Once Fired Brass

[jaybrown]

Ive been reading a lot of reloading material and have some concerns about purchasing "Once Fired Brass". Does anyone use this brass? Do you consider it safe? Should I have any concerns? Midway even sells it but my Lyman reloading manual says, "Don't do it". I'm confused. I understand the logic of using new brass but the price difference on once fired is nice.


http://www.edsbrassandreloaders.com/onlinestore/index.php?cPath=40_41&osCsid=4f3544815b1029caf3140645f77b1dce


I look forward to your imput. Thanks.

 

[JDGray]

Every thing I reload is once fired Your gonna pay more for brass seperated by headstamp, but its worth it if it gives you peace of mind.
http://www.millseatcomponents.com/Our_Products.html

 

[bill in IN]

Does the term "reloading" seem to be relevant?

 

[dracphelan]

It depends on the source of brass. I've seen ranges that just shovel up the brass, lightly sort it and then sell it. Unless it is really cheap, don't buy this brass. You will end up with brass that is crushed, aluminum or steel. After your time sorting it all out, it's not worth it.
I buy used and cleaned 45ACP brass from a local store that does a good job sorting. And, I still have to sort it out the brass that uses small primers. But, overall it comes out to be a good bargain.

 

[dleong]

What JDGray said.

If you are not using brand-new brass in your reloads, then you are using brass that is at least once-fired.

If you are not loading at or near the top of the recommended charge range, then you should not have anything to worry about. Just be sure to visually inspect the brass for any obvious signs of defects and/or abnormalities.

Brass previously fired in the relatively unsupported chamber of a Glock pistol might warrant some additional precautions, though, as the fired case stretches more. Resizing the case and then subsequently firing the reloaded round in another Glock pistol might stress/overwork the brass sufficiently to cause it to rupture, especially if you are loading at or near the top of the charge range.

(Personally, I have no problems with using Glock-fired cases in my reloads, since I don't load near the top of the charge range, and all of my pistols have adequately-supported chambers.)

 

[jaybrown]

Reading my Lyman manual they made a valid point regarding once used brass. Say your that individual at the range who picks up others used brass. How do you know that the case you picked up hasn't been reloaded 10 times already. that the last 3 reloads weren't .05 -1 grain over max values. I'm a complete beginner so I have no experience. Can you tell the condition of a case by appearances alone? Or could that case be on the edge of failure but by all dimensional and visual appearances be satisfactory? Now I can see if you get your once fired brass off a law enforcement range. Where no one is using reloaded ammunition. Even if the loads are on high side at least they are factory loads. This is just a safety factor that I would like to address.

Thanks guys.

 

[Chief 101]

Actually Jaybrown after you have had some experience reloading you'll know once-fired brass when you see it. In my reloading process there a several opportunities to inspect the components and I take advantage of every one of them. Chief

 

[ball3006]

Been shooting once fired brass...

forever. I inspect each piece when I get it, inspect it after resizing, and inspect it when I shoot it. In otherwords, I clean it, inspect it, lube it, size it, delube it, trim it, prime it, charge it, seat the bullet, crimp if needed, shoot it and inspect it again. You can usually tell if it is fired more than once by looking at the base. If it is mililtary brass, the primer will be crimped in, which you will have to remove.....chris3

 

[Nortonics]

Hahahaha - "don't use/buy once fired brass". What about the handgun brass I've scooped up off the floor of my indoor range and have reloaded 10 times since?

In the .45 ACP World, when the brass splits down the side of the case, it's done - simple enough...

 

[jaybrown]

thanks for the advice you guys. It seems that buying once fired brass is common place for reloaders. Just wanted to make sure this was a safe pratice.

thanks

 

[wolf_from_wv]

I don't buy it... I pick it up myself. Then, I go over to the garbage can and pull out the Walmart bags with the empty boxes and occasionally a receipt. Sometimes, they aren't in a bag. Unless it is raining/snowing, I pass on the boxes that are wet :banghead: .

