting, I just don't sort them. Lazy? Maybe.

 

[Comrade Mike]

I sort by brand like you do. I've noticed some small gains over totally unsorted brass. To me it's worth the effort

 

[jcwit]

The only straight walled case "if you can call it that" that I reload for that stretches is .30 cal. Carbine.

Sort if you so desire, but I'd say at this time in your reloading career, I'd dispense with the OCD of sorting cases.

 

[ATLDave]

I sort by headstamp so that overall weight can be used as a QC measure and so that, if it turns out that some brand of brass proves problematic, I can isolate all the effected rounds easily.

 

[gamestalker]

If it makes you feel any better, I have always trimmed my handgun brass, 30+ yrs. of reloading. Most will state that they don't experience much if any variations in brass lengths, so trimming is unnecessary. I won't argue that claim, but I think it has something to do with what components, and how they load them. I for one, only load jacketed, and only full throttle self defense type ammunition. This being the case, my brass will almost always exceed SAAMI max following the first loading, not much variation after that, but still several thou.

As far as head stamps, I usually sort, but consider that I always load full tilt, and one can find some degree of justification I think.

Regarding loading your self defense ammo, I would wait on that until you've shot several thousand loads that have functioned flawlessly. And to reiterate what others have said, it's not a legal thing, it's a life and death issue.

GS

 

[TimSr]

With 9mm I only sort between crimped and non-criped primers because of the added steps in the reloading process. It matters little at indoor range ranges.

Revolver, they are easily kept togther and I find no reason not to match them. I only trim if doing premium long rnage hunting rounds, as varying lengths also varies the crimp.

With 9mm defense rounds I sort by headstamp AND trim to length, and hand weigh each charge. Probably way overkill, but I like to think I did everything perfect for those.

 

[jmorris]

There is one brand of case I have come across that has a "shelf" or reduced ID midway down the case. Looks like something to prevent bullet setback.

 

[Toprudder]

There is one brand of case I have come across that has a "shelf" or reduced ID midway down the case. Looks like something to prevent bullet setback.

Two that I know of. "AMMOLOAD" and "IMT".

FWIW, I toss both of those out. I don't remember having any issues with the IMT, but the AMMOLOAD I had a batch that would not hold primers. There are so few of each, and other 9mm is so plentiful, I see no need to keep these.

 

[JonB]

Two that I know of. "AMMOLOAD" and "IMT".

FWIW, I toss both of those out. I don't remember having any issues with the IMT, but the AMMOLOAD I had a batch that would not hold primers. There are so few of each, and other 9mm is so plentiful, I see no need to keep these.

Aquila 9mm has that little 'shelf' as well. I got a bunch of those from an indoor range. I loaded them up just like the rest. My normal load is 4.1gr Titegroup and I seat a hair longer than the load data so I am not concerned with over pressure from the shelf taking up the internal space.

 

[Potatohead]

I can tell the difference sometimes in neck tension, and how tight the primer pocket is (s&b). I guess that could have to do with how often theyve been loaded possibly. Ive always like cbc myself.

 

[joem1945]

I don't sort by head stamp or trim most pistol brass. There are a few exceptions like .30 mauser or 7.62X25 that may need to be trimmed.

 

[moxie]

"Sorting by brand" sounds logical and perhaps is if you can control your supply, as in your own range or certain indoor ranges.

But, if you frequent busy ranges, you'll soon find yourself with dozens, if not scores of different headstamps. Then you'll have, say, 50-60 separate piles of brass, some big, some little. Remington, for example, has an uncounted number of different headstamps. The size and font of the letters, the spacing, the different dashes and dots, all conspire to confound the sorter. They are all Remington, but have many differences.

I find that for the most part they are all good with a few exceptions such as A-MERC and Ammoland.

Agree that sorting is the way to go for hot loads, accuracy loads or self defense. Otherwise it's a real headbanger.

 

[Toprudder]

I took a quick look at the "stepped" casings one day. I'm not sure it really cuts down on the internal volume that much. If you look at a non-stepped casing (or at least the one I looked at, don't remember the headstamp) the wall thickness seems to be fairly uniform back to a certain point, then the inside wall begins to angle in some, making the wall thicker close to the web. It appeared to me that the stepped case was uniform up to the step, then a uniform thickness after the step. Maybe I should measure the internal volume to be sure, but I really don't plan on using them anyway.

 

[ATLDave]

But, if you frequent busy ranges, you'll soon find yourself with dozens, if not scores of different headstamps. Then you'll have, say, 50-60 separate piles of brass, some big, some little.

Yeah, but pretty quickly into the sorting you'll notice that some piles are big enough to be worthwhile and the smaller piles can go into a "miscelaneous" collection. I keep about 5-6 headstamps sorted (FC, .FC., Blazer, WCC, Speer are the ones that come immediately to mind) and the rest go into a big ziplock. If I run out of the "main" headstamps, then I can sort that and start using them. But I don't really have to do that very often.

And, yeah, Remington brass is not my favorite. Big variance in weights, and a tendency towards poor neck tension.

 

[moxie]

There's a plethora of WCCs too. What font? What spacing? Year marked? NATO cross? Crimped primer pocket?

Before you know it your big ziplock turns into a bucket.

Same thing with .40 and .45ACP.