Bad Brass...

[RWE]

So it finally happened to someone near me - a failure of sorts. During a match a buddy had what some (most) are calling an out of battery discharge, some (few) say double charge, and the gun manufacturer says it was a bad case...

A new extractor and the manufacturer says it is good to go. From what I saw and heard it was certainly not a double charge or a squib that was fired on - but I am certainly not an expert. By the looks (I tried to upload a photo but it was too large despite downsizing, I am sure I am the problem) it appeared to be an out of battery discharge.

But that is not really the point here. I am not telling/asking this to bash a manufacturer of any of the components that might matter nor my buddy's anal retentive reloading skills. Stuff can and will happen, to some more than others.

I am trying to use this post to gain ideas about how I want to change my brass management process. Specifically, I want to tighten my already selective process of culling cases. What I would like to know is:

How do you all cull range pick up brass?

Do you bother?

How do you decide what is no good?

Do you only reload "your brass"?

Buy new / "once fired" and leave it lay?

Buy new / "once fired" and mark it to recover only "your brass"?

How do you mark it?

I would appreciate your input, thanks in advance!

[bfalcon00]

I frankly shoot all range brass that I have no idea the history on. I do deprime and ss pin tumble, then hand inspect every case under a bright light. I realize for the super high volume shooter this may not work. However, it works well for me and I have never had a problem with my pistol brass. On a side note I don't load to max pressure (9mm major and the like) so I don't work my cases as hard. I am a simple guy and instead of pushing limits (even though its safe to do don't frag my you major guys) I change caliber or just don't do it. I guess what I am trying to say is I am over cautious. Long story short I use range brass.

[kellymc]

I use range brass also and I visually check powder in every round while loading. I've only had one 9mm round rupture no harm to the gun just added a few seconds to my daughters time. I've got enough cases they are only getting used once a year

[Hi-Power Jack]

Depends on the caliber - any Major load in 9mm or .40 is Very High Pressure,

and you have to be Very Picky for those Major loads. If ANYTHING looks

odd about the brass, I throw it away.

Minor 9mm, .40 and .45 - I'll shoot anything that looks okay - no splits or

obvious faults. Much lower pressures.

[Foxbat]

I have a collection of at least 50 ruptured cases, almost all of them Winchester brass, all shot in a 9mm Major gun.

So yes, it IS possible to have a bad case.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Foxbat

[RDA]

I have a collection of at least 50 ruptured cases, almost all of them Winchester brass, all shot in a 9mm Major gun.

Curious, do you shoot predominately Winchsester brass or do you shoot lots of different headstamps and find Winchester to be weaker in your experience?

[Foxbat]

I have a collection of at least 50 ruptured cases, almost all of them Winchester brass, all shot in a 9mm Major gun.

Curious, do you shoot predominately Winchsester brass or do you shoot lots of different headstamps and find Winchester to be weaker in your experience?

At that time I shot any kind of brass in my open gun, but based on that experience I stopped using Winchester for that.

[RWE]

Trying to upload that picture of his brass. It was damaged considerably more than what is shown above.

i think it is there now (on phone). His has a tear that is about a third around the case, half way up on the opposite side. Extractor was blown out.

[chuckols]

To get started reloading I bought 3K -9mm and 2K- 40 brass. Initially P/U new only 45ACP and now I have 9mm and 45 ACP brass running out my ears-mine and my shooting Bud:

• Most of my range time is with a Bud who shoots new ammo or industry reloads and we p/u "our brass".
• We only pickup my(our) own brass
• You cant control where your brass and their brass lands so "my own brass" is a bit of a mix
• All above is 9mm, 40 S/W, and 45 ACP
• I bought new and covet 357 Sig and 45 COLT brass I call mine-occasionally find some on range(rare)
• Had one squib in 20K+ of reloads
• Get plenty of tears in brass due to Dillon B Shell plate shifts and my carelessness. Fixed with latest EBay mod. No particular brand is culprit
• I got into a bunch of "Old Military source brass " in the 9mm buy and don't reload it. Need to pass it to one who will use it.
• I quality check cleaned and shiny as I reload and toss out badly worn cases. dents and worn/scarred face plates and rims as"no's"

[Foxbat]

Trying to upload that picture of his brass. It was damaged considerably more than what is shown above.

i think it is there now (on phone). His has a tear that is about a third around the case, half way up on the opposite side. Extractor was blown out.

Looks like an out-of-battery shot to me.

[wgj3]

I use it all for pistols if it will process. Little more selective with rifle brass, but not much.

Agree that it looks more like out of battery discharge in that pic.

[RDA]

I have a collection of at least 50 ruptured cases, almost all of them Winchester brass, all shot in a 9mm Major gun.

Curious, do you shoot predominately Winchsester brass or do you shoot lots of different headstamps and find Winchester to be weaker in your experience?

