Something new to me...

[Yoosta B. Blue]

In another thread, I mentioned how strange it seemed to me to see some .45 ACP brass with larger flash holes than "normal." Here's something else --

I was given a bunch of ammo a while back. I shot all the rounds that I loaded into my revolvers, and they all fired fine. But the .45 ACP rounds locked the slide and would not cycle in my Ruger P345. After I got into reloading recently, I decided to break those rounds down and reload them. I've been doing that and this morning reloaded the last of them. I noticed that four of them appear to have a "rounded" primer surface, rather than the flat surface that I'm used to seeing. Here's a photo that I just now took:

http://www.freshonmymind.com/round_primers/

Any thoughts you'd care to share on these primers? Thanks!

Yoosta B. Blue

[TexasSeaRay]

What kind/brand of primers are you loading?

Also saw some "off-brands" in your brass. One thing I'm noticing is that a lot of the "newer" brass/ammo brands that are emerging are not using quality, precisioned brass.

When I first began reloading for handguns, there was Winchester (my favorite brass), Remington, Federal (another favorite for ANY caliber/weapon), CCI and PMC (the new kid on the block and whose brass was sought by reloaders. The factory PMC was cheap and the brass held up to dozens of reloadings).

The the brand generics came out--American Eagle, UMC, etc; all "white boxes" of the major brands. I noticed that some of that brass didn't seem to size as well, or that primers were a little tougher going in, or that necks seem to split a bit sooner.

But, for the most part, it was still good brass.

Now, there are brands out there that to call crap would be an insult to a [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color].

I simply toss those brands in my scrap metal bucket when they find their way into my range brass collection after every trip to the shooting gallery.

Jeff

[Yoosta B. Blue]

Jeff, I have no idea what brand of primers these are, as they are rounds that I took apart and I've re-used the primed casings to generate ammo that my semiauto enjoys eating. I suspect that after I fire these, I will not use them again, opting instead to reload some others that I have here...

YBB

[AlaskaMike]

I may be wrong, but I think some older priming tools used cupped instead of flat punches to seat the primers. I have .45 ACP ammo from 1943 (steel cases) with primers that look just like that, as well as some old .30-06.

In one of my Elmer Keith books, he talks about his dislike of those and encouraged handloaders to only seat their primers with flat-faced, not cupped tools.

Mike

[Yoosta B. Blue]

Thanks, AlaskaMike. I have not heard of a cupped priming tool before, but that is an interesting thought.

I have a bunch of once-fired .45 ACP brass (Blazer Brass from Wal-Mart) here. When I shoot these mixed brands up that I've just now reloaded, I think I'll dump them and use only the once-fired.

YBB

[Sevens]

The the brand generics came out--American Eagle, UMC, etc; all "white boxes" of the major brands.

While I realize exactly what you are saying, and I also realize that you know very well what you are talking about, ya gotta admit that it's funny as hell to lump UMC in with "new generic stuff of the major brands."

Yup, that's pretty much what the UMC name is used for these days, Remington's equivalent to WWB ammo... but you talk about a long-standing and historic name in the ammunition industry-- Some of the coolest old antique ammo boxes came from the Union Metallic Cartridge company.

I'd be willing to bet that it was this company that settled the great American west. It sure as hell wasn't Fiocchi or Selior & Belot! (although, ya gotta wonder if Fiocchi supplied blanks and components for a bunch of old Clint Eastwood "spaghetti westerns" ?!