Any Casings to Avoid?

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Avoid A-Merc, except for recycling. The rest, as long as they're boxer primed and made of brass, are reloadable. Some may have snug primer pockets, such as S&B, but that's not a problem for me, since I prime separately and they go right in.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Ditto the previous posts plus.
You may want to load keep the different head stamps separated, the thickness of the brass can shoot different, because of pressure tolerances. Thicker brass = higher relative pressure to thinner brass with powder charges and primer,bullet selection being the same. Not so much a hazzard as a accuracy problem.

You will have big time fun with the new hobby!
 
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I have to ask.
What exactly is wrong with AMERC?
I'm asking because I have several in .38.
I have loaded a few(I'm fairly new) and couldn't tell any difference.
 
I like lamb, hog, and beef casings for my sausages and thuringers. I dont like or use casings from other species.

Now, the brass cases to avoid have also been mentioned above.
 
What exactly is wrong with AMERC?
Click to expand...

Mainly, improper dimensions, especially in the primer pockets. Most of this stuff that I've seen had primer pockets so loose that you could press a primer in with a fingernail, and they'd let hot gases out even more easily.
 
Just this weekend I had a jam with AMERC in my M1911. I had picked up some 45 ACP AMERC cases before I found out they were garbage.

I have had primers fall out. I would dig in the ammo can, find the primer, stick in the back of the case, single load it, and fire it.

The jam I had this weekend was due to an overly long case. The M1911 jammed on feed and I could not get the slide to go into battery. The AMERC case actually showed a slight buldge as the slide tried to crunch it to fit.

The stuff is awful.
 
.40 S&W brass headstamped "F-C" should not be reloaded under any circumstances.
 
I reload EVERY HEADSTAMP including A-MERC. In fact, in thousands and thousands of cases I have prepped and/or loaded, I had only ONE A-MERC that was bad, due to a primer flash hole that was so off center the depriming pin wouldn't go through it.

I have actually had far more Winchester brass that has been scrapped due to issues like bad rims- however there is so much more WIN brass out there it is statistically invalid.

I know I have loaded A-MERC in 9mm, .357, .38 spl, .45 acp, .223, etc.


Anybody want to send me their A-MERC go right ahead.
 
Evan,

What kind of glue are you using to keep the primers in that A-Merc brass? I've also had them fall out of once fired A-Merc .45 brass, and it didn't matter what brand of primer I tried to stick in there.

In A-Merc .38 brass, I tried to get it into four different .38 shellholders, and it wouldn't go in any of them. I tried RCBS, Lyman and Redding, but the brass was too big to go in any of them. I just sold all I had for $1.95 a pound at the scrap yard........

Fred
 
The few pieces of A-MERC brass I have, some in 9mm and some .223, have been no better or worse than the rest. Fiocchi and S&B brass has been a bigger pain to me. I got tired of primers getting hung up on the primer pocket mouth that I now just run them all through the swager, just like mil-crimps.
 
Picking up brass on a range isn't a great idea. You have no idea how they've been loaded nor how often. Don't bother with steel cases or aluminium.
 
Picking up brass on a range isn't a great idea. You have no idea how they've been loaded nor how often.
Click to expand...

Every piece of brass I load gets cleaned and inspected. I'm not sure if it matters how many times a piece of brass has been loaded, as long as it doesn't show any cracks, rings, corrosion, thin spots, or any other defects either before or after it's been sized.

Maybe this is more of an issue for those who are using a progressive press. Me and my single-stage, we get up close and personal with the brass and handle it quite a bit. I'm not too worried about a bad piece of brass getting by.

Unfortunately, with the rising price of brass, the range seems to be sweeping up the shiny stuff with great regularity now. Slim pickings now.
 
Being a range rat and I have a multitude of various headstamps.

Only problems I have ever had were .45ACP headstamped TZZ. Not sure where they come from, who makes them, but had several head blowouts, finally picked them all out and smashed them.
 
The TZZ brass and ammunition is made by IMI. Most that was marked TZZ and TZ were for contracts with the U.S. government. It's usually pretty good brass.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
ReloaderFred: Like I said. I have no problems with A-MERC regarding primers falling out or anything else, the ONLY problem I ever had was a flash hole so far off center I couldn't deprime it.
If you'd like, I could send you an assortment of loaded A-MERC ammunition for a very reasonable price. My Pro-1K has no problems with it, unlike Seller & Belloit which has very tight primer pockets.

Sunray: Dude, go ahead and leave the brass behind on the range.

Seriously. More for the rest of us. I could see a concern with rifle brass but even then I inspect every piece of brass before I put it in my stock- I tumble everything and hand inspect coming out of the tumbler. Anything questionable goes in the scrap bucket.

Pistol brass lasts forever if you are easy on it.
 
Picking up brass on a range isn't a great idea. You have no idea how they've been loaded nor how often.
Click to expand...
I've seen this theory several time before and it never makes sense to me. The only way Brass would have been fired multiple times would be if it was shot by someone who reloads. Since a reloader wouldn't leave the Brass behind the chances are what you find at the range is 1X fired Brass, not 10X shot Brass. I'm sure a reloader can miss picking up a few pieces of semi-auto Brass but if it's a revolver caliber it's more than likely 1X fired Brass.

When you see a pile of 9mm Brass on the ground all within a few feet, it's all shinny and calling your name, there's no reason at all not to pick it up. I did that very thing today at the range and when I got home and counted it there was exactly 99 Winchester cases! (dam, I missed 1 :p)
 
For some reason, .45ACP brass with the "R-P" stamp (Remington-Peters IIRC, comes in Remington boxes and in UMC mega-packs) consistently doesn't work well for me, it's like the case mouth is oversize even when I'm slow and careful. I use a Lee classic turret press, and I can tell just by feel during seating and the FCD crimping whether or not I picked up a R-P .45 case. I've been meaning to cull them out of my stock of .45 brass.

I've had no problems with any other brands in 38, 357, or 9mm. All the pickup brass I've gotten in those calibers seems to work pretty well. "Blazer brass" was a pleasant surprise to me, I really like how well it seems to reload.
 
At first, I was concerned if the handgun brass I picked up was reloaded, but after inspecting my own brass after it's been fired four or five times, I think it's pretty easy to see a difference between once-fired brass and multiple-fired brass. I have picked up brass that was definitely reloaded, but the same rule applies - if it's questionable, toss it.
 
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