 

[taliv]

there's a difference in "once fired brass" and brass that you have no idea how many times it's been fired.

there is also a legitimate concern that some dillweed on ebay is selling 5x fired brass as 1x fired brass.

when i buy brass, i buy it 10,000 at a time, all same headstamp, from people who claim to get the brass from police ranges or prison ranges where they are not allowed to shoot reloads. hence, you can be relatively certain that it actually has been fired one time.

i've never had a problem with doing this.

however, chief101, as much as i have reloaded, i can't look at my brass and tell if it's been fired once or 5 times. please let me know how you do this. i must say, i'm skeptical.

 

[R.H. Lee]

Brass previously fired in the relatively unsupported chamber of a Glock pistol might warrant some additional precautions, though, as the fired case stretches more.

Where did this myth come from and why does it continue?????

A Glock chamber is no more 'unsupported' than a 1911 chamber. Look.


http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=41417&d=1150994963

Agreed about scavenging range brass of unknown history.

 

[dleong]

Where did this myth come from and why does it continue?????

I should have been a bit more specific: the Glocks chambered for the 40S&W cartridge tend to have somewhat less case support. Take a look at the images in this thread on XDTalk.com.

With regards to 45ACP brass fired in Glocks, I do notice that they have a more pronounced bulge near the base, and they tend to require more effort to resize than most of the other 45ACP brass I pick up from the range floor.

 

[azredhawk44]

I pick up loose brass at the range. Stuff that I see people are shooting from new retail WWB, Remington or Speer boxes on the counter in front of them.

Then I load the snot out of it.

I go back to the range, and I shoot it and pick it all up, plus some more of the truly once fired retail loaded brass.

Then I load the snot out of it. Ones that start looking bad go into a special reload box, so I know I don't have to chase that brass. When I shoot that stuff at the range, I leave it.

That's a lot of the once fired brass for sale at ranges.

I doubt I'm alone in this practice.

I'd stay away from anything advertised as "once fired" because you have absolutely no way of knowing the truth of that statement. It could be my leavings that have been shot 10+ times.

 

[temmi]

The problem with Purchasing “once fired brass” is being sure it is “once fired brass”. Buy Win or Rem plinking rounds, shoot them, pick up the brass… and then you know you have “once fired brass” and who loaded it the first time.

 

[JDGray]

Most of my brass, I pick up at the range, I do however, pitch the ones with the Glock firing pin marks. I like it when the empty boxes are in the trash, but the guy leaves all the .45 brass on the floor!

 

[deciple-of-keith]

I just love going to the range when there's some body who dose'nt reload & they are getting ready to Dump their brass !!!! I kind of scream & make funny noises & beg them to let me relive them of their burdan !

Make sure you sort brass into its matching headstamps ,Full lenght resize for the first time you use his brass in your fire arm check the Primers in the cases for signs of pressure & split cases !

Dave

 

[brickeyee]

You need to know were the brass came from.
I buy large lots of once fired military brass when i can find it. At least 10,000 at a clip. I have at least 20,000 TZ 7 TZZ once fired .45 ACP i have not even cleaned or loaded, and another 10,000 that are in use.
Gunsite used to sell all the range brass by the pound to the highest bidder.
Other places may do the same.
If I leave it behind at the range you would not want it.
Every few years I take all the scrap brass I have to a metal dealer and get a little cash.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Jaybrown--Free range brass is a great boon to the beginning reloader. Any brass you pick up @ the range is almost guaranteed to be store-bought and once-fired. Why? Simple: Reloaders save their brass to take home and reload once again. Non-reloaders buy their ammo at Wally World, shoot it up, leave the brass @ the range, and repeat next week.

Don't futz with aluminum cases, Berdan primed cases, steel cases, or anything headstamped "Amerc." If it's real brass, and Boxer primed, it's fair game. The other stuff can be done, but it's a headache and there's plenty of good brass so why bother.

If a reloader decides a given lot of brass is all tired and worn out, he doesn't take it to the range to dump it, nor does he load it up "one last time." It goes directly to his scrap brass bucket.

Every few years I take all the scrap brass I have to a metal dealer and get a little cash.

And you CAN pretty much tell once-fired--it has no marks on it from the sizing die. No gas leak mark around the primer. No cracked necks, no split bodies. No ironed-out ejection dents. No stains nor burn marks. Primers not backed out nor excessively flattened. And you're pretty much good to go.

