The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Buying Ammo, but with "re-usable brass" in mind?

BillCA · July 26, 2010, 11:59 AM

As a reference...

Most of the major American ammo companies make good brass. Remington, Winchester, Federal, CCI/Speer and even Fiocchi load their ammo in good brass. Some is slightly better than others and certain calibers may, due to design, be tougher to reload (e.g. .32-20, .44-40).

Most also make virgin brass (unprimed or factory-primed) available to reloaders. I've found some Winchester rifle (and handgun) brass to be a little thin in the past, but not the last two batches of .308 I bought.

Surplus military ammo and it's brass are usually excellent choices. The down side is that mil-spec brass uses a crimped-in-place primer. This can require extra pressure to remove the primer (can stress your decapping pins) and an extra step to debur the primer pocket (a tool is made specifically for this).

In rifle ammo, if buying mil-surplus from European manufacturers, look for it to be "Boxer Primed". Any that is "Berdan primed" isn't reloadable on typical presses because it uses two small flash holes instead of the single large "boxer" type.

As mentioned above, Aluminium (gray metal) cases, steel cases and "bimetal" cases are non-reloadable as well. Nickel plated cases offer superior lubricity for feeding and extraction and are less prone to corrosion. But the plating makes the cases less flexible and you'll get fewer reloads (about half) out of them.

When reloading, especially previously-fired brass, avoid max loads to get the most out of the case life. Most max loads are not as accurate as loads somewhat slower than maximum.

If max-accuracy is your game with consistency from shot to shot, make sure you have a good set of calipers to meaure cases, bullets, overall lengths, etc. You'd do well to invest in a powder trickler to get the most consistent loads and a case trimmer to trim the neck sizes consistently. This is in addition to the standard press, powder measure and scale.

The last loads I put together for .223 used DuPont IMR 3031 powder but today there are more powders available. Hodgdon H335 ball powder should be a good choice for its easy measuring. I'm sure others have their favorite powders.

July 26, 2010, 11:59 AM	#14
BillCA Senior Member Join Date: November 28, 2004 Location: Silicon Valley, Ca Posts: 7,117	As a reference... Most of the major American ammo companies make good brass. Remington, Winchester, Federal, CCI/Speer and even Fiocchi load their ammo in good brass. Some is slightly better than others and certain calibers may, due to design, be tougher to reload (e.g. .32-20, .44-40). Most also make virgin brass (unprimed or factory-primed) available to reloaders. I've found some Winchester rifle (and handgun) brass to be a little thin in the past, but not the last two batches of .308 I bought. Surplus military ammo and it's brass are usually excellent choices. The down side is that mil-spec brass uses a crimped-in-place primer. This can require extra pressure to remove the primer (can stress your decapping pins) and an extra step to debur the primer pocket (a tool is made specifically for this). In rifle ammo, if buying mil-surplus from European manufacturers, look for it to be "Boxer Primed". Any that is "Berdan primed" isn't reloadable on typical presses because it uses two small flash holes instead of the single large "boxer" type. As mentioned above, Aluminium (gray metal) cases, steel cases and "bimetal" cases are non-reloadable as well. Nickel plated cases offer superior lubricity for feeding and extraction and are less prone to corrosion. But the plating makes the cases less flexible and you'll get fewer reloads (about half) out of them. When reloading, especially previously-fired brass, avoid max loads to get the most out of the case life. Most max loads are not as accurate as loads somewhat slower than maximum. If max-accuracy is your game with consistency from shot to shot, make sure you have a good set of calipers to meaure cases, bullets, overall lengths, etc. You'd do well to invest in a powder trickler to get the most consistent loads and a case trimmer to trim the neck sizes consistently. This is in addition to the standard press, powder measure and scale. The last loads I put together for .223 used DuPont IMR 3031 powder but today there are more powders available. Hodgdon H335 ball powder should be a good choice for its easy measuring. I'm sure others have their favorite powders. __________________ BillCA in CA (Unfortunately)