40 S&W Brass, what to keep, what to toss

Redtruck18 · March 16, 2010, 05:17 AM

I've accumulated quite the collection of 40 S&W brass recently, and on a whim yesterday, I sorted it all by head stamp. This was done mainly for the reason of keeping my loads consistently the same brass, but also to see what I had the most of, and as I expected, Federal won. I got to thinking, is one head stamp better than the other? I understand that this question generally should be backed up with what exactly i'll be loading, so i'll do the best I can, but please feel free to correct or help me with my decision as I haven't purchased the powder or bullets yet. I plan on using Hornady Titegroup, well under the max load recommended by Hornady, the bullets will be 180 grain plated flat nose, but I may drop down to 165 grains for cost saving reasons. The primers, I'm looking at using Winchester WSP's. As far as brass, i've got LOTS of Federal, a pretty good batch of Winchester, a healthy amount of Blazer, a handful of Speer, some marked R & P, some marked *I*, and a couple marked with PPU. Should I be concerned with any of these headstamps? Is there any reason why I should keep sorting them by headstamp? Or is it just fine to mix and match?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Joe

1goodshot · March 16, 2010, 05:59 AM

Id toss the blazer and any S&B brass, Ive had a few problems reloading those two before so now I just toss them.

qcpunk · March 16, 2010, 03:40 PM

Never mix and match, send all of your Federal and Winchester brass to me instead

HAHA, Obviously just kidding. I'd just toss out the Blazer. I have sorted my brass in a similar fashion as well. I've got a bunch of Federal, Winchester (from WhiteBox), UMC, Speer, and PMC brass. I really only sorted them to try and minimize any of the sight variances in case volume. Probably overboard for just plinkin, but it suits me. Cheers

flyguy958 · March 16, 2010, 04:13 PM

Why toss the Blazer?

Redtruck18 · March 16, 2010, 07:58 PM

I did a lot of research on the blazer brass, and from what I can tell, a couple yearss ago they used bearden primers, however, all of the blazer brass I have has the boxer style primers with a single flash hole in the center, I ended up at the blazer brass website, and they stated on their actuall page that their brass was intended to be used and reused. I heard some people stating that it was brass coated aluminum, which is not the case with mine, it is brass through and through, well, at least the dozen that I cut in half to check were. Any reason not to use it if It has the right primer pocket and is solid brass?

qcpunk · March 16, 2010, 08:44 PM

It has just been a nasty habit of mine to throw out any Blazer. The Blazer Brass is probably up to snuff for multiple reloads, I just toss it out of habit and it makes up such a small percentage of my bulk empty brass.

DiscoRacing · March 16, 2010, 08:47 PM

I throw the S&B for sure... they dont seem to extract well after reloading... but ive never had any trouble with the blazer

Shoney · March 16, 2010, 10:12 PM

If your *I* is more like *~*, it's Star Line, probably the best there is. If the Blazer is not brass, toss it. If it is brass, it is ok to reload. R-P is Remington/Peters.

Doby45 · March 16, 2010, 10:24 PM

Only 40 I don't reload is aluminum and steel or that AMERC crap. Everything else gets deprimed, sized, primed, filled, stuffed and shot.

Stick_man · March 16, 2010, 11:36 PM

I've had the best luck with the Fed and Blazer brass for my reloading. If you have a bunch of the Blazer Brass that you are just wanting to toss, PM me and I'll get you a shipping address and you can send them to me. I'll even pay the shipping!

Fullthrottle · March 17, 2010, 12:18 AM

As long as it is Blazer Brass, and not just Blazer.....No reason I have found to not reload it. I have used it in my Springfield XD40 without problems so far!

cheezhed · March 17, 2010, 03:49 AM

I have reloaded blazer brass with no problems. there seems to be two types some with a kind of concave rim where the head stamp is ( I think this is an extruded case ) and some with a flat rim that I think is made from a brass cup and seems to be the same as a federal case but I have only found this in .45 cases

MATTUSMC · March 18, 2010, 02:20 PM

I reload the Blazer Brass for both .45 and .38 Special with no problems at all. The aluminum Blazer's have a N on one side of the head stamp and a R on the other and they stand for non-reloadable.

