picking up reloaded brass

[bangswitch]

I never reuse range brass that I didn't see ejected; meaning, if it was on the ground when I got to the range, it will be there when I leave.

The places where I shoot require you to police your brass, so anything lying there has probably been there a while. I will ask the other shooters I see using the same calibers I have if they reload their brass, and if not, do they mind if I have it. They don't have to pick it up, and I get handfuls of once-fired brass for nothing. Many of them will give me the boxes, and I reuse them, too. I've collected as much as 250 .308 cases in an afternoon, and even more 9mm and .40 brass.

 

[jr_watkins]

I am careful not to pick up other reloaders brass. I figure if it isn't good enough for them...
I'll ask permission first (or wait until they depart the range) and then I'm all over the brass from the guy in the next bay who is shooting factory ammo from a new box.

 

[joem1945]

I pick up range brass at the club because I guess nobody reloads. I have brass I bought from a shooter in the 80's and it's still going strong. Nickel cases have been tumbled and reloaded so much that there is very little plating left on them, Very infrequently will one split.

 

[Otto]

is there any telltale signs when picking brass that it is at the end of its life span other then obvios things like visible cracks?

im currently shooting 9mm if is matters.

In USPSA Open matches there's alot of 9mm Major.
You'll want check for flattened primers and loose pockets.
9mm Major brass is good for maybe 3-5 reloadings. Trouble is, you don't know how many times the previous shooter reloaded it.

For this reason, I avoid 9mm cases found at matches.

 

[Hanshi]

I pick up range brass like an obsession; and it is virtually ALL brand new once fired. Grungy? Then I leave it. A lot of it has the factory "colored" primers or a bit of the sealer on the base. I've more 9mm brass than I could possibly ever use; and thousands of .223 brass even though I've never owned a gun chambered for it. Rare ones such as the .38sup, .380acp and .32acp are treasured acquisitions as are 30/30 and .308. I've never found any .250Sav or .257R or .22H. I use these calibers a lot but am constantly "brass poor" for want of them.

 

[iShoot17]

I pick up almost every piece of range brass that I can. I will sweep the floors and get all pieces left by others and will look around the outskirts of the floors for center fire brass. I will pick up .22 if it is on the floor, but don't really waste my time picking it from the grass.

My reason? --> Scrap brass has a value too.

I collect my brass and place it back in a box/container/bag then place it to be prepped and reloaded in the future when I get home.

Other brass is collected and placed in a "range brass bag". When I get home at the end of the shooting day, I will watch a baseball game or sit at the bench listening to tunes and will sort through each piece of brass. The ones that seem fine go in the range brass box for prep and reloading. Odd balls, dings, dents, cracks, etc. go in the scrap bin. It adds up over time. It won't make you rich quick, but thus far this summer I am up to over 20lbs of scrap brass.


I reload range brass as long as it passed my inspections.. I have never had an issue. I have also bought thousands upon thousands of range brass from dealers as well and have never had an issue. If you have good inspections methods, you should catch and bad suckers before they even make it to a tumbler!

 

[GJSchulze]

It's been my experience that handgun brass will show some signs of old age and wear long before they are actually not useful for reloading.

What are those signs? I've only been reloading three years and don't know what to look for.

Can you please elaborate what the difference in pitch sounds like

I've only picked up a couple of cracked .45 cases, but they ring like a bell when you shake them. I have a brass/nut wizard to pick up brass and I would hear something suspicious when I picked up a cracked case with others. I would take that handful of brass and shake it in my hands and the bell-like tone was obvious. I assume that a smaller case like a 9mm might ring, but at a higher frequency. You could always make a deep longitudinal cut into a case to see how it sounds.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

That is because in this day and age we no longer take personal responsibility for mistakes we make. It had to be the fault of something or someone else.

I have fired 45 acp cases that have been reloaded so many times the head stamp is gone; however, a double would rupture even a new case (it is only a thin section of brass).

I 100% agree. These days no one is personally responsible for anything they do or what happens. It's a darn shame too...

Or he had a squib he did not clear or catch and fired again thinking he missed.

I don't think it was a squib. The barrel would have been effected, not the grips. It was most likely an overcharge but i highly doubt a crack in the brass would do that. In reality the crack would lower the pressure developing, not increase it.

 

[g.willikers]

GJShulze,
The things I look for to decide if brass is getting long in tooth are:
Bent or flattened rims and if the cases aren't an easy fit in the shell holder.
Lots of extractor marks.
Loose primer pockets.
Hard to resize.
Deep scratches and possible cracks.
Beat up case mouths.
And even then, handgun cases can still be good for awhile, depending on which of the above are evident.
Most reloaders will always try to get just one more load out of their brass.
I have some that I've been doing that with for years.

 

[MutinousDoug]

If the OPs case looked like this? I have an answer to his mystery and it does not involve a double or over charge. In this instance, it is a worn out case that can be visually detected (prior to failure, I should have said) by inspection and eliminated with confidence.

