Buying once-fired 10 mm brass: good or bad experiences

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Buck13

Buck13

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I've lost enough 10 mm brass that I'd like to get a few more. Not finding any new brass in the first half-dozen places I checked. I see a source claiming to have once-fired brass to ship. Anyone have experience with used brass for the 10?

I'm concerned that since Glocks are probably an unusually high percentage of the existing guns for this caliber (due to the fairly small number of different guns made in 10 mm) and they are said to bulge the brass, once-fired 10 mm cases may be less likely to be in good condition than other calibers. Problem, small problem, not a problem?
 
In my experience, most brass dealers are more than willing to handle any issues with brass that is in questionable non reloadable condition. And generally when ordering from someone I've never done business with before, I place a minimum order, to give me some idea of what quality brass they sell. If the brass appears to be decent, I then place a large order.

The only suggestion I would like to make, is to be careful about using those bulge buster dies on every budged piece of brass you come across. It's obvious that when brass bulges, it becomes weakened to some extent.

GS
 
I've ordered Starline 10mm, and it was new. No once-fired stuff, as I found practice ammo to be just a little more than separate components, and I also knew who fired the the rounds! Can't say that method holds true nowadays.

I use a Redding G-Rx carbide full length sizer for all my 10mm, .357SIG, and .40S&W brass, and haven't had any issues so far.
 
If I could find more new Starline brass, that would be my first choice...It may be a long wait, and I'm tired of only being able to load a little at a session.
 
I have purchased 50 here and 125 there etc. for a while and none of the rounds have been bulged to any noticeable amount. There are a bunch of them that have the imprint of the Glock striker in there as well. What I find is most of the OF brass I obtain are nickel plated and plated rounds in general have a history of shorter life. Just sayin but I have not a lot of history with reloading for the 10MM yet.
 
People like to hotrod 10mm. You're better off getting new brass. It's never a good thing to inherit someone else's mistake.
 
I've reloaded nickel case's on the 10 mm 4 round's and more. Just keep a check on them and don't get too greedy.
 
I've used plenty of used 10MM brass purchased from the web with no issue. Sure, some shot out of Glocks are a little bubbled but they seem to clean up pretty good in my Lee dies. All of my 10MM barrels have fully supported chambers. My G20 got a Storm Lake barrel and the factory one sat in the parts bin.

In saying that, if you can get some new starline for a few $ more than what you would pay for used, why not go with that. If you are blowing 10MM brass into orbit, try increasing your recoil spring weight to tame the toss.
 
You are wise to have these concerns.

My DW 1911 throws brass into the next county, even after spring changes, extractor tuning, etc. The brass bounces off the surrounding structure(s) and goes...who knows where.

Note that this is an indoor range, where I shoot regularly...but I can lose 30-40% of my brass...and to be honest, that annoys me enough that I shoot that pistol quite a bit less than I would otherwise.

On rare occasion I find some 10mm brass at my range. We are talking maybe 15-25 rounds...and that is enough to make my day, because it happens so infrequently.

Most recently (maybe a month ago) I found almost 50, and was practically beside myself.

However, a couple had some 'out-of-round' that was notable even in the dim light of the range.

As soon as we walked out of the actual firing lanes, I dumped them all on the counter and started examining them under better light. And rolling them around.

Bottom line, I ended up throwing all of them in the trash before I left. Just about killed me to do it...I was rationalizing to myself that I only reload lead target rounds at modest velocities, and...and...

Nah. I'm old enough to realize that I've done about a million stupid things in my fairly long (so far) life...and gotten away with a large percentage of them. Even at brand-new Starline prices, I threw away what? Eight bucks worth of brass (that I paid nothing for)?

And whether it matters or not, yes, they all had the distinctive rectangular striker mark.

I don't want to derail the conversation, but for the last 18 months or so, I had been considering buying a G20SF just to double my 10mm fun.

After doing (quite) a bit of reading, I'm going to pass on that. I have enough heartache in my life already. :)

I've reloaded nickel case's on the 10 mm 4 round's and more.
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Wow, four whole reloadings? That is bottlenecked rifle brass territory.
I guess I am spoiled by loading/shooting .45acp. Brass or nickel, I have yet to see any reason to toss any of them. That's the difference between a round that operates at 18,000 psi and one that operates at twice that pressure. And if I lose some .45acp brass...who cares? If I only get four loadings out of every piece of .45acp brass I own, I will have to work hard to use them all.
 
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I don't think it's a problem, but 10mm brass doesn't last very long for me. I usually load mine to about 1200 - 1300 fps. By around the third or fourth loading the cases start to split. Some cases fare better.

I could load them slow, but I figure if I wanted to shoot 900 fps then I should just shoot 40 S&W.
 
I could load them slow, but I figure if I wanted to shoot 900 fps then I should just shoot 40 S&W.
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Exactly, as far as the 10mm brass goes if you can find it buy it. I purchase used brass for all cal's I shoot some last a long time some do not but if you watch you can get good deal now and then.
 
If you keep checking starline's website they will open ordering. I checked several times a week and finally got an order in.

I don't like 10mm range pickups and only use used brass for plinking ammo. When I load with blue dot I am a step away from putting a smilie on the brass. You don't want that brass.
 
I never had a real issue with 1x 10mm brass, except that one, don't load warm loads in brass that looks "old" and two, as far a brand quality run from Top Brass like the plague. Starline is good and most factory brass is pretty good, although I'm a bit leery of "FC" stamped Federal brass for whatever reason.
 
OK, sounds like results might be good enough to risk trying a hundred. I can use the once-fired stuff for my kitten-ticklers: 4 grains of Trail Boss under a lead 140 gr (used with a reduced recoil spring). Save the Starline brass I have for the good stuff: 13.5 grains of #9 under a 180.
 
With all the millions and millions of reloads made with once fired or 10 times fired, or for that matter, Lord knows how many times fired, I seriously doubt there is much if anything to be concerned about.
 
I'm frankly amazed you've found anyone claiming to have once-fired 10mm brass in stock. I haven't seen that in stock anywhere in over a year.
 
Elkins45 said:
I'm frankly amazed you've found anyone claiming to have once-fired 10mm brass in stock. I haven't seen that in stock anywhere in over a year.
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Turns out the website I was looking at is a bit misleading: you can put items in the cart, and it doesn't show that it is out of stock until you actually try to apply the payment. At that point, it showed that 10 mm was sold out (as were most of the others I checked except .45 ACP and .38/.357 mixed). So much for that bright idea!
 
If you're worried about the pedigree on once fired brass spend the money and buy new from Starline. Place your order and wait, it'll show up eventually.
Beggars can't be choosers these days.
 
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