I have also reloaded S&B for the .38 Special, but the revolver will eat just about anything.

sonick808 · March 30, 2010, 01:05 AM

anyone tossing S&B brass, I will pay shipping + incentive to send to me!!!

I personally have found S&B brass to be extremely robust. Granted, I am basing my opinion on a lot of 3000 cartridges I bought back when i was y2crazy. THAT brass is built like a tank and loads like a dream. Not sure if it's changed.

I load everything and mix it all together since i"m just plinking most of the time.

I do prep it all very carefully though. My mix-n-match range floor potpourri plinkers shoot better than most factory stuff I've bought.

For accuracy loads in my sub2000 carbine, I use the S&B brass exclusively with extra attention to roundness of the case and bullet, etc.

elwaynum1 · March 30, 2010, 12:42 PM

What's PPU stand for? I sure do have a lot of them. Anything I should worry about?

PeteF · March 30, 2010, 01:52 PM

*I* = Independence

I have had no trouble with any brass fired from a fully supported chamber.
S&B, *I*, RP, Speer, Blazer works fine for me.

Tuzo · March 30, 2010, 01:58 PM

PPU is "Prvi Partizan, 31000 Titovo, Uzice, Yugoslavia." I reload PPU brass with no problems.

Only brass (true brass metal) that has given me problems is South Korean PMC, with the M looking like an inverted W. It is thinner than any other brand of brass and has a tendency to wrinkle below the bullet base.

FM12 · March 30, 2010, 09:18 PM

I toss the ones with the obvious Glock "Smiley" if it's really pronounced, just to make sure of no feeding problem. Might not be necesary but make me feel better! Blazer brass is good to go, the aluminum needs to got to your local recycler!! S&B and some Federal can be troublesome, try and see if it works for you, and recycle any that doesnt.

uncyboo · March 30, 2010, 09:37 PM

Don't toss any. Make 44 Mag projectiles out of the ones you don't want to shoot....

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.p...,169315.0.html

ZeSpectre · March 30, 2010, 09:51 PM

This is, of course, just my opinion.
(headstamp code reference: http://cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes.htm)

Federal- Good stuff, use it.
Winchester- Good stuff, use it.
Blazer- Assuming you mean Blazer brass, good stuff, use it.
Speer- Good stuff, use it.
R & P- (Remington Arms) Good stuff, use it.
*I*- (Independence) Good stuff, use it.
PPU- (Prvi Partizan) Inspect carefully especially the primer holes, if it looks okay then use it.

The only brass I've really had trouble with is A-Merc (american arms) which is complete crap and should always be scrapped!

S&B (Sellier and Bellot) I sometimes use but it almost always has really tight primer pockets especially on 9mm brass. Only you can decide if you want to play with the S&B brass.

I mix and match brass and don't worry about it but then again I'm not going for super precision, just plinking ammo.

sonick808 · March 31, 2010, 06:53 PM

the primer pockets on the S&B are a PITA

I solved the problem by hitting all of them with a 1/32"+ chamfer to "guide" the primer in. No more hangs, sideways primers, or any of that.

Past that, the tightness ends up being a gift as they wear out less quickly.

Chamfer the entry to your S&B primer pockets before even attempting priming IMO. After that, it is rugged, wonderful stuff. Malleable, but stronger than some of the other alloys i've seen.

Tuzo: I just loaded a batch of the PMC you described. It was indeed thinner than anything i've seen visibly and to the touch. It is once-fired from a fully supported chamber. Did you have any problems shooting the reloads from this thinner brass ? I'm definitely going to halve it's rotation vs. my more robust brass like Federal and S&B to be safe.