 

[rondog]

I'd wager that the vast majority of the brass you pick up at a range is once-fired. Reloaders tend to search for every piece of their brass, and any others they can find. Casual shooters are the guys that buy a box or two at Wal-Mart, shoot it up, then leave the cases on the ground.

At least that's been my experience. I'm a member of a large gun club, and it always amazes me how much brand-new brass I come home with on every range trip. What really gets me is all the high-power rifle brass I find, .308, .30-06, .270, 7mm Mag, .300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby Mag, etc. And 5.56/.223? Whew! I almost need a separate bucket just for that stuff! I grab it all. If I don't reload it, somebody else does.

 

[grogetr]

I had a cracked 9mm case and put it in my hand with a few good ones and shook them and couldn't hear any thing different, but I have always been tone deaf.

 

[Bamashooter]

Personal experience!

I actually had my first and hopefully last Kaboom. I had recently bought my first .45 acp. Set up the Dillon for reloads. Did the normal tests, sizing, powder drop, seating and OAL. Loaded a few small batches, test fired and found my sweet spot for my new baby. Loaded up two boxes, plinking and enjoying myself, about 25 rounds down the snout of my new Sig P250 and Kaboom!! Blew the mag out of the gun, shattered the right side of the polymer frame embedding a small piece of the frame in my nose and a small piece of brass in my right cheek.Thank god I was wearing my glasses a small piece of something left a ding in the left lens. Nothing permanent to either myself or the gun. Sent it back to Sig they checked it and replaced the extracter. I carelessly double charged with Titegroup. Now using Unique and triple checking all loads before seating. Just for info purposes I have been reloading multiple calipers for 25 yrs. The case above is nearly identical damage to my double charged case damage. It was not a case failure only my carelessness. I also had to replace the grip module. Thank goodness for modular guns!!!

 

[Potatohead]

Wow, glad you're ok Bama.

That is because in this day and age we no longer take personal responsibility for mistakes we make. It had to be the fault of something or someone else.

Damn straight. Its the fault of parents nowadays I think.We train them up to be little blamers. Hopefully my wife and I aren't, we bend over backwards not to..

You should see the kids on my daughter's volleyball team. Whiniest bunch of disrespectful little girls Ive ever seen. They just come to practice when they want to, if they're in the mood..And their parents let them get away with it. Then when the coach sits them on the bench or makes them run at the next practice the parents come up there mad at the coach. Makes me sick. A few of the parents got the coach fired but the main problem was them/their kids. Did I mention it makes me sick?

BOT (back on topic)

 

[greyling22]

I've only had 1 9mm case fail on me. it was an A-merc case, and those are known to be garbage. Other than that, who knows how many times I have reloaded my 9mm 357 or 45 brass. The 357's will start splitting, but the automatic stuff just keeps going and going.

Pick up the brass and enjoy it.

 

[GJSchulze]

http://headstampfinebrass.blogspot.com/2011/10/which-brass-is-best-for-reloading-how.html

This is the testing that someone did on 9mm case life. I find the results enlightening.

A-Merc had the most reloadings and is known to be crap. His explanation is that after he tested A-Merc which was made by Olin, A-Merc started making their own brass.

 

[MutinousDoug]

This is my assessment and evidence for my opinion given the failure pictured above.
Here is a pic of one of the failed cases from overhead.

Can you see my red arrow, where the circular line starts to pull away from the circle at about 2:30? That is the edge of the upper right of the failure.

1st, look at my primitive microscope picture showing a crack right at the juncture of the internal case head and the extractor groove. (you all will have to trust me that the microscope picture is taken of the area I'm talking about because my wife's medical camera/microscope is not ideal for taking this kind of picture)


I have (used to have) brass that, like others here, that has been beaten so hard that the headstamp is unreadable. I never worried about it until I reloaded some std loads, rather than my anemic Bullseye, target loads on brass that I've been reloading since about 1985; Blown out my new walnut grip scales. Twice. $35/pop.
Look for that ring in the bottom of your .45 ACP brass. It's a crack.

Believe me>

 

[Toprudder]

I wish he had tested "Ammoload" headstamps. IMHO they are crap.

 

[Berger.Fan222]

Lots of great comments above. I'll add one. Brass has a clear grain that you can see when it is clean. Stress and stretch show up in the grain when a case has a crack, thin spot, weak spot, or a place about to be a crack. Clean your brass and inspect it. You'll learn what the weak spots look like.

Some problems show up by a different feel too. If a piece feels different when you size, prime, or seat the bullet, have a much closer inspection.

 

[Toprudder]

Some problems show up by a different feel too. If a piece feels different when you size, prime, or seat the bullet, have a much closer inspection.

Agreed. I do a lot of reloading on a progressive press, which is hard to tell which step "feels different" since 4 things are happening at once (except priming). Not a problem on a single-stage, though. I prefer to do my revolver loads on a single-stage so I can feel the roll crimp - I don't go full throw on that step as I have learned how the right amount of crimp feels.