What is your "scrap brass" list

[pushpullpete]

I don't reload steel, alum or Berdan primers, everything else is fair game that gets tossed into a small bin after visually checking it so I can