Midway Grade 1 Once-Fired Brass

[lotus]

I got a 500 round pack of .45 ACP once-fired "Grade 1" brass from Midway this week on sale. Looking it over it's tough to see how they know it's once-fired. Lots of head stamps with dates that go back a few years.

Most were in good condition but nearly all the Federal brass had their flash holes blasted open past spec and had to be trashed. Probably 15% were like this. In any case I'll probably buy new brass from this point on unless the price gets MUCH sweeter!

 

[tc300mag1]

ive only bought 9mm once fired and they were fine nothing odd .. but 45 brass is so hard to come by it does make ya wonder iif there nce fired i just buy new 45 brass my self

 

[Black Snowman]

Seems like there are a LOT of 45 ACP reloaders. I almost never see 45 ACP brass on a range unless someone is pulling the trigger on the gun that moment. The second someone walks away without taking their brass at least 1 person, if not a few, scramble in for the spent brass.

I just got my 1st 45 ACP, a Taurus 455 Ti. Since I know I won't be loosing the brass (moon clips and all that ) I went ahead and got new Starline +P. Should last me forever.

When I get a brass throwing auto-chucker I'll have to find a cheap source. I might have to resort to the Midway stuff.

 

[Jim Watson]

That's not good.
I just today placed an order with Midway and included some of that brass because it was on sale.
But I will not worry about flashholes "blasted open" unless they are really bad. If first generation Winclean is normally reloadable (and it is), then flashhole size does not matter much in .45 ACP.

 

[Cortland]

There's no way to know if once-fired brass is really once-fired. That's a marketing term, really. At best it's "previously fired." I recently bought 1200 "once fired" .30 carbine cases with headstamps as old as 1943! And with surplus brass, it really may be once-fired, but there's no way to tell.

I fire all kinds of old previously-fired .45 ACP brass through my guns. The only stuff I watch out for is A-merc -- primers frequently fall out of their pockets!

I've had good luck with "once-fired" stuff from brassmanbrass.com

 

[Black Snowman]

I've delt with Jeff at GiBrass.com for bullets and powder and have been happy. I imagine his brass is good quality as well.

 

[dickwholliday]

i picked up some once fired 1942 military the other day....so you can't go by the date on the headstamp.....D I C K

 

[Cacique500]

You can check ebay as well - I recently got about 6000 .45 'once fired' - about 5500 were really nice brass...and FYI, it was *not* fun sorting through that many cases!!

I'll use these for plinking and save my new IMI for matches.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

I've always found Midway brass honestly represented

Which may also mean it hasn't been better than expected either - some of the other vendors do advertise headstamp sorted or collected brass especially for current military - full auto fired - and heavy police - 9mm or .40 S&W - use.

It's nice to have a bucket of 2500 cases on hand for a war reserve or leave it on the ground range but I won't be counting on using it for bullseye match.

 

[gwalchmai]

I always assume that when they say "once fired" they mean "guaranteed to have been fired at least once".

 

[taliv]

last week i bought 10,000 cases, all winchester headstamp from police range, on ebay for $300 +$98 shipping

seemed like a reasonable deal

 

[Standing Wolf]

Midway's quality of custome service has fallen through the floor in the past year.

 

[George S.]

When I started to reload .45ACP, I bought a 500-round case of Winchester White Box 230g FMJ and that was my source of once-fired brass. As I shot it I put the cases into boxes that are marked 1st reload, then later into 2nd reload and so on. Might be overkill but I can keep track of how many times the cases are reloaded and I can take more time inspecting the cases as they get used.

I still pick up a variety of empty cases at the range but I check them fairly closely for dings and any indication of splitting. I may toss out a third of what I pick up.

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

I was lucky to catch a sale middle of the year of fired .45 ACP brass at a local shop. 1000 for $30 was pretty cheap I thought, though I did miss a chance to get it for $10 per 1000 before I realized how cheap that was when I began reloading. :banghead: