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Old August 19, 2012, 08:57 PM   #1
dmclark523
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Join Date: August 19, 2012
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Quick Brass Question

Hello everyone. I created an account to hopefully get a question answered.

I've been shooting for years with my father, but recently decided to get into reloading. I have everything I need after following the strict instruction of my uncle, who has been reloading for 30+ years. All my equipment is very good and quality.

I am strictly reloading thus far for my .45 M1911. I bought a 100 box of Speer cases brand new, and have so far just finished loading them all successfully.

I purchased from a reliable website 500 rds of once fired .45 brass. I have looked at every single individual piece for cracks, dents, and problems. After tossing about 25 shells, I re-sized them, de-primed them, and put them in my case tumbler for about 5-6 hours a batch. (I use corn cob).

As you can see in the pictures, this is what they are looking like. Most of them are shiny and clean on the outside, but ranging from slightly grimy to grimy looking on the inside.

So the question is, dare I reload with these shells? I am just being extra careful because I am new at this, and I don't want to end up blowing my hand off.

Please let me know what you think of the pictures, and how I might improve the case, if I need to at all.

Thank you guys so much!

Drew-



Case 1

-
Case 2
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Old August 19, 2012, 09:54 PM   #2
capbuster
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Clean is what you want. This will help your reloading process. Easier on you dies. If you can get a nice polish,it does help when you have to retrieve your empties.
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Old August 19, 2012, 09:59 PM   #3
Ethan.G
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case 2 is clean for sure, in my opinion
throwing cases in a tumbler for 8 hours and have them come out like case 1 is the primary reason why i got a sonic cleaner its takes me 9min to get my cases shiny now
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Old August 19, 2012, 10:02 PM   #4
Vance
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Both of those are fine. They don't have to be sparkling clean, just clean. If you are OCD about them being shiny, then use a Thumbler's Tumbler model B and stainless steel pins.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/
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Old August 19, 2012, 10:02 PM   #5
Smokey Joe
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Clean cases...

D M Clark 523--Yours is a legitimate question. As to clean inside cases, most of us who reload don't pay much attention to the inside of the case, unless it has some actual chunks of crud stuck in there--or been dropped in the mud, or some such. And yours are .45 ACP's into which one can look much more easily than in most cases, especially bottle-necked ones.

We clean the outside of the case, mostly to keep the case from carrying something into the resizing die which might scratch the inside of the die.

When the next charge goes off in a reloaded case, it's dirty all over again inside instantly, anyhow. No need to worry about that.

Looks like your Case #1 might have something stuck in the flash hole. No need to worry there, either. Your depriming rod will push out the stuck item along with the primer.

So, no worries. Given no further complications, I'd load both of the cases you have pictured and shoot 'em. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat again until the case splits. Target-level loads especially: Low power, and you need lots of ammo for practice. So when the individual .45 ACP case fails that one case gets scrapped, and reload the rest.

Good that you have an experienced reloader for a mentor. If youwant something more, get The ABC's of Reloading published by Krause, www.krause.com and read that--lots and lots of good info. Should be able to get it online, or at a gun sho, or LGS, or order direct from Krause.

One further thought: with .45 ACP's recently there have been a few made with SMALL pistol primer pockets. Most have large pistol primer pockets. You just want to keep these 2 separate when you are priming. The difference is easy to spot. According to my reading, there is no difference ballistically between the two primer sizes in .45 ACP. Likewise, the oversize primer flash holes in the "nontoxic" cases, seem to make no difference ballistically. The NT primer the factory loaded, needs the larger hole, but for the regular primers you'll be loading, the enlarged flash hole makes no discernible difference when firing.

Hope I've helped more than confused. Oh, and welcome to The Magnificent Obsession: Reloading!
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Old August 19, 2012, 10:06 PM   #6
bcarver
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good to go

load those cases.
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Old August 20, 2012, 03:37 AM   #7
impalacustom
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I never cleaned the inside of my cases for 15 years, took me that long to get a tumbler. I would check to make sure chunks of stuff wasn't in them thought.
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Old August 20, 2012, 08:31 AM   #8
Misssissippi Dave
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I clean the outside of my cases to protect the dies. As long as there isn't any junk inside they are fine. I don't worry much about carbon that may still be left inside the case. I do sort out all those small primer cases and when I have enough of them, they get loaded using small pistol primers. For range use they work quite well. Most of the ones I have found with the small primer have been from Federal.
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Old August 22, 2012, 12:49 PM   #9
Uncle Buck
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Again, I have to echo what the others have said, they are fine.

The only exception I have to make is with Smokey Joes statement:
Quote:
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat again until the case splits.
I usually end up losing the cases before a split occur.

Seriously, I would have no problem re-using those cases. The resizing die is what I want to protect, so I make sure my brass is shiny clean on the outside.
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