Tuzo · March 31, 2010, 07:59 PM

sonick,

The only time my Kimber .45 acp had a failure to feed was with PMC brass that I tried despite the wrinkle deformity below the bullet base. Some wrinkled PMC reloads fed and fired fine but I threw away the cases after firing. No reason to court danger with sub-par brass.

No other brass (Winchester, LC, Federal, Blazer, S&B, and PPU) has given me problems using an RCBS seating/crimp die. I normally adjust the crimp to eliminate casing bell plus a 1/4 turn extra. This adjustment was fine with all but the PMC brass. Some PMC cases wrinkled when seating the bullet without any crimp. Tried to crumple a few non-PMC cases and succeeded but had to adjust the die beyond reasonable crimp pressure. As a side note: I recently began using a Lee Factory Crimp Die with good results.

sonick808 · April 12, 2010, 10:27 AM

tuzo: thanks for the follow-up, sorry i didn't see it sooner.

I just shot the 4th cycle with this korean pmc brass and while the bullets are seating a bit easier than they did initially, it's still hanging in there. I expect that the seating will become too easy in the next 2-3 loadings.

Works good, just very thin!

March 16, 2010, 05:17 AM	#1
Redtruck18 Member Join Date: January 26, 2010 Posts: 16	40 S&W Brass, what to keep, what to toss I've accumulated quite the collection of 40 S&W brass recently, and on a whim yesterday, I sorted it all by head stamp. This was done mainly for the reason of keeping my loads consistently the same brass, but also to see what I had the most of, and as I expected, Federal won. I got to thinking, is one head stamp better than the other? I understand that this question generally should be backed up with what exactly i'll be loading, so i'll do the best I can, but please feel free to correct or help me with my decision as I haven't purchased the powder or bullets yet. I plan on using Hornady Titegroup, well under the max load recommended by Hornady, the bullets will be 180 grain plated flat nose, but I may drop down to 165 grains for cost saving reasons. The primers, I'm looking at using Winchester WSP's. As far as brass, i've got LOTS of Federal, a pretty good batch of Winchester, a healthy amount of Blazer, a handful of Speer, some marked R & P, some marked I, and a couple marked with PPU. Should I be concerned with any of these headstamps? Is there any reason why I should keep sorting them by headstamp? Or is it just fine to mix and match? Thanks in advance for all your help. Joe

March 16, 2010, 05:59 AM	#2
1goodshot Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2001 Location: chandler,az Posts: 931	Id toss the blazer and any S&B brass, Ive had a few problems reloading those two before so now I just toss them.

March 16, 2010, 03:40 PM	#3
qcpunk Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Farmsville, AZ Posts: 305	Never mix and match, send all of your Federal and Winchester brass to me instead HAHA, Obviously just kidding. I'd just toss out the Blazer. I have sorted my brass in a similar fashion as well. I've got a bunch of Federal, Winchester (from WhiteBox), UMC, Speer, and PMC brass. I really only sorted them to try and minimize any of the sight variances in case volume. Probably overboard for just plinkin, but it suits me. Cheers

March 16, 2010, 04:13 PM	#4
flyguy958 Senior Member Join Date: June 27, 2009 Location: SC Posts: 200	Why toss the Blazer?

March 16, 2010, 07:58 PM	#5
Redtruck18 Member Join Date: January 26, 2010 Posts: 16	I did a lot of research on the blazer brass, and from what I can tell, a couple yearss ago they used bearden primers, however, all of the blazer brass I have has the boxer style primers with a single flash hole in the center, I ended up at the blazer brass website, and they stated on their actuall page that their brass was intended to be used and reused. I heard some people stating that it was brass coated aluminum, which is not the case with mine, it is brass through and through, well, at least the dozen that I cut in half to check were. Any reason not to use it if It has the right primer pocket and is solid brass?

