TwoShot Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 At a small local match yesterday after shooting the stage one of the fellows policing brass gave me a live round. "This is yours isn't it?" I took the round and looked, my bullet, my brand of brass, my color primer. I figured it popped out of a mag when it hit the ground on a reload. There was only one other open shooter at the match and he uses a different bullet. As I started to put it in my ammo box, that little voice in the back of my head said DON'T. I threw it in with the fired brass and forgot it. Putting things away this afternoon I found the loaded round, I checked the o.a.l., and it wasn't right. I pulled the bullet, hmmm, different powder. Potential disaster avoided! Understand there are very few USPSA shooters in this club., less than 10 and only 1 other than me shoots open. What are the odds? The little voice was right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmysterious Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Mark your brass. I put an "X" across the base of mine. I've had people bring them to me, apparently nobody else around here shoots a green bullet with a black X on the brass.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hab25 Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Almost had tat issue today. Thank you reduced firing pin spring needing federal primers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmysterious Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Dude, if you marked your rounds I wouldn't have given that one back to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroe3 Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 At last months match I had a FTF, light strike as it turned out, probably a high primer. Tap, rack, bang, no problem. After the stage 4 identical rounds were returned to me! One had a light strike, 3 were unfired. Lots of Bear Creek moly shot locally. They all went in my spent brass bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theycallmeingot Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 i've never felt the need to mark my rounds. i just don't shoot anything that came off the ground. i'm not shooting a 50BMG out there. i can afford to throw away a round, even if i "know" it was mine. regular 6 stage match, you're talking 6 unload and show clears. at most, 6 rounds that fall on the ground. if i see them drop, i grab them. if people hand them to me, i gladly accept them. and put them in with spent brass and pull them when i get home. 6 rounds isn't worth a kaboom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgood Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Someone handed me one at my last match. I couldn't figure out where it came from. It looked like my ammo. But I had picked up the one from unload and show clear and hadn't cleared a jam or anything that might eject a live round. It could have popped out of a not-quite-empty magazine when it hit the ground during a mag change. It was probably my ammo, but I wasn't sure. Decided I didn't need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunguru Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 9mm cost roughly 250$/1000 (WWB or AE), so it's mean 0.25$ per round (less if you relaod). So even in a big match with a reshoot, you may lose 10 rnds, we talk of 2.50$!!! Never enough to take the chance of blowing a gun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aztecdriver Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 i've never felt the need to mark my rounds. i just don't shoot anything that came off the ground. i'm not shooting a 50BMG out there. i can afford to throw away a round, even if i "know" it was mine. regular 6 stage match, you're talking 6 unload and show clears. at most, 6 rounds that fall on the ground. if i see them drop, i grab them. if people hand them to me, i gladly accept them. and put them in with spent brass and pull them when i get home. 6 rounds isn't worth a kaboom. I don't mark my rounds - I mark my cases. @13.5cents per - you better believe i'm finding every piece of brass I can find... if I find a loaded round, it's getting pulled anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theycallmeingot Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 So you dont pick up the cases that didnt come from your gun? the way brass is "whored" at my local match you get what you shot back... but it's not all technically your own brass. If i shoot 150, i end up with atleast 150 9mm cases. maybe 25 of those are mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aztecdriver Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 So you dont pick up the cases that didnt come from your gun? the way brass is "whored" at my local match you get what you shot back... but it's not all technically your own brass. If i shoot 150, i end up with atleast 150 9mm cases. maybe 25 of those are mine. Most that are shooting 38 SC mark their brass differently. For the most part, we tend to honor each others stuff. I've yet to see brass whores on my local squads, in fact, most times the match staff has to ask us to police our brass. I mark them so they tend to stand out in the other brass sitting around so it's easier to find. I've got more than enough 9, 40 and 45 brass and now that I've come to the dark side, the only brass I want is the stuff I've shot. The others can have the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theycallmeingot Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 So you dont pick up the cases that didnt come from your gun? the way brass is "whored" at my local match you get what you shot back... but it's not all technically your own brass. If i shoot 150, i end up with atleast 150 9mm cases. maybe 25 of those are mine. Most that are shooting 38 SC mark their brass differently. For the most part, we tend to honor each others stuff. I've yet to see