"What brass will you not use?"

[Jamie Young]

Usually won't use brass that I do not know the history of. How many times reloaded and at what power level etc.

You don't know how many times I have to yell at people for picking up My brass. I'm always conscience of leaving brass, on the ground, that I know has had its last reload. I crush up the necks on My '06 brass and throw it in the trash, just so nobody picks it up.

I've taken My Mini 14 to the range to fire brass that has been reloaded 5 or 6 times only to turn around and see someone picked all of it up. I reload a lot of Military .223 (yes I know reaming the primer crimp is a pain) but I know its only been fired once. Other than that, I won't pick up brass, unless I've seen it come out of a Factory box, or I've asked the shooter if I can take it.

[coonan357]

I will not reload a-amerc brass , the only thing I found this stuff good for is targets for my .22

[mackdriver431]

hey guys, i'm new to this so i hope i am doing this right. i load 45acp with a dillon square deal. the problem i am having is not all the rounds fit correctly in my mags,they seem to stick. i would load the first 3 or 4 rounds and notice the follower is not coming up so when i put the next round in it flops around.i am using once fired brass 90% is magtech, 230gr. fmj,and 200gr. swc. oal is good.please help if you can. thank you.

[Shane Tuttle]

I automatically throw away AMERC and split brass..

6.5x55 Swedish Mauser by PMC

Gewehr, that's the honest to God's truth. Not only garbage, but downright dangerous IMHO.

I will go against the grain here (naturally) and sound like a hypocrite at the same time...

I will use Glock .40 bulged brass IF it's only a slight bulge and IF I was there to see the gun use it...

[john1911]

Any brass I didn't buy new or bought as new, loaded ammo.

[TWB]

Sellier & Bellot, Aguila, Amerc. No bueno.

twb

[FM12]

I try to stick to the old better known brands, and especially love WW and Federal.. As others have said, Remington can be a little thin and cause REAL problems. I trash AMERC, and have had problems with IMI and TZZ. DONT throw this stuff away, though, save it for recycling.

I pick up what I can that is left at the range...cull and recycle. REGARDLESS, always try to leave the range cleaner than you found it, especially if it's an informal, outdoor range on someone eles;s property. No need to trash another's properety and cause hate & discontent for other shooters.

[mechdriver]

Speer 40 SW. Not that it's bad but the primer hole is so small that my de-piming pin got stuck and hand to be pulled out with pliers. Not saying I won't use it, bit I'm wary of it.

[Bottom Gun]

I had some Hornady .308 brass that disappointed me.
After only one reload, the primer pockets enlarged to the point that some primers actually fell out of the pockets.
My loads were moderate loads. they were NOT hot.

[earshot]

i'll pick up anything ,saturdays and sundays are the best,plus with hunting seasoons fast approching all kinds of people come out with their remington or winchewster ammo and dump that once fired brass. i've even picked up benrch rest brass from some police snipers who shoot at the range,the crap goes to scrap yard. with that i buy components.

[hivel37]

S&B in 22 Hornet is a waste of time for me. I've picked up once-fired stuff and it never seems to work in the T/C. Difference in rim thickness maybe. No mas.

[kidcoltoutlaw]

Marked F.C or F.C N.T or Federal N.T

[Slamfire]

I will toss AMERC in the scrap bucket.

[Smokey Joe]

Well! This thread is 5 y. o. and still going strong! I've changed my brass habits a little since 2002.

Now, each of my "serious" rifles gets a set of Lapua or Norma cases, and that's all that goes into that rifle, neck-sized each time. FL size 'em if they stretch enough to be hard to chamber.

For .45 ACP, I still use all range pick-ups with 2 exceptions.

For .357 Mag, I've realized that my skill level doesn't justify a separate set of Starline cases, so now I use mixed brass for that also. But there isn't much .357 to be had as free range brass.

My "non-serious" rifles get a set of commercial brass and that's all that those rifles will use, except my "new" M1 carbine--For that there may not be enough accuracy in the rifle to make a difference--too early to tell.

I absolutely won't use Amerc brass for anything except scrap. I'm getting that way toward Rem brass as well.

I'm still The Brass Rat of The World @ the range, so now I have 2 ice-cream buckets of .45ACP to reload at any one time.

The once-fired magnum cases go to gun shows, and I usually can sell a bag or 2 of those. (How do I know once-fired?? Easy! Some rich person left 'em at the range; no scratches from repeated chambering/resizing.) The rare/unusual cases go to a collector friend. Everything else (about 95%) goes to the scrap dealer--Last time he paid $1.65/lb, and I took home about $60.

