Brass question.

[Irishshooter]

I'm new to reloading and have loaded about 1500-2000 rounds of 9, 40, & 38 since getting my press this summer. I just got the "Lyman" manual for Christmas and was surprised by what it advises about brass.
According to Lyman you should only reload new or once fired brass from your gun. They also say you should keep your brass separated by the lot and manufacturer. And they even say not to use range brass.
This is news to me. I have all the brass that I have been saving for the last few years separated by size and stored in Tupperware containers. I have picked up brass at the range from anyone who is not saving their brass and although I thoughly inspect for damage before loading. I've never paid attention to the brand on the case.
So am I wrong? What's the general consensus, should I change my ways or is Lyman being over protective?

 

[Goodcat]

They likely publish that for liability. I have loaded thousands of 9mm once fired, mixed headstamp and range brass. Just observe the brass and your actions and you'll be just fine.

 

[Drail]

Quality brass will last MUCH longer than one reloading. I have Winchester and Federal brass from the 70s that I am still using. But you will soon learn that there is a lot of brass out there that is so poorly made it's not worth your time. I pretty much stick with Winchester and Federal brass with either commercial stamps or military match grade.

 

[blkrifle]

They likely publish that for liability. I have loaded thousands of 9mm once fired, mixed headstamp and range brass. Just observe the brass and your actions and you'll be just fine.

^^^^THIS^^^^^

 

[rxer]

You just have to check the brass before using it. I found some crap range brass that someone reloaded way to hot and was not worth anything. There are some calibers I load that I've never bought brass for. As long as you're not pushing it to the extreme you should be fine. I think they list that as the proper way to do it (especially if you're reloading a high powered rifle caliber for long range competition) but I don't think anyone follows it.

 

[noylj]

Almost all writing in manuals is geared towards only one area: extreme accuracy/long-range shooting of RIFLES. They aren't writing about handguns as that is always beneath their notice. Their are a lot of snobs who write about reloading—just read some of the things in the various magazines.

 

[Leo]

Almost all writing in manuals is geared towards only one area: extreme accuracy/long-range shooting of RIFLES. They aren't writing about handguns as that is always beneath their notice. Their are a lot of snobs who write about reloading—just read some of the things in the various magazines.

I agree that pistol ammo is a lot less picky about brass. Some manulas are written in a way that you can tell they are really interested in selling equipment. Often you see an article about some new reloading tool that is deemed that you cannot live without. That manufacturer usually has some pretty serious ad space in the same magazine. That is just how that business works. There is a lot less money to be made teaching people how little they actually need.

 

[Irishshooter]

Thanks for the support. I was starting to question if I should toss all my brass and start over.
I've been looking at some of the "loads gone bad". Aka "Hey y'all watch this" stuff on the Internet and it reinforces my attention to safety.

 

[MCgrease08]

Thanks for the support. I was starting to question if I should toss all my brass and start over.
I've been looking at some of the "loads gone bad". Aka "Hey y'all watch this" stuff on the Internet and it reinforces my attention to safety.

You should probably toss it all just to be safe. Send me a PM, I'll be glad to take the 9mm off your hands and dispose of it properly. Feel free to tumble and deprime it first. I don't want to pollute the landfill with those old primers.

 

[Broom_jm]

One reason most of the reloading books will make a statement like that is if you pick up range brass, you never know how many times it was reloaded. Put it like this: If you follow their admonition on brass, including tracking how many times it has been fired, you will be in control of the safety of those rounds. If you start out with 100 pieces of brass for a given cartridge and on the 12th firing you start to see split case mouths on more than a few pieces, you know it's time to toss the entire lot. However, if you're picking up range brass and see a few splitting, you don't really know whether or not to be concerned.

Now, with all of that said, I shoot lots of range brass from my semi-auto and revolver pistols. I load them mild-to-middling and don't sweat case life.

For my Contender pistols and pretty much all of my rifles, I do exactly what Lyman recommends. It's worth the extra effort for that kind of reloading.

 

[looney2ns]

For the three yrs I've been reloading, I've always used range brass. Out of several thousand rounds, I've only seen one or two split case's.
The only thing I've found is that my guns do not like Win brass. Throw a caliper on it, and you see why. It is not made to sammi specs. It's too small, especially at the rim. Then again, most ammo that Win makes these days is crap.

 

[Woobie]

There is something to be said for how many times a piece of brass has been fired. However, if it's lying around at the range, odds are it's once fired, or else the original owner would have been diligent to pick up the brass he's put all that prep work into. Sorting by head stamp, lot, weight, capacity is good for precision rifle accuracy as stated above. One other factor is the fact that different brands will have different case capacities, which changes pressure. If you are loading at or near max on a high powered rifle, I always back off my charge when switching brass, because 44 grains in a hornady case does not have he same pressure in a winchester case, for example. This really isn't applicable with what you're doing with pistol ammo. All this is a long way of saying as long as your other practices are safe, and you're loading for pistol, don't sweat it with the mixed headstamps / range pick ups.

 

[Irishshooter]

You should probably toss it all just to be safe. Send me a PM, I'll be glad to take the 9mm off your hands and dispose of it properly. Feel free to tumble and deprime it first. I don't want to pollute the landfill with those old primers.

I wondered how long it would be til I got an offer to help me dispose of it.

 

[red_zr24x4]

I've never sorted brass by maker, never kept it in lots, 95% of my brass is range pick-up or gun show bought.
I've never had a case head separate. I get the occasional split neck but that's about it. But, I don't load max loads.
Most of my shooting is with semi-auto's. I've found that I'm more likely to loose the brass than have it split, or a head separation.
I will say that I've had more brass that the rim is tore up from extraction than anything.

 

[Brian Ski]

The reason why you should only reload brass from your gun, had a friend that had a very old 12 gauge. The brass would swell very large because the chamber was so worn. It took a lot of pressure and wear to resize it. All that stretching can't be good for the brass. Also some people make odd calibers from their brass so it may not be the caliber marked. As long as you look over the brass you should be fine. I have lots of mixed range brass in my collection.

 

[wolfman]

I don't want to pollute the landfill with those old primers.

Give me a call when you get a gallon of primers, and I will take them off your hands. I wouldn't want to pollute a landfill with them either.

 

[wolfman]

The reason why you should only reload brass from your gun, had a friend that had a very old 12 gauge. The brass would swell very large because the chamber was so worn. It took a lot of pressure and wear to resize it. All that stretching can't be good for the brass. Also some people make odd calibers from their brass so it may not be the caliber marked. As long as you look over the brass you should be fine. I have lots of mixed range brass in my collection.

Most shotgun hull bases are steel and I guess I didn't realize that the steel part was resized in the reloading process.

 

[Brian Ski]

Most shotgun hull bases are steel and I guess I didn't realize that the steel part was resized in the reloading process.

Yea maybe it is a brass plated steel. I was early into reloading years ago, and I had a Lee shot shell loader. I put the resizing ring on upside down and the brass did not get fully resized... Guess who got my reloaded ammo???