March 16, 2010, 08:44 PM	#6
qcpunk Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Farmsville, AZ Posts: 305	It has just been a nasty habit of mine to throw out any Blazer. The Blazer Brass is probably up to snuff for multiple reloads, I just toss it out of habit and it makes up such a small percentage of my bulk empty brass.

March 16, 2010, 08:47 PM	#7
DiscoRacing Senior Member Join Date: December 19, 2008 Location: milton, wv Posts: 3,640	I throw the S&B for sure... they dont seem to extract well after reloading... but ive never had any trouble with the blazer

March 16, 2010, 10:12 PM	#8
Shoney Senior Member Join Date: February 21, 2002 Location: Transplanted from Montana Posts: 2,311	If your I is more like ~, it's Star Line, probably the best there is. If the Blazer is not brass, toss it. If it is brass, it is ok to reload. R-P is Remington/Peters.

March 16, 2010, 10:24 PM	#9
Doby45 Senior Member Join Date: January 19, 2009 Location: Powder Springs, GA Posts: 213	Only 40 I don't reload is aluminum and steel or that AMERC crap. Everything else gets deprimed, sized, primed, filled, stuffed and shot.

March 16, 2010, 11:36 PM	#10
Stick_man Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2008 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Posts: 241	I've had the best luck with the Fed and Blazer brass for my reloading. If you have a bunch of the Blazer Brass that you are just wanting to toss, PM me and I'll get you a shipping address and you can send them to me. I'll even pay the shipping!

March 17, 2010, 12:18 AM	#11
Fullthrottle Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2009 Posts: 280	As long as it is Blazer Brass, and not just Blazer.....No reason I have found to not reload it. I have used it in my Springfield XD40 without problems so far!

March 17, 2010, 03:49 AM	#12
cheezhed Senior Member Join Date: November 28, 2007 Posts: 302	I have reloaded blazer brass with no problems. there seems to be two types some with a kind of concave rim where the head stamp is ( I think this is an extruded case ) and some with a flat rim that I think is made from a brass cup and seems to be the same as a federal case but I have only found this in .45 cases

March 18, 2010, 02:20 PM	#13
MATTUSMC Member Join Date: December 8, 2009 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 20	I reload the Blazer Brass for both .45 and .38 Special with no problems at all. The aluminum Blazer's have a N on one side of the head stamp and a R on the other and they stand for non-reloadable. I have also reloaded S&B for the .38 Special, but the revolver will eat just about anything.

March 30, 2010, 01:05 AM	#14
sonick808 Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 2009 Location: Chandler, AZ Posts: 396	anyone tossing S&B brass, I will pay shipping + incentive to send to me!!! I personally have found S&B brass to be extremely robust. Granted, I am basing my opinion on a lot of 3000 cartridges I bought back when i was y2crazy. THAT brass is built like a tank and loads like a dream. Not sure if it's changed. I load everything and mix it all together since i"m just plinking most of the time. I do prep it all very carefully though. My mix-n-match range floor potpourri plinkers shoot better than most factory stuff I've bought. For accuracy loads in my sub2000 carbine, I use the S&B brass exclusively with extra attention to roundness of the case and bullet, etc.

March 30, 2010, 12:42 PM	#15
elwaynum1 Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 85	What's PPU stand for? I sure do have a lot of them. Anything I should worry about?

March 30, 2010, 01:52 PM	#16
PeteF Junior Member Join Date: August 19, 2009 Posts: 4	I = Independence I have had no trouble with any brass fired from a fully supported chamber. S&B, I, RP, Speer, Blazer works fine for me.

March 30, 2010, 01:58 PM	#17
Tuzo Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2007 Location: Louisiana Posts: 797	PPU is "Prvi Partizan, 31000 Titovo, Uzice, Yugoslavia." I reload PPU brass with no problems. Only brass (true brass metal) that has given me problems is South Korean PMC, with the M looking like an inverted W. It is thinner than any other brand of brass and has a tendency to wrinkle below the bullet base.

