I'm the brass rat at the local range. I picked up over 4000 9mm cases this weekend which is pretty normal. I sort out the Winchester and sell them through a local gun shop. The remaining brass goes in the scrap bucket. I've sold 9mm brass on the internet before. It's not worth my time for how little people want to pay for it. $1.50/lb is easier at the scrap yard. I know how y'all feel about scrappin' brass, let the flaming begin.........
What headstamp brass do you toss in 9MM?
- Thread starter gifbohane
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mgmorden
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Um . . . I literally just said I was referring to rifle cartridges, though I don't understand your astonishment: drilling out a primer hole is no more crazy than chamfering a primer pocket or length trimming brass. Heck some conversions for obsolete calibers involve chucking a case up in a lathe for various operations (thinning rim, cutting extractor groove, etc). Do you actually reload or are you just visiting this sub-forum?
GeoDudeFlorida
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I’d love to have the 9mm brass these guys are tossing. I’d chuck it up in the lathe and cut 1mm off the length and resize it for Makarov. For the price of new Makarov brass it’s worth the time. Seriously! And, I really (seriously) enjoy any excuse to use a jewelry lathe. They’re seriously fun! I have even been known to bore the steps out of 9mm brass just to see how quickly I can do it and pass a gauge test. Seriously.
I've have a fair amount of Blazer 9x19 brass, my gripe with it is inconsistent neck tension.
When I resize it I sort it by hard medium and easy effort. This has decreased the ES and SD numbers and it has improved accuracy for me with Blazer brass. I often scrap the easy to resize brass.
As for Win. brass it is the one I trim down to make 9x18 Mak cases as it is one of the lightest 9x19 cases I have in my inventory.
I'm really surprised at the issues folks are having with Blazer 9 x 19mm, it is one of my preferred cases; along with FC, .FC., and Speer....basically all the Vista brands
I've had neck tension issues with R-P...in 9mm and .38Spl...and usually end up giving it away
What I do toss is IMT, FM, and Amerc which have the internal step.
I'm now separating out military brass with crimped primer pocket. Many have been previously reloaded and the pockets somewhat cleaned up (not swagged), but it causes issues with the nickle plated Ginex SPP...which I'm currently using in place of CCI
I've had neck tension issues with R-P...in 9mm and .38Spl...and usually end up giving it away
What I do toss is IMT, FM, and Amerc which have the internal step.
I'm now separating out military brass with crimped primer pocket. Many have been previously reloaded and the pockets somewhat cleaned up (not swagged), but it causes issues with the nickle plated Ginex SPP...which I'm currently using in place of CCI
gwpercle
Member
Now it's more like ... "It's not worth reloading because I cant find / can't afford to buy primers "
at $100 per K I can't afford to buy prmers , buy a tank of gas , pay the house note and eat ...
Something had to go ... and I enjoy eating so the primers were given up !
Gary
I've not found many really bad 9mm headstamp cases but if I find an Amerc or Ammoload case it goes in the bucket. I was reloading some mixed brass 9mms and got to the priming step and ran across one case that I couldn't seat a primer (CCI SP). Hmm, inspected the pocket, chamfered the mouth, tried again. Nope. Set it aside and continued seating primers. Ran into another case I could not prime. While I didn't measure the pocket diameter, I found the pocket to be much smaller in diameter. Sorted more cases and found 2 more with the headstamp "IK 21" (Igman Zavod, Konjic, Yugoslavia). So if/when I run across another IK headstamp it will immediately go in the bucket
GeoDudeFlorida
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Yup. I’m lucky I can walk down the road a few minutes for eggs and fresh veggies - long as I don’t mind eating what’s in season - and maybe a pig or two but it won’t be grocery store meat and might need to sit in the smoker for a few days to be tender enough to chew. But it’ll nourish a body. Not everybody’s got that luxury.
If the case is brass and not Berdan primed, I consider putting it in my reloading stream.
I have 9mm brass with about 30 different headstamps. Some I find easier to reload than others, but none has been so bad as to make me exclude them from the reloading stream.
After checking my records, my best reloading experiences with 9mm have been with PPU and PMC brass. That doesn't mean they were the best overall performers (since they haven't been shot yet), just the least troublesome to load.
I have 9mm brass with about 30 different headstamps. Some I find easier to reload than others, but none has been so bad as to make me exclude them from the reloading stream.
After checking my records, my best reloading experiences with 9mm have been with PPU and PMC brass. That doesn't mean they were the best overall performers (since they haven't been shot yet), just the least troublesome to load.