At that time I shot any kind of brass in my open gun, but based on that experience I stopped using Winchester for that.

Thanks for sharing and clarifying.

[johnbu]

I load any brass I can scrounge. Also mark "my" brass for return at our local shoots.

Have maybe 1/500 that cracks and maybe 3-4/500 with other oddities or glock bulge and those get tossed. I also shoot mostly minor with some soft major with heavy bullets going slow. The key is to inspect. I look it over dirty quick as cracks are easy to see w powder blow, then again clean and again as it's loaded.

[9x45]

I load 9mm on a SD and .357SIG on my 550. I inspect every single piece of brass for head stamp, flat primers and ring bulges. It's pretty easy to tell which cases are not good for reloading. By the numbers, mostly WW and Federal from mixed range brass are always good. Cases I won't use, at all, IMT, AmmoLoad, Freedom, and Amerc. Any case that has been run thru a Major Open 9mm, you can tell. Any single piece of brass is not worth having a case rupture, just throw it away.

Edited October 3, 2015 by 9x45

[RWE]

Thanks to all. I have a can that I toss "bad/odd brass" into, will scrap someday (if I fill the 5gal bucket!).

How do you all "mark" your brass?

I'll add that I screen brass by putting it in a shallow plastic storage box then dredging a shell holder thing from a box of 45 ammo. When full I inspect one end then clam shell with a second holder and check the other end. Deprime/Clean. The do it again and put on a bench to load, checking then.

That sounds tedious but it really is quick.

[bfalcon00]

Trying to upload that picture of his brass. It was damaged considerably more than what is shown above.

i think it is there now (on phone). His has a tear that is about a third around the case, half way up on the opposite side. Extractor was blown out.

Wow that case is bad. Looks like an out of battery misfire to me though I have never seen one quite that bad.

[Foxbat]

Trying to upload that picture of his brass. It was damaged considerably more than what is shown above.

i think it is there now (on phone). His has a tear that is about a third around the case, half way up on the opposite side. Extractor was blown out.

Wow that case is bad. Looks like an out of battery misfire to me though I have never seen one quite that bad.

I had one like that once, on an Uzi, when I did not tighten the barrel nut all the way. Normally pistols are not supposed to fire out of battery.

[bfalcon00]

Trying to upload that picture of his brass. It was damaged considerably more than what is shown above.

i think it is there now (on phone). His has a tear that is about a third around the case, half way up on the opposite side. Extractor was blown out.

Wow that case is bad. Looks like an out of battery misfire to me though I have never seen one quite that bad.

I had one like that once, on an Uzi, when I did not tighten the barrel nut all the way. Normally pistols are not supposed to fire out of battery.

True, but it always makes me nervous when an engineer or designer tells me there is no way it can fail this way or that.

[rustybayonet]

I reload anything that looks good never had too much problem. I had one 45acp split, but functioned fine found it after shooting. The few times I had out of battery was with my sten MKII with fixed firing pin, but it aways gets the round down range. This happens with new or reloads. It looks like after too many rounds it will not fully seat.

But the pic looks like out of battery

[Beastly]

I load pretty much anything and everything that's boxer brass in 9 minor in a 1050 - I have lots of range pick up brass, including the occasional 9major loads. Anything with a dinged case mouth gets tossed as not worth the effort to consider.

[zmanktm]

I'm not that worried about splits and dings as I can see those issues,it's extremely loose primer pockets the have caused me some problems. I've had several primers blown out of the primer pocket. These are minor loads loaded on range brass that I assume were 9 major before I loaded them.

[pushpullpete]

RWE, to answer your other question, I use a permanent marker to swipe a line across the case heads & primers.

Most of the time (but not always) that is adequate to identify 'my brass'.

[ruleyoutoo1911]

I always toss AMERC and have now started to toss Ammoload and IMT brass, I've seen too many pictures of failures with that and the ledge worries me even with minor range loads. I have also started to scrap LY 93 brass, Chinese brass with loose primer pockets. I don't trust that either.

Edited October 8, 2015 by ruleyoutoo1911

[Beastly]

When I was loading on a 550 the LY brass was a mess - it was like the brass was too soft and would slump down and bulge excessively at the base during the resizing process.

With a 1050 I am loading everything that doesn't fail my QC (magnet, dinged case mouth, NOT checking headstamps or for crimped primer pockets). My only issue is that some brass has a higher % of Dillon Case Gauge failures than others. CG failures have worked fine as practice ammo in Glock/Tanfo 9mm, so IMHO not worth fussing with too much.

I am loading 9 minor FYI.

[ruleyoutoo1911]

That wouldn't surprise me about the LY brass being soft, it seemed pretty out of spec too. I primed some LY brass and about half of the primers slid about halfway out of the primer pocket just by moving them a little and the rest could be easily pushed out with a paper clip. I scrapped the rest and any more that I find.