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Using range pickup brass - Do you sort? Exclude some? Precautions?


LeviSS

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The only sorting I do is if the brass looks ugly I use that ammo for IDPA matches and don't worry about picking up my brass. Especally if it's a lost brass match, the range gets my brass but I really don't care.

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I load fat 358 diamater 9mm quite short so there are some ones I have to cull besides the usual suspects. CBC and Tula brass are thrown in scrap bucket.

Otherwise everything else is good to go.

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I cull out S&B, A-Merc's, and any brass that has NT on it (Win NT, eg).

Whats wrong with these Jack?

I have a lot of trouble priming them - tight primer holes.

Yeah I noticed that too. I hand prime though so it dont really bother me, its a good work out for my clutch hand.

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I wasn't culling, and then I started seeing a pattern in what would fail the Hundo case gauge.

Aguila fails a lot, Tula, CBC is pretty bad, NATO (don't like dealing with crimped Primers) some of the other odd ball stuff.

I started culling all of those and the odd ball stuff. My case gauge failures went way down.

I used to have fits with crushed primers, then I started laying all the cartridges out on their side in a crawfish tray and spraying with case lube. now I rarely have a problem.

This all saves me money on wasted components.

I'll either trade off the culled brass or bring it to the scrap yard.

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But do your case gauge failures work when tested in practice, or not?

How bad do they need to be before they interfere with function?

Not saying to use them for match, but I'm finding all but the very worst function just fine in my gun for practice.

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Always inspect 9mm and reject Military cases along with others that are swagged. Military cases have a smaller case volume than standard

Federal, Winchester Remington etc.

Quickest way I have found is to use a box or tray and three factory packing trays. Place two of the trays in the box and pour brass into

them most will land base down then check from the side to remove any .380 Supers or anything else that found it's way into the tumbler.

Plane pencil works fine to remove any that need to come out of the tray. Take the third tray using it like a primer flip tray turn the brass

over and inspect the head stamp side for rejects. Loading on a 650 process goes quicker once the trash is picked out.

Works well getting .357's out of 38's and and sorting large and small primed 45acp, but you'll need the larger trays for 45.

Square sided factory trays work best.

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I cull out S&B, A-Merc's, and any brass that has NT on it (Win NT, eg).

Whats wrong with these Jack?

A-Merc is well known for being really crappy ammo/brass. Much of, if not all, the NT stuff (non-toxic primer) is crimped. S&B tends to have tight/sharp edged pockets. I find that RWS doesn't take a bell. IMT/Ammoload has the internal ledge. RP tends to stick to my powder funnel horribly.

I think if you load mixed brass for a bit, you'll quickly find which headstamps are ok, and which are best avoided.

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Sort by caliber, clean, and reload. During the reloading process I watch/catch rejects. I reload on a Dillon 650.

Almost identical to my process except I run a strong magnet to pickup any brass washed steel cases. That stuff is more evil then new Coke. The 380 shell plate for the yellow, blue, black shell sorter is a must have. I can run about 500 rounds in 40-50min on my 550 and typical catch and split cases in either in stage 1 becasue it didn't feel right during sizing or station 2 because I see it when visually checking powder level.

In 24k+ rounds of 9mm I have not had a stepped brass separate with 9mm minor loads. Could be more of an issue for 9mm major.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pick it up after a match or anywhere I can really. Remove obvious trash and check with magnet. Tumble it. Sort it with the shell sorter plates including 380. Load it on 550.

Most crimped pockets load fine, or have a slight catch as they start but load OK. If they don't, it is obvious when I try and I just toss it and keep going. About 1 per 100 primers gets partially started due to a crimp and won't seat correctly. Occasionally something else odd finds its way in and gets tossed. At the end I put them all primer end up in 100 round cases and check for high primers (1 per 1000 maybe) and overall length (1 per 2000 is too long maybe).

I used the Lee factory crimp instead of the Dillon crimp at the end, and it resizes the case again all the way down, so everything chambers in my tight chambered Springfield 1911 9mm just fine. I very very rarely gauge 9mm except when setting up the dies for a new load.

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I used to have loads of problems with 9mm then realized the crimped primer pockets were doing the dirt. Sorted them out, went from 1:20 primer fails to 1:100. And EVERY FAIL WAS A MISSED CRIMPED POCKET. Did 500 with no fail.

But had 350+ crimped brass. Used a carbide bit to slightly chamfer the pockets, reloaded them with no fails.

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I used to have loads of problems with 9mm then realized the crimped primer pockets were doing the dirt. Sorted them out, went from 1:20 primer fails to 1:100. And EVERY FAIL WAS A MISSED CRIMPED POCKET. Did 500 with no fail.

But had 350+ crimped brass. Used a carbide bit to slightly chamfer the pockets, reloaded them with no fails.

Same here, I have the Lyman hand tool but it is just easier to throw them in a bucket and use other brass.

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I'm loading 9 major. I fill a 50 round .45 plastic ammo carrier with 50 pieces of mouth up range brass. The next step is to use a high intensity light to shine down each case to look for the step that is in IMT, AMMOLOAD, and FM brass. One case separation is quite enough, thanks.

BTW if you have a 1050, any of that that step brass crapola that sneaks through will reveal itself in the swage stage by the feedback to your pull.

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I didn't sort my brass (except by caliber) when I was shooting 9 minor, since switching to major I've changed my sorting procedure. After sorting by caliber, I look at every headstamp. IMT, Ammoload, Tula, and anything in Cyrillic goes into the scrap bucket. Win, R-P, Speer, FC go in one bucket that I call "major reloadable", I use this for my practice ammo that I can pick up after using. Everything else goes into a "lost brass" bucket. I try to use brass from this last bucket for match ammo. Most matches around here are lost brass matches, and even the ones that aren't, I won't spend any time picking up brass during a match. The range I practice at has a lot of new shooters that used new ammo and leave the brass lying on the floor so I normally pick up more than I lose at lost brass matches.

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Are the ones with the " internal ledge" bad to reload? I noticed a few in the last batch I picked up. Or should I say I saw a few with a line around the outside of the case like some revolver cartridges have...

Edited by cwall64
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Are the ones with the " internal ledge" bad to reload? I noticed a few in the last batch I picked up. Or should I say I saw a few with a line around the outside of the case like some revolver cartridges have...

IMT, and Ammoload have the ledge. I toss them in recycling. There have been reports of case separation at the "ledge", not worth the risk for me.

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Are the ones with the " internal ledge" bad to reload? I noticed a few in the last batch I picked up. Or should I say I saw a few with a line around the outside of the case like some revolver cartridges have...

Two different things. The ledges haven't given me any trouble on a 1050 loading 9mm minor.

9Major aka 9Grenades are the devil. I have more concern about 9Major brass with completely flat primers and even flattened case heads where the head stamps are flattened and almost illegible than I do with stepped brass. There are open shooters out there living life on the edge.

Edited by Beastly
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The ones with the "line" around the outside - like a revolver cartridge - are OK. The ones with the ledge around the inside of the case aren't, although a number of people use them for minor loads. I've had a couple separate with minor loads, no harm to anything, but the front of the case can sometimes stick in a chamber.

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Beastly,

You are definitely safer loading minor. However the step creates a stress point and increases the risk of case separation. That risk is greater lading major, but it is not zero loading minor. Plus, with range brass you never know if it does not have a major load or two in its history.

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