So you inspect each piece for flaws as Ball 3006 indicated, and go ahead and load 'em up and shoot 'em. You'll need a caliper, a case trimmer and chamfer/debur set, and a flash hole uniformer is good too. Get the specs for each cartridge from yr reloading manual.

If the Lyman manual says don't use fired brass they were told to say so by their legal department. Ah, here we are--Lyman's 48th edition, pg 22: "CAUTION: Never load cartridge cases from an unkown source, i. e. cases picked up at a range or sold as once-fired brass. Use only brand new brass or cases obtained as the result of firing factory ammo in your firearm...." Yeah, right.

Is there some risk? Of course! There is risk in everything we do in this life, and we none of us will get out of here alive. OTOH, with brand-new brass, can you internally inspect each piece and determine that there are no metal flaws nor weak spots?? Of course not. Is the risk of using free range brass worth it for YOU? That's for you to decide. But if you do, you'll have a lot of company.

 

[dcloco]

Better KNOW what you are reloading.

#1 rule in reloading - BE SAFE!

I don't use ANY brass from the range, unless it is mine. At the local range, about half of the people reload. There is a reason they left the brass - it is junk.

Buy from a reputable place.

I buy once fired brass from a range, that has the state contract for police training. He buys the loaded ammo for them, in bulk, and it is his range. I know what I am buying. Anything else, is just a guess.

 

[RyanM]

I should have been a bit more specific: the Glocks chambered for the 40S&W cartridge tend to have somewhat less case support. Take a look at the images in this thread on XDTalk.com.

The Glock's chamber support is only marginally worse than some of those other guns. And if it's that much of a concern, you could always either get your factory barrel's feed ramp TIG welded and recut, or buy one of the many, many, many, many aftermarket barrels out there.

But it really isn't a problem. It takes a fair amount of overcharging to actually bulge brass to the point of danger, in a Glock barrel.

 

[mc223]

I have purchased "once fired brass from gun shows, Midway and Dillon. The buyer beware comes to mind here. The stuff I got at a gun show was definately the bottom of the barrel. Out of about 5000 peices there were about 3000 that passed my inspection for excessive case dents, cracked or split mouths and missing primers and totaly unheard of headstamps.
Out of 1000 from Midway about 750.
Dillon was much better with regard to headstamp mixing, but unlike Midway, belt marks from a previous life in a Minigun.

Not a bad thing just be cautiuos and look them over real good.

 

[P0832177]

Midway once fired brass is Scharch processed brass. There are better sources of once fired brass or pull down brass.

www.brassmanbrass.com is great source of brass.
www.gibrass.com is another reliable source for brass especially pulled down brass.
www.patsreloading.com is another reliable source, too!

The biggest thing to deal with some brass is that you have to consider that most 308 aka 7.62x51 is fired in a machine gun of some flavor. So, that brass will be in need of a small base sizing die till you fire it in your gun. And, it might well be not such a bad deal to be used initially with 223 brass of questionable sources. Brassman brass has been great, I buy WW from him. Great stuff!

Brass fired in semi auto rifles is beat up and does not have that long of a case life in comparison with that of case life in a bolt gun. I have 13 reloads on a on lot of Lapua brass! That is good case life, whereas the WW brass in the bolt gun lasts about half that much or so.

The key thing to brass life is using a RCBS precision mic or similar tool set up your FL die to set the shoulder back about 2 to 3 thousandths just enough to ensure reliable chambering.

Bolt guns can have the brass neck sized, and the best die for that is the Redding Type S die. You can control the neck tension with the same type of die that FL sizes, too for your semi autos.

You can find suppliers that offer roll case sizing, to help with Glock bulge!

There are dies to use, too! Lee makes a "U" die and in conjunction with their factory crimp die you can do a decent job of ensuring reliable chambering of brass fired in a glock especially the 40 Short and Weak. EGW makes a die meant to be used with geelocks!

The biggest concerns with Geelocks is in the 40 and 10mm and not so much with the 45acp and 9mm.

 

[halvey]

The biggest thing to deal with some brass is that you have to consider that most 308 aka 7.62x51 is fired in a machine gun of some flavor.

Machine gun brass