using 1 fired brass/ mil spec?

[shootluke62]

I am waiting for my new 550 to show up next week but I am reading pounds of info and have a question about using 1 shot brass, I am seeing info about being careful not to use military brass ( I shoot .45acp and 9mm)due to a crimp in the primer/shell relation etc. do I need to be careful about using 1 shot brass re: primers ??

( yes, I know large for .45acp-small for all other pistol rds)

Thanks for any guidance, I am very impressed by the depth of knowledge here and I know I am going to love reloading, not just to save $$ either- gonna learn tons.

Edited April 30, 2011 by shootluke62

[whistlepig]

Welcome to the wonderful world of reloading on a Dillon....... my only tip there would be to keep a pack of spare de-capping pins on hand.

Commercial brass, either virgin or previously fired, does not use crimped in primers. No special step is needed between de-priming and priming on your 550.

Military or "Mil-Spec" brass is fine to use. It is usually of high quality. The hitch is that the primers are crimped in place, ususally visible by a depressed ring around the peremiter of the brass circle closest to the primer. Crimped in primers will actually deprime ok on your machine, the issue is that the crimp needs to be removed prior to seating a new primer. It takes a dedicated tool to do so. The good news is that once swaged, that brass will never need that step again and you could use it just like commercial brass. Some loaders loath and despise this issue and won't consider mil spec brass. I don't find it to be an issue. I will collect mil spec in it's own container and when it gets close to full, I will break out the swage tool and fix them all.

As far as using previously fired brass, I will collect and reuse the same pistol brass over and over and over........... and with .45 .40 and 9mm I load them..... lots. I have cycled the same piece of .45 brass through my 650 and a pistol so many times I should be ashamed of myself. I check my brass well and discard obvious flaws. You will actually see overly tired pistol brass split during the load process. That is why it is just as important to inspect loaded rounds as well.

I get more picky with rifle brass for loading. The pressures are higher, the brass is worked more, and necks split sooner.

[shootluke62]

Thanks for the info, I guess I need to see a regular commercial vs. mil spec. spent case next to each other,so I can see the difference, I am buying new brass from Starline to start off with, my range (private) has many Dillon fans, thus the floors are never left covered in brass! thanks again.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Thanks for the info, I guess I need to see a regular commercial vs. mil spec. spent case next to each other,so I can see the difference,

Commercial brass is stamped with a company name, e.g.

Win, FC, Blazer, Speer, RP, etc.

Military brass has "strange looking" stampings,

lots of numbers and symbols, usually.

Even with commercial brass, I like to stay away

from S & B and A-Merc.

If you can retrieve all your brass (in an indoor range)

no problem using brand new brass and using them 10 x each:))

Good luck

Jack

[g56]

Commercial brass in 45 acp is usually not crimped, it is easy to load, military brass is always crimped, and then you have to deal with the crimp, a Dillon Super Swage can be helpful with military brass but its still a hassle to deal with. I tend to move military brass to the back when reloading, commercial brass is just so much easier to work with.

If you ever get into reloading 5.56 mm virtually all of it is crimped, so you don't have a choice with that, but pistol calibers are easy to reload.

[rfwobbly]

If you'll look at the primer pockets themselves, a crimped primer is easy to spot. Commercial brass has a nice rolled edge leading into the pocket. There are several crimp methods but they all get the metal of the case to distort over the primer and hold it in place. The reloading press has no issue pushing out the spent primer. The issue comes when you try to install a new primer. (See below.)

There are several products on the market that remove the pushed-over metal so that a new primer can be seated. You can "swage" (push) the metal back into place, or you can simply "bevel" (cut) it away. Generally though, there is so much good commercial 9mm brass that it is not worth your time.

Edited May 6, 2011 by rfwobbly

[whistlepig]

+1 on the post above. great graphic.

[Red Ryder]

I've gone through my practice brass bag again because I found some WCC brass with obvious crimp. I just had a primer detonation (all of them) in my 650 and I don't want it to happen again. I got rid of all the WCC, S&B, A-MERC, the ones with 2 small primer wholes, and all the ones with funny symbols and numbers. Incidently, my primer detonation happened with a piece of Winchester brass, but I kept all those!

[whistlepig]

Ref your detonation, if it happened on primer seating, be aware of bits of trash getting in between the seating ram for the primer and the primer face. If it is hard, like a metal shaving, it can actually work just like a firing pin tip. I have a photo I will see if i can scan in of a one that did just that on a 550.