A-merc Brass Question

[schmeky]

I have had several handloads that would not chamber in any of my .45's. I started looking at the brand and all of the faulty rounds were in A-merc brass.

Is this just me, or is there something queer about this headstamp?

 

[lee n. field]

Everything I've ever heard about that says "toss it". It's notorious.

 

[Griz44]

+1 on the toss it. Every one I have wound up with was a problem. Now I toss them into the reycle can and don't even mess with them.

 

[Cacique500]

Don't just toss it, smash it flat...so somebody else won't make the mistake of using it.

Total crap!

 

[R.W.Dale]

ANY question you could possibly ask about A-Merc brass can be answered with the reply " throw it away it's total crap"

 

[schmeky]

Thanx for the replies. I knew it couldn't be a fluke since every problem round had the same headstamp.

 

[cpttango30]

That is the junkiest brass on the market. I am suprised it can be fired once.

If you come on any toss in recycle bucket.

 

[Hook686]

I have no great love for A-merc ammunition, or brass. I have about 200 rounds of .30 Carbine I bought when I 1st got my carbine. I've had maybe 6 rounds with head separation, or split case at the neck. I've reloaded these about 5 times (I use 12.5 grains of Alliant 2400 ... a mild load).

The only times I've had a problem with reloads not chambering, was when I picked up range brass and did not do a full case re-size on them. My personal thought is ammunition fired in a pistol takes on the size and shape of the pistol chamber when fired. Cooling then shrinks the case a little for extraction. I'm surprised if this is your fired brass that it would have extracted from your pistol if it will not rechamber, especially after a case re-size.

Did you re-size the cases ? Were these fired the 1st time in your pistol ?

If anyone wishes to send me their A-Merc brass, please feel free to do so.

 

[armoredman]

Recycle it via smasher.

 

[ftierson]

Originally posted by Hook686
If anyone wishes to send me their A-Merc brass, please feel free to do so.

Friends don't send friends A-MERC brass...

Friends don't let friends shoot A-MERC brass...



If you had some good stuff, it's like winning Power-Ball in terms of how likely it is...

Scrap the brass...

Forrest

 

[evan price]

I've got several A-MERC boxes full of reloaded A-MERC brass. It's the cheap stuff at one of the ranges I visit. There have been a few cartridges that were obvious scrap. The rest loaded fine for me.

YMMV.

I shoot A-MERC at ranges where recovery of brass is difficult or impossible. Wy waste my nice nickle Federal cases?

 

[Walkalong]

I recently sent about 100 A-Merc brass to a fellow here on THR who was happy to have it. I suppose if you check it carefully, most times you can get by with it, but it's not worth the trouble to me.

 

[harbinger_j]

I just read in an article in "Front Sight" magazine about different sizes of brass. On the extractor groove and headstamp, most were within +/- .002" of each other but a few including A-Merc were like +/- .01 of difference from most of the other brass.

It could be the great variation that causes most peoples problems with A-Merc. Since hearing bad things about this brassI have found a few on the range and have not had a problem yet in .40S&W in my HK USP. So that is my experience.

 

[achildofthesky]

Amerc...

I heard a lot of negative stuff about Amerc so I am doing an ongoing experiment with it in 44 Mag that a gent at one of the local ranges gave me.

I started out with about 100 cases and so far have 8 reloads on them I lost just 2 to very tiny cracks in the neck, I crushed 4-5 through my own stupidity, and an going to load them again this week. I have noted 2 with not so snug primer pockets the last go around. The flash holes on many are not centered on many of them but I have no loss of accuracy (a general term used loosely as I am using them in my marlin 1894ss with open sights).

Most of the loads are full power JHP loads (H110 within 1-2 gr of max) and I have never trimmed them and never had a dud or cycling issues. The dies I use are Lee and have been using a HEAVY factory die crimp in all jacketed loads, and a little less agressive crimp on lead RNFP loads (Unique powder). I prefer WW brass out of habit of 35+ years of shooting (no real reason I can point to though) but the durability of the Amerc seems just fine. Especially since they were free..... I like free.

While I wouldn't go out of my way to get Amerc, I have NO problem using them and will keep loading these till they fail. They still clean up well and being shot 9x (8 reloads + original loading).

For general blasting I have no problems with them at all and should someone offer me more in 44 mag that they want to be rid of. I would graciously snap them up. If they were all that was in my bucket to reload for a hunting trip I wouldn't hesitate to use them. For the 44 magnum rifle and handguns I load for, brass seems to be brass.

Just my .04c

Be safe

Patty

 

[DEDON45]

A-Merc in .45ACP is out of spec; I learned that one the hard way... trash it.

 

[ftierson]

Since there seem to be somewhat mixed comments about A-MERC brass here (for example, I think that it's crap and some others think that it's OK), the best thing to do is to test the brass yourself if you don't want to believe the negative comments and give it up...

Most of my A-MERC experience has been with .45ACP and 9x19mmP brass. The problem has been mostly related to the brass being considerably too soft.

Try this experiment. Take several fired A-MERC cases and several cases from other manufacturers and run them through your carbide sizing die (I generally use Lee carbide dies for handgun cases). The carbide sizing ring should swage the case back to spec without displacing any brass ahead of the sizing ring. Cases of the appropriate hardness will simply look smooth and 'new' after sizing. If you try this with an A-MERC case, the sizing ring will push up a ridge of brass, and you'll be able to see (and feel) this ridge near the base of the case quite clearly...

Such cases should be discarded.

I've found that about 95 percent of the A-MERC .45ACP and 9x19mmP cases that I've resized have been too soft. Ocassionally, I've found ones that looked just fine after sizing, but it's literally not worth my time to walk through all the lemons for the single pearl.

The only other 9x19mmP cases that I've found also to be too soft are some of the Chinese ones. However, the ratio of too soft to OK for Chinese is much lower, and I generally run these through my sizer and just discard the 'ridged' ones...

Test your brass and see for yourself...

If it tests out OK, use it...

For me, that means discarding the A-MERC brass into the scrap bucket.

YMMV...

Forrest