Selling the once-fired magnums usually takes care of my entry fee to the gun show.

Interesting how we change over time.

[Linear Thinker]

I throw out:
A-Merc brass, it's awful in any caliber.
MAL (Malaysian military in 9mm and 223 - undersize flash hole)
Non-toxic primed 45 brass - small primer size, too much work to segregate it.
PPU (Prvi Partisan) 45 brass - there was a large lot of PPU 45 ammo sold in the 80s that had small primers.

I also toss the 40S&W NT brass from Win and Fed: the Dinol primers need a larger flash hole due to a weaker spark, not sure what effect the large hole will have on regular primers. Possibly increased pressure in primer chamber, and blown primers.
So, I toss the NT cases.
LT

[45Marlin carbine]

I expect picked up brass to be questionable so I check it out. some turns out once fired, mostly great stuff and some not-so-good and some 'toss it'.
I have a Marlin Camp in .45 and 9mm that really flings the hulls so the loads I shoot in them for practice I use the not-so-good stuff and let 'em fly.
inspection of the rim and mouth will tell a lot you know. and now that some posters have warned I'm tossing 'amerc' cases.
winchester brass for my 7.62X39 splits necks after 3-4 loadings, I don't take time to anneal so I leave it lay after 4 loadings.
good brass I use for good (warm or hot) loads.

[bmitch300wby]

Speer 40 SW. Not that it's bad but the primer hole is so small that my de-piming pin got stuck and hand to be pulled out with pliers.

I have never had this problem with Speer, but I run into it all the time with Remington brass, and therefore won't use it again. I have also had some recent problems with Hornady brass and the primers falling out of the primer pocket. Nary a problem with anything else.

[CrustyFN]

I won't load Amerc. I have never had a problem reloading brass fired in a Glock but I don't shoot 40 S&W.
Rusty

[awmitch]

I have not done any reloading for over 15 years, and I am going to start again. I am also new to this forum.

I have noticed many people saying they won't use glock fired brass. Why is that? I have a glock 17, and just want to understand. You all know way more than I do.

All the reloading I did in the past was 308 for hunting, and 41mag for the heck of it.

[Linear Thinker]

Mitch,

Glock chambers do not support the cartridge fully, and the brass tends to bulge right above the rim on one side. Many sizing dies cannot size the brass all the way down to the rim (eg. Dillon dies with their generous throat), so there are reliability issues with reloads.

This topic has been discussed extensively, check this and other boards.
LT

[Thesenator]

Won't touch AMERC....won't even pick it up for scrap.

Won't reload any Federal in .308 or .223, brass is too soft and primer pockets stretch on first firing.

Guatemalan .223 has small flashholes that break decapping pins.

Never had any issues with Radway or Malaysian in .223 and will pick it up whenever its at the range.

PMP has thicker web in .223 and Dillon swager must be adjusted so the brass isn't ruined....but its good thick walled brass in .223 and works for me.

I toss ALL small primed .45acp.....who the hell ever came up with that stupid idea anyway? FOOLS!!!

[Sevens]

I can't say that I've ever seen small primed .45 acp. Why did anyone ever make that?

[SDDL-UP]

AMERC!

DOMINION!

Don't care for PMC much either, but I'll use it for plinking loads. I use most stuff, the worse stuff gets used for plinking. I've had some of that Remington 45 ACP brass that wouldn't even hold a bullet - terrible!

Lapua means I'm getting serious. I weigh, trim, uniform primer pockets and flash holes, etc. for the really serious rifle stuff. Most of my handgun stuff is just for plinking.

[Linear Thinker]

Sevens,

All 45ACP non-toxic ammo uses small pistol primers, as the Dinol primers are only made in that size, AFAIK.

Also, the old 45ACP PPU (Prvi Partisan) Yugoslavian ammo was made with small pistol primers. I still have a case of it, it was imported by Hansen & Co in ~1985.
It's a pain in the neck, you cannot assume all your picked up brass is Large-Pistol primed, so you have to sort.
LT

[Shane Tuttle]

All 45ACP non-toxic ammo is uses small pistol primers, as the Dinol primers are only made in that size, AFAIK.

Are these rounds safe to use in an every day gun, say, a 1911? Didn't know if there's a situation of possibly breaking firing pins or the like...