Samples/Examples

[film495]

I kind of brushed the dust and other projects off my reloading area, and I had a jar with some brass in it. I looked at it and I had a ziploc bag with 10ish cases in it labeled bad. I put that away a few years ago just to have a reference of what I'm looking for when inspecting brass. So, failed samples seemed worth keeping a few. It was a few years since I looked at that and in the same jar I had another bag, just with a couple of each type of cartrdige brass I've collected as samples.

Curious what others keep as samples of things? Just to have. I probably really don't, well I don't need any of that brass, but it is just of interest to me so I kept it.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Examples of every headstamp in 9mm and 45acp I have ever shot.

There are others in the wild but none I’ve shot and not many of any brand whether or not I’ve shot them.

 

[270OKIE]

I started keeping one or so of each caliber I find but I don't really go out of my way to find them.

 

[mstreddy]

I keep samples of the various bad brass or messed up processes I've done. Split, or cracked brass, the impending case separation where you can see the line and feel the ridge inside the case. I use these to show processes and inspection when I show someone what to look for. Some interesting cases that I've come across, 9 fired in 40, 9 in 45, serious Glock bulge. ...etc.
Some day I want to build a cartridge board for the ones I load.

 

[Varminterror]

With varying regularity and frequency, I have taught the craft of reloading/handloading to new reloaders for around 20yrs, varying from one-on-one coaching to bigger, formal classes like the NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading course and intro courses for precision reloading. As a trainer, I'm a HUGE fan of visual aides, so I have kept a small tupperware tub of various types of reloading "boo-boo's" I've accumulated over the years. I have tangible examples of excessive neck tension (undersized neck dies/undersized expander buttons), ruptured cases and an example of incipient case head separation, extreme ejector swipe, case head expansion (loose primer pocket), stuck case results (I have some ripped rims as well as an RCBS die with a 243win case stuck inside), excessive crimp, blown primers, split necks, split shoulders, crushed case shoulders, smashed case mouths, dented bullet ogives, etc etc...

In addition to making use of those as instruction tools, I also keep that tub in the drawer beside my case lube as a repeating reminder for myself of what can go wrong if I'm not paying attention to the process - since the moment I reach for case lube signifies the point in the process where the opportunities for case destruction begin.