March 30, 2010, 09:18 PM	#18
FM12 Senior Member Join Date: February 5, 2007 Location: Monroeville, Alabama Posts: 1,683	I toss the ones with the obvious Glock "Smiley" if it's really pronounced, just to make sure of no feeding problem. Might not be necesary but make me feel better! Blazer brass is good to go, the aluminum needs to got to your local recycler!! S&B and some Federal can be troublesome, try and see if it works for you, and recycle any that doesnt.

March 30, 2010, 09:37 PM	#19
uncyboo Senior Member Join Date: November 7, 2008 Location: Shelby, MT Posts: 1,013	Don't toss any. Make 44 Mag projectiles out of the ones you don't want to shoot.... http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.p...,169315.0.html

March 30, 2010, 09:51 PM	#20
ZeSpectre Senior Member Join Date: June 4, 2007 Location: Shenandoah Valley Posts: 3,276	This is, of course, just my opinion. (headstamp code reference: http://cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes.htm) Federal- Good stuff, use it. Winchester- Good stuff, use it. Blazer- Assuming you mean Blazer brass, good stuff, use it. Speer- Good stuff, use it. R & P- (Remington Arms) Good stuff, use it. I- (Independence) Good stuff, use it. PPU- (Prvi Partizan) Inspect carefully especially the primer holes, if it looks okay then use it. The only brass I've really had trouble with is A-Merc (american arms) which is complete crap and should always be scrapped! S&B (Sellier and Bellot) I sometimes use but it almost always has really tight primer pockets especially on 9mm brass. Only you can decide if you want to play with the S&B brass. I mix and match brass and don't worry about it but then again I'm not going for super precision, just plinking ammo.

March 31, 2010, 06:53 PM	#21
sonick808 Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 2009 Location: Chandler, AZ Posts: 396	the primer pockets on the S&B are a PITA I solved the problem by hitting all of them with a 1/32"+ chamfer to "guide" the primer in. No more hangs, sideways primers, or any of that. Past that, the tightness ends up being a gift as they wear out less quickly. Chamfer the entry to your S&B primer pockets before even attempting priming IMO. After that, it is rugged, wonderful stuff. Malleable, but stronger than some of the other alloys i've seen. Tuzo: I just loaded a batch of the PMC you described. It was indeed thinner than anything i've seen visibly and to the touch. It is once-fired from a fully supported chamber. Did you have any problems shooting the reloads from this thinner brass ? I'm definitely going to halve it's rotation vs. my more robust brass like Federal and S&B to be safe.

March 31, 2010, 07:59 PM	#22
Tuzo Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2007 Location: Louisiana Posts: 797	sonick, The only time my Kimber .45 acp had a failure to feed was with PMC brass that I tried despite the wrinkle deformity below the bullet base. Some wrinkled PMC reloads fed and fired fine but I threw away the cases after firing. No reason to court danger with sub-par brass. No other brass (Winchester, LC, Federal, Blazer, S&B, and PPU) has given me problems using an RCBS seating/crimp die. I normally adjust the crimp to eliminate casing bell plus a 1/4 turn extra. This adjustment was fine with all but the PMC brass. Some PMC cases wrinkled when seating the bullet without any crimp. Tried to crumple a few non-PMC cases and succeeded but had to adjust the die beyond reasonable crimp pressure. As a side note: I recently began using a Lee Factory Crimp Die with good results.

April 12, 2010, 10:27 AM	#23
sonick808 Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 2009 Location: Chandler, AZ Posts: 396	tuzo: thanks for the follow-up, sorry i didn't see it sooner. I just shot the 4th cycle with this korean pmc brass and while the bullets are seating a bit easier than they did initially, it's still hanging in there. I expect that the seating will become too easy in the next 2-3 loadings. Works good, just very thin!