brass whores on my local squads, in fact, most times the match staff has to ask us to police our brass. I mark them so they tend to stand out in the other brass sitting around so it's easier to find. I've got more than enough 9, 40 and 45 brass and now that I've come to the dark side, the only brass I want is the stuff I've shot. The others can have the rest. it's funny you should say that. my brother just recently switched from shooting 38 super because he was the only one shooting it, and apparently people picked them up thinking they were 9mm. so when he would go to pick up only the caliber he shot that day, there wasn't hardly any left, but TONS of 9mm and 40 and 45 laying around. our club waits till the end of the match to pick up brass. the match ends at different times for different people, depending on when your squad gets done shooting. between the 2 of us, if we dropped 300 9mm cases on the ground, we've found it easier to pick up 300 cases from the stage we ended on, as we know that by the time we were to walk around to all the other stages looking for "our" actual brass, it would be picked up already. and then there's also times when people don't bother to mess with it. i'm usually hot and ready to go home after i get back the same amount i shot, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hab25 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Dude, if you marked your rounds I wouldn't have given that one back to you! In some way I do mark them by being one of the few at our matches that uses federal primers lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Why would you assume a round you pick up will blow up your gun? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 NEVER shoot a round that has been handed to you! One never knows... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoShot Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Paul, I have a great deal of time and money invested in my open gun. The loads that I shoot were developed specifically for that gun and no other. Load and chrono, check pressure signs, accuracy testing, does it feed, etc. The next guy may do the same thing with his or her load development procedure for their gun. The point being, it is a different gun. Every gun is different. Would that round have blown up my gun, probably not but why take the chance. In hindsight it might have been a minor pf load that might have not worked in my gun causing a jam on a stage. I'm not the type to take the chance. I was practicing one day with an LE friend and on "unload and show clear" the live round hit my foot and bounced out into the grass. He asked why I was spending the time looking for it. I told him I didn't know what a major 9 load would do if fired in a Hi-Point and I didn't want to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caffeinated Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Marking my brass is the final step in my quality control. I put 100 rounds in a box and then then draw two lines that end up making an X. While I'm drawing the two lines I'm looking for any primer issues. It probably take 30 seconds to do 100 rounds. I find this beneficial because in addition to making me take one final close look at my ammo, it allows me to see which live rounds are mine at the range and it helps me get my .45 brass back. People usually bring me my brass since they know I have it marked. If my brass wasn't marked, I don't think I would get any of it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
professor Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 (edited) I have a foolproof way of getting back ALL my brass, and ONLY my brass. It's called a S&W revolver using 45 ACP in moonclips. Edited June 20, 2012 by professor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I pick-up and fire every single live round I come upon in .223 & 9mm. Never had a problem. (I recover it, pull it, deprime it, toss the powder, reload it in a special batch, and inspect the case) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmw5142 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 (edited) I pick up live rounds but they all get pulled, bullets sorted and everything recycled for practice ammo but the powder. ETA: Whether I think they're mine or not. Edited June 20, 2012 by dsmw5142 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Paul, One of the primary concerns is someone inadvertently shooting a hot 9mm Major round in a Glock 17 etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I believe if it would chamber in a Glock you could fire it with no problem... Thanks for the info. I pick up rounds and shoot them but not usually in a match. I don't own a bullet puller, probably should get one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theycallmeingot Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I believe if it would chamber in a Glock you could fire it with no problem... Thanks for the info. I pick up rounds and shoot them but not usually in a match. I don't own a bullet puller, probably should get one. i've seen some pictures of glocks that would make you think otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackey Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Why would you assume a round you pick up will blow up your gun? Just curious. 9 major might look pretty similar to 9 minor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cd662 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 "Why would you assume a round you pick up will blow up your gun? Just curious." Why would you assume a round you pick up WON'T blow up your gun? Just curious. And so as not to sound completely facetious, I'll expand. Why take an unnecessary risk to save a few cents? If a few cents are that important to you, shooting sports is not your game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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