what is the issue with loading 9mm major brass multiple times

[Sandbagger123]

I have reloaded and shot about 6k 9mm major round through my open gun. i had read in the past that many people only reloaded their 9 major brass only once. i went to the range to practice and i took my brass home. today i thought i would see if the fired brass would drop in my Dillon gauge and to my surprise 80% out of the 20 i tried would drop right into the guage. the rest went almost in, but needed persuasion for the rest.

i took all 20 and resized and primed them and they all resized without much effort and primers stayed in, even the brass fired out of my glock did not drop in the guage up to halfway.

So what exactly is the issue that causes concern to people reloading 9 major? i don;t see brass bulging.

[kneelingatlas]

Some people are more cautious than others when reloading 9 major. Personally I don't worry too much about brass and have only had issues with stepped brass (IMT, FM, and ammoload), once I had my first case separate at the step I started sorting them out of my match ammo. I've still only had three of the separate in me, all in 2011 Open guns, but never in a CZ or Tanfo.

I load 9 major brass over and over without issues.

Edited May 29, 2016 by kneelingatlas

[EEH]

I have loaded some of mine several times just for that reason..

Right now I have plenty so I don't bother picking it up..

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Shoot it till it splits or will not hold the primer in any longer. Most guys just leave it on the ground at a match since it only costs about $7 to do that. Thanks, Eric

[jcc7x7]

Shoot it till you loose it

[Foxbat]

Hello: Shoot it till it splits or will not hold the primer in any longer. Most guys just leave it on the ground at a match

I stopped taking old brass to the matches since I had 2 or 3 cases of primers falling out, screwing up my stages.

Not worth it.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Shoot it till it splits or will not hold the primer

+1. Brass is perfectly good for at least 3-4 loadings ...

[MrPostman]

Leaving it on the ground is why I shoot 9 major. I just got tired of marking and picking up 38 super brass at a match.

[Sarge]

I have lost count of how many times some of mine has been reloaded

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: In most cases the 9mm being shot at major loads will last between 7-10 times. After that you are getting some with large primer pockets or some that are splitting. That is kinda my rule of thumb for match ammo. Thanks, Eric

[Glock26Toter]

I've tried a few times to reload my brass. Each time I saw reliability drop. Either through occasional feed problems, primer pocket problems, or case gauge failures. This includes roll-sizing for a while.

Some solutions suggested were, sort all the brass, use different primers, let the gauge failures be practice only, or other things.

In the end, for the cheapest part of the cartridge I choose not to spend the most labor on saving it. I simply recycle it via metal recycling centers.

[choppe]

I save my fired 9mm major brass and load it with powderpuff 9mm minor loads for 3 gun.

[Resjudicata]

Those that are reloading the same brass in 9 major multiple times, what powder are you using?

I just started loading 9 major using 8.3 grains of hs6 and 125 grain JHP bullets and Federal Small Pistol primers. The brass and primers show no pressure signs at all. Hell, I've seen more pressure signs on 9 minor brass using Titegroup, Clays and WST.

Chris

[Hi-Power Jack]

Those that are reloading the same brass in 9 major multiple times, what powder are you using?

WAC

[Tino2212]

I have used HS6 , SP2 , 3n37 and N350 .

Found SP2 and HS6 to be really dirty .

N350 was my favorite using a 124 grain bullet , we can't use 115 grain for IPSC major so for those i don't know .

Load them several times never had issues , gun always runs flawless .

I don't case gauge just don't see the reason for doing this , my cartridges must fit in my gun don't care if they fit in a gauge .

I also don't care if my car key fits in my neighbours car

Edited June 3, 2016 by Tino2212

[scottrallye]

I've been shooting open since January with my CZ Czechmate in 9mm Major.

I have put about 8,000 rounds through it in that time.

I did a TON of research on reloading even before I bought my Czechmate, and spent a LOT of time developing a good load for it. Part of that research included the issue of reusing brass. I heard everything from "Don't worry about it, I reuse it over and over unless I notice a crack" to "I ONLY use brand new brass, and never pick up range brass". So, that pretty much told me nothing.

So I went ahead and started using range brass I had collected from my local range prior to switching to open. No one around here really shoots open, so I wasn't worried about picking up any brass used for 9 major. All the used 9mm brass (in reasonable condition) I used for the first couple thousand rounds I didn't have any issues with. I kept on collecting range brass, including my own after I started shooting open... I figured that unless something felt wonky in the press (I am a very careful and deliberate reloader, especially with 9mm major) I'd run with it. I began to notice some bulged cases when I got into my own 9 major brass, and just threw those ones out as I reloaded to minimize wasted primers and rounds that wouldn't fit my case gauge.

As I loaded ammo for Area 1 this year, I carefully inspected each case before loading, drop-tested all of it, checked primers, and re-examined it all for any cracks, etc. I didn't notice any primers that seated too-easily. I thought that being so deliberate so would negate the need for me to use brand new brass as added security for the match.

So I shot Area 1 last month and shot a great match for me. 10 of my 16 stages were top 20 (of 380 shooters) and 5 of those were top 10. Had a few stages that were so-so but still top 50 and very good for me... at that pace I was well on track for a 15-20th place finish at my first Area match. Unfortunately, I had to eat a zero on my 2nd stage because one of my cases must have had a stretched primer pocket, blew the primer out, and the case stuck in the chamber. I tried desperately to clear it but there was no way without a squib rod, etc. and I wasn't going to risk a DQ so I stopped myself and told the RO I was finished. He escorted me to a safety table and I removed the case and carried on. That was on stage two. I let it go, still shot a great match for me, but it pushed me out of a top twenty finish back to 46th, because of one bad case.

