9mm Brass Question

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capreppy

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Got a very good deal on 9mm brass. Although I don't own a 9mm (going to purchase one before the summer is over), I want to stock up on brass if I find it cheap.

Mostly F.C. (Federal), R-P (Remington), WIN (Winchester).

Questions about some of the other brass.

S&B - Good to reload?

WCC (Winchester Cartridge Company) - Looks to be NATO stamped, crimped primers?
FC w/NATO stamp, crimped primers?

WIN NT & FC NT - Good to reload (I know in .45ACP, these would be small primers, but obviously in 9mm Luger, it is already small primer).
 
This from another website...I'm not an authority but have found this list to be pretty accurate.

Good to go brass:
Starline (*--* Two Stars with line between them)
Winchester (Winchester, WIN, WCC?)
Norma (Norma)
Magtech (CBC)
Hornady (Hornady)
Independance (*I*)
Israeli Military Industries (TZZ)
Federal (Federal, FC that is not 40S&W)
Eldorado (ELD)
Remington (R-P, UMC)

Shootable, but not as good:
Speer (Speer)
Precision Made Cartridge (PMC)
Company? (HY)
Aguila (Aguila)
Fiocchi (Fiocchi)

Junk Brass:
American Ammunition (AMERC)
Armscorp (ACP)
Company? (NNY)
Federal (FC that is 40S&W)
Sellier & Beloit (S&B) - Mixed reviews, some ok, some bad, usually the problem is related to primer pocket size.
 
Hmm. Sucks about FC 40 S&W. I have a bunch and was saving them if/when I get a weapon in 40 S&W. That is currently the bulk of my 40 S&W stock :(

I don't have a lot of Speer, PMC or Fiocchi, but I think I have enough brass to just recycle them or give them away to someone who might be looking for free brass.

AMERC I knew about and those have already gone to the recycle bin.

S&B, mixed reviews. Don't have a lot, but don't want the hassle of finding out which ones are bad and which ones are.

***
Still an open question: NATO (WCC or FC branded) brass. Crimped on 9mm? I know they are on Rifle Brass.
 
S&B goes in the brass recycle can due to the primer pocket being too small. I use a lot of Fed/Win/Rem brass, as well as PMP, Praetoria Metal Pressings, good South African stuff. PMC ain't bad.
Amerc goes STRAIGHT into the melt down box.
 
Shootable, but not as good:
Speer (Speer)
Precision Made Cartridge (PMC)

Have a few hundred pieces of those two brands,had no issue that I can find with them,there in my good to go category.

Junk Brass:
Company? (NNY) Prvi Partizan Good quality brass in my opinion,I've had a few primer that the decapping pin punched right through like three out of several hundred. I still got the primer out and NNY is also in my good to go category.

Sellier & Beloit (S&B)
Generally has tight prime pocket from what I hear,I ran across a few and just hit them with my Hornady primer pocket reamer and there good to go. I have about 1K of NATO 9mm brass mostly WCC it was all crimped but the primers comes out very easy and again I chucked the Hornady pocket reamer in the cordless drill and knocked all the crimps out in a couple hours.
 
WCC -- Western Cartridge Co. (Win. bought them)
S&B -- Never had any issue is 9x19, .40s&W, or .45Auto.
Federal FC -- Crush and dispose of. Leading cause of KBs in .40 s&w.
 
I have a handful of WCC and havent seen a crimp yet. Easy to tell if they have it, do a search for pics and you will easily be able to tell.

If they are crimped, put them in a bag, buy 6-12 cold beers, come down to my house and we will swage them quick then knock the froth off a couple.
 
In all the 9MM brass I have prepped all the military/NATO stuff has had crimped primer pockets. After removing the old primer I just spin a RCBS hand chamfer/deburring tool pointy side to pocket a couple of turns. This will slightly angle the top of the primer pocket so that the primer will be funneled into the pocket past the removed lip of the crimp. No fancy tools here for me. I do hundreds at a time and it goes rather fast I believe.
Now the only brass I can't reload successfully is Amerc and all berdan stuff. The stuff with small flash holes is drilled out on my drill press with the proper sized drill bit. Do it once and it is done for good, same as the crimped in primers.
 
griff383 said:
I have a handful of WCC and havent seen a crimp yet. Easy to tell if they have it, do a search for pics and you will easily be able to tell.

If they are crimped, put them in a bag, buy 6-12 cold beers, come down to my house and we will swage them quick then knock the froth off a couple.
Click to expand...
If I don't head over to ATL this weekend to start that project, I may have to take you up on that offer (maybe not this weekend, but one soon). I've got more than a hundred of the WCC and I'm only halfway thru checking out the large USPS box that I got. I'll see how good my google fu is this early in the morning and find some pics of a crimped primer.

Prepost edit: WCC is NATO and does have crimped primers.

edit: Would have to get either a universal decapper (already thinking about it) or get a 9mm Hornady Die Set so I can decap these prior to reaming the pockets :)
 
Is federal brass really junk? I've had no problems with it, it has loaded and shot the same as winchester.
 
Any thoughts on Blazer and PPU brass?

Found a good quantity of that as well

Note: still sorting thru 6k pieces of brass but the vast majority is still Remington (10%), Winchester (30%) and Federal (remainder)
 
I have over 10k of fc 9mm brass that was American Eagle ammo, I got a source for that:) It loads awesome for me. I've got several thousand mixed
PMC works great for me
S&B works fine in 9 and 45 atleast for me
WIN great
RP great
GFL?? works fine
wcc honestly I dont even mess with it, I find so much brass I just keep what I know doesnt have a crimp, if its questionable or I see a crimp I leave it lay. Someone will grab it. I leave all spp 45 also. Although someday I'll wish I woulda picked that up. More and more going to small primers.
 
Hmm. Sucks about FC 40 S&W. I have a bunch and was saving them if/when I get a weapon in 40 S&W. That is currently the bulk of my 40 S&W stock
Click to expand...
Recheck your headstamp. If it has a 2 digit code, that's the year it was manufactured. Federal still uses the "FC" stamp on military brass.
 
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S&B brass is actually quite good. Using CCI primers, I have no issues on the primer pocket being too small. Not in 9mm and .223.. I have t admit, on .308 it indeed is a bit tight.
On S&B 9mm there is one thing you should do. Run it past a magnet. There are some batches that have a brass coated steel case. (BTW, S&B, Magtech and MEN are al part of CBC ;-) )
NNY / Privi.. sometimes wide primer pockets on .223 cases (Not really applicable to the 9mm cases question).
 
RWS as in Rheinisch-Westfälischen Sprengstoff factories ?... I use rifle cases for reloading. it is good brass. Probably a bit more popular under hunters here in Europe for rifle ammunition as it is rather expensive (not as bad as Lapua though).
 
GFL is Fiocchi, and I've used it with complete satisfaction for a couple of years now in .38 Special and 9mm Luger.

Now if you want to talk about new Remington .357 brass that had inadequate neck tension with new Remington .357 bullets (even after being sized), we can have a discussion...
 
I like WIN brass

I can't put my finger on why, other than I never seem to have any problems with it. It is thick where it needs to be and seems to be very consistent.

You're not talking about *gasp* BUYING brass for 9mm, are you? Because that is free to pick up, just about everywhere I go. It seems like only about 2% of shooters reload, and there are a lot of people shooting 9mm.
 
Fed brass in 9mmx19 is fine in my experience.

It's soft in their bottleneck rifle cartridges, so don't expect as many reloads before the primer pockets get loose or the web near the bases stretches enough to create case head separations.
 
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