CQB45ACP
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I’m with you on the eggs & veggies (and get eggs from a family member, grow some of my own veggies and get the rest from local farmers mkt) but I have to say I want a good, experienced butcher to prepare my meat & poultry for cooking so my survivors will have someone to sue if things go bad.Yup. I’m lucky I can walk down the road a few minutes for eggs and fresh veggies - long as I don’t mind eating what’s in season - and maybe a pig or two but it won’t be grocery store meat and might need to sit in the smoker for a few days to be tender enough to chew. But it’ll nourish a body. Not everybody’s got that luxury.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Yup got a guy in Gilchrist who has a hang locker, walk-in, dry age room and one of those fancy sausage choppers stuffers that turns a whole hog into pate
I used to do it all myself - still can if needs be - but it’s easier and cheaper in the long run to have it done for me.
Palladan44
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9mm is the only caliber I fire once and leave lay.
I buy them for scrap price, clean, load, shoot, and bye bye.
S&b w/ ring crimp
Herters w/ring crimp
Americ
Anything with foreign stamp and likely annoying berdan double flash holes not good.
I buy them for scrap price, clean, load, shoot, and bye bye.
S&b w/ ring crimp
Herters w/ring crimp
Americ
Anything with foreign stamp and likely annoying berdan double flash holes not good.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Yeah I leave them too when I shoot indoors. Let the range make a few bucks, I got plenty. For some strange reason in mid 2019 I somehow got it in my head I was completely out of 9mm and .40, so I bought 3000 or so of each online. When I finally got back to “normal” I found myself looking at a few hundred pounds of brass in miscellaneous containers, stacked on top of the metal footlockers I had previous years of brass stored in. Strangest thing but good I guess. I bought cleaned, polished, ready to load brass for scrap prices - Summer 2019 if y’all recall everyone thought the good times and roaring economy were going to be renewed for a few more years - so I guess it was providence? Or ketamine fog. Either way, I can afford not to scrabble for brass.
But the thread is specifically about 9mm brass. Until Very recently, I never sorted 9 or .45acp brass by headstamp at all. Just clean, run thru the Dillon and finish with Lee FCD. All of it is just target fodder for me. Magnum stuff is a different story entirely.
I've reloaded for 50 years and do 12 different calibers.
Nipty
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Yeah, maybe saving berdan for dummy rds...sounds good. Aluminum or steel, if I get em, goes to recycling bin. Blazer has been good to me. Still only at this a year or so.... 308 brass....seems I only have whatever I bought to shoot to begin with. 9mm I ll have to start magnet checking now it's mentioned.. that Ameri brass...yeah busted primer , every time right? Wth. I don't see many stepped. A good friends dad was getting buckets from a range... seen cases that ....well they moved...like extended. I ll have to see if I have pictures somewhere yet. No one knew what they were. Yeah I try to save what I can. I just sort them.
OP
OP
gifbohane
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Since a lot of you keep and use almost everything that you pick up in 9mm, I am sensing that range brass is not so plentiful where you train.
I could bring a 5 gallon shop vac and get a drum full at my spot...come to think of it I might do that.
I could bring a 5 gallon shop vac and get a drum full at my spot...come to think of it I might do that.
CQB45ACP
Member
Great idea but our ranges are run by displaced federal bureaucrats and would quickly put the kibash on any such thing cause they’d lose control.
I went to the range Monday and for the first time in a very long time had a 45acp reloader in the next lane. Distracted me so much I left early. Seriously.
But I did scrounge some 9mm from the next lane over and didn’t give a hoot what it was other than free!
Nipty
Member
Distracted you? I am just wondering... would not leave you alone? I normally say hello. And introduce myself when I meet someone new at the range. Sometimes it's packed. Other times...it's nice. Just me. Seems more people in my area load now.. used to be tons of brass before I started reloading..now..it's never much.
Zendude
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Is brass plated steel bad for the reloading dies in the same way as pure steel cases? I don’t use a magnet, so maybe I’ve run into these and didn’t know it.
LiveLife
Member
Even though aluminum cases are softer than steel/carbide ring dies, I cull them out during sorting along with steel cases and brass plated steel cases as they are more prone to splitting than brass cases.
I also separate out nickel plated brass and reload them separately when I am using them for longer-term storage of ammo/duplicate practice JHP ammunition loaded to full puressures to keep the surfaces shiny. (When I started out reloading I didn't care and reloaded nickel plated cases to the point of wearing out the nickel plating to expose brass and they did fine)
Even the mild steel used for steel cased ammo are "supposed" to be softer than die steel/carbide rings, I prefer not to use them because they could rust/corrode more readily which will weaken the case strength.
Chances are many of us already reloaded brass plated steel cases and not have known about it.
GeoDudeFlorida
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That’s exactly how I used to collect range brass. And one of the reasons I stopped collecting range brass.
CQB45ACP
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Good question. I said it sloppily.
It wasn’t him. It was in my mind. Since he was shooting 45 too I started worrying about me getting his brass or him getting mine. So I’d pay too much attention to where my ejections were landing, etc.
I haven’t had a reloader immediately next to me shooting 45 in at least two years. I hadn’t marked my cartridges nor had he.
9mm doesn’t concern me but 45 does. My therapist can’t explain it either.
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