When I got home, I ordered up 3k cases of once-fired brass from elitereloading.com for $87. You could probably find somewhere cheaper too. I'm now using that for all my practice and level-1 (local) matches. I'm still inspecting for any obvious defects as I reload (which is pretty easy actually and really doesn't slow you down much) but I still have never had an issue with any once-fired brass that wasn't loaded as 9mm major. For any level 2-match and up, I'll be using new brass no matter how well this once-fired stuff turns out. I spend too much time and energy working at this sport to let some tiny detail cost me so dearly. I knew shooting open would require a little more attention to detail and probably a few more bucks on reloading supplies, and the lesson I learned is that it simply isn't worth it to save a few bucks reusing my 9mm major brass, no matter how careful you think you are.

Sorry for the novel, but I felt I needed to share my own experience with this as a new open shooter.

[Sarge]

Those that are reloading the same brass in 9 major multiple times, what powder are you using?

WAC

Same here . Love AutoComp

[Sarge]

I've been shooting open since January with my CZ Czechmate in 9mm Major.

I have put about 8,000 rounds through it in that time.

I did a TON of research on reloading even before I bought my Czechmate, and spent a LOT of time developing a good load for it. Part of that research included the issue of reusing brass. I heard everything from "Don't worry about it, I reuse it over and over unless I notice a crack" to "I ONLY use brand new brass, and never pick up range brass". So, that pretty much told me nothing.

So I went ahead and started using range brass I had collected from my local range prior to switching to open. No one around here really shoots open, so I wasn't worried about picking up any brass used for 9 major. All the used 9mm brass (in reasonable condition) I used for the first couple thousand rounds I didn't have any issues with. I kept on collecting range brass, including my own after I started shooting open... I figured that unless something felt wonky in the press (I am a very careful and deliberate reloader, especially with 9mm major) I'd run with it. I began to notice some bulged cases when I got into my own 9 major brass, and just threw those ones out as I reloaded to minimize wasted primers and rounds that wouldn't fit my case gauge.

As I loaded ammo for Area 1 this year, I carefully inspected each case before loading, drop-tested all of it, checked primers, and re-examined it all for any cracks, etc. I didn't notice any primers that seated too-easily. I thought that being so deliberate so would negate the need for me to use brand new brass as added security for the match.

So I shot Area 1 last month and shot a great match for me. 10 of my 16 stages were top 20 (of 380 shooters) and 5 of those were top 10. Had a few stages that were so-so but still top 50 and very good for me... at that pace I was well on track for a 15-20th place finish at my first Area match. Unfortunately, I had to eat a zero on my 2nd stage because one of my cases must have had a stretched primer pocket, blew the primer out, and the case stuck in the chamber. I tried desperately to clear it but there was no way without a squib rod, etc. and I wasn't going to risk a DQ so I stopped myself and told the RO I was finished. He escorted me to a safety table and I removed the case and carried on. That was on stage two. I let it go, still shot a great match for me, but it pushed me out of a top twenty finish back to 46th, because of one bad case.

When I got home, I ordered up 3k cases of once-fired brass from elitereloading.com for $87. You could probably find somewhere cheaper too. I'm now using that for all my practice and level-1 (local) matches. I'm still inspecting for any obvious defects as I reload (which is pretty easy actually and really doesn't slow you down much) but I still have never had an issue with any once-fired brass that wasn't loaded as 9mm major. For any level 2-match and up, I'll be using new brass no matter how well this once-fired stuff turns out. I spend too much time and energy working at this sport to let some tiny detail cost me so dearly. I knew shooting open would require a little more attention to detail and probably a few more bucks on reloading supplies, and the lesson I learned is that it simply isn't worth it to save a few bucks reusing my 9mm major brass, no matter how careful you think you are.

Sorry for the novel, but I felt I needed to share my own experience with this as a new open shooter.

Sometimes it takes more than a few words. It's a nice read and goes to show we all have preferred ways of doing things. If something works for you, keep doing it. That's what I do. There's really no "wrong" way.

[echotango]

Those that are reloading the same brass in 9 major multiple times, what powder are you using?

WAC

[LilBunniFuFu]

With respect to loose primer pockets. Friends of mine in Brasil reuse their brass much more than we do here because of the cost. Quite a few of them will tumble the loaded rounds and remove the rounds that the primers have fallen out of.

[trgt]

once-fired brass ... for all my practice and level-1 (local) matches

....

For any level 2-match and up, I'll be using new brass no matter how well this once-fired stuff turns out.

...

Similar, major matches = new starline brass; local matches = once (or so) fired; practice anything I've picked up (but I do case gauge all ammo, that that does help me find split cases)

[Mark Meyers]

This is the reason I stayed with 38sc. The high pressures of 9mm always scared me.

[blueeyedme]

I run WAC at 175pf. All I have ever loaded is range brass. Have had 1 case seperation in the 3 years my wife and I have been shooting open.

[kneelingatlas]

This is the reason I stayed with 38sc. The high pressures of 9mm always scared me.

What's your 38 load Mark?

[jcc7x7]

Those that are reloading the same brass in 9 major multiple times, what powder are you using?

I just started loading 9 major using 8.3 grains of hs6 and 125 grain JHP bullets and Federal Small Pistol primers. The brass and primers show no pressure signs at all. Hell, I've seen more pressure signs on 9 minor brass using Titegroup, Clays and WST.

Chris

I'm using hs6 and autocomp

Always shot 124/5 bullets, playing with 115's this year..

I load it till I lose it