scavenged brass procedures

[motosapiens]

I've only ever reloaded brass fired from my own guns, but the brass fairy came today. I do tech stuff for a law-enforcment agency and some of our rangers were kind enough to pick up their brass and some other leftovers (local pd?) from their shoot. Ours is all winchester nickel-plated, fired once, from SIGs. Most of the rest is speer, and of unknown ancestry, but I know at least 1 of the big local pd's uses glocks, so there's a high-likelihood it's been glocked. I'm only going to use it for minor idpa and plinking loads, so i'm not too stressed about that I don't think. Here's my plan, criticism and additions welcome:

1. wipe off and inspect, discarding anything squished or otherwise really ugly looking. Found one split case already, and several among the pd brass that must have come from the same gun, with the same jagged scratch on the outside. it sprinkled a bit out today, so it's all a bit dirtier than normal for me. I figure it's smart to wipe off the big chunks enough to inspect before throwing it in the tumbler.

2. after cleaning, inspect more closely, segregate the nickel from the brass cases.

3. after decapping a handful of the possibly glocked rounds, run them through the sizing die and make sure they'll chamber in my m&p40c.

Anything else in particular to watch out for? I'm kind of annoyed about the nickel-plating, but it looks like i'll be able to get reasonable quantities of them for free as long as I work here, so I guess i'm not going to complain too loudly.

[BillChunn]

Never complain about free brass....

HH

[wide45]

Nickel cleans up much faster. It may be more prone to cracking, but I've never had a problem with it. You can't beat the deal you got, take all you can get.

[a.roberts]

If you're worried about rounds chambering, I'd suggest one of the push-through sizing dies.

Just run everything through that and you'll pretty much be golden.

[blaster113]

An EGW undersize die in place of the regular resize die should take care of any Glocked brass. All the .40 brass I feed my STI is once fired from my PD range, 99.9% from Glocks and the rest from MP5's. I installed a U-die in place of the regular resize die and havent had a brass related issue yet. I still case gauge ammo for big matches as a matter of insurance and piece of mind, but the rest that I use for practice and local matches is not case gauged and has been trouble free.

[RussellJohnson]

I've only ever reloaded brass fired from my own guns, but the brass fairy came today. I do tech stuff for a law-enforcment agency and some of our rangers were kind enough to pick up their brass and some other leftovers (local pd?) from their shoot. Ours is all winchester nickel-plated, fired once, from SIGs. Most of the rest is speer, and of unknown ancestry, but I know at least 1 of the big local pd's uses glocks, so there's a high-likelihood it's been glocked. I'm only going to use it for minor idpa and plinking loads, so i'm not too stressed about that I don't think. Here's my plan, criticism and additions welcome:

1. wipe off and inspect, discarding anything squished or otherwise really ugly looking. Found one split case already, and several among the pd brass that must have come from the same gun, with the same jagged scratch on the outside. it sprinkled a bit out today, so it's all a bit dirtier than normal for me. I figure it's smart to wipe off the big chunks enough to inspect before throwing it in the tumbler.

2. after cleaning, inspect more closely, segregate the nickel from the brass cases.

3. after decapping a handful of the possibly glocked rounds, run them through the sizing die and make sure they'll chamber in my m&p40c.

Anything else in particular to watch out for? I'm kind of annoyed about the nickel-plating, but it looks like i'll be able to get reasonable quantities of them for free as long as I work here, so I guess i'm not going to complain too loudly.

You've got the right idea, the nickle plated brass just cannot be reloaded as often as the regular brass, if the 40 was shot thru the newer glocks there should not be a problem with any bulging, again youve got the right idea about resizing the brass and seeing if they go in your barrel, you've got a good deal with the brass they dont let many people pick up the brass.

Edited April 13, 2011 by RussellJohnson

[blaster113]

I havent had very good luck with nickel brass and my U-die though, of the small amount of nickel brass that I've loaded up I had a few cases crack. I think the extra strain that the U-die puts on the brass is the cause, as I believe the nickel process makes the brass more brittle. I've loaded thousands of regular brass cases with the U-die and havent had any crack though....

Edited April 13, 2011 by SIG shooter

[motosapiens]

well, cool, false alarm on the glockiness. the speer brass cleaned up pretty nicely and after a trip through a regular lee carbide sizing die drops easily into the chamber of my gun. Ended up with 120 or winchester nickel cases and 250 or so speer brass cases, + 10-15 win NT cases that I just tossed cuz i've heard they're a pain. Hopefully this connection will continue.

The best part is my boss and co-workers were grubbing around in the dirt to do me a favor. I guess I owe them a beer.

[whistlepig]

First, a properly adjusted sizing die will handle any case bulge... I have not found a need for the U die. Just my experience. And it is always a good idea to inspect fired brass like you described. Don't sweat the dirt if you have a tumbler or vibratory case cleaner. You will be amazed what can be rescued.

If knowing that brass has been in a glock is important to you, you can always tell by looking at the fired primer. A round discharged in a Glock will have a distinct "stamp" (really a tool mark) visible in the primer. The Glock breechface has a rectangular cut for the firing pin and the tip of the firing pin is a distinct shape, kinda like a flat triangle rather than the round firing pin tip of most other weapons. The resulting imprint left on the fired primer is easy to spot once you know what to look for. The rectangular cut of the breechface is very apparent and the triangle tip is distinct as well.

Examine a fired primer from a Glock next to a fired primer from say, a Sig and you will see what I mean. The Sig (and other weapons that use a round firing pin) leaves a clear round dimple imprint, in some guns accompannied by a gouge to one side.

Once you see the Glock difference, you can find one fired Glock case among 100 that are not.

The scratch on the brass you see may not be from the gun. Brass on a LE range gets tromped on and even driven over. It probably happened after the brass was on the ground.

If you dont like the Glock brass, send it to me

Clean it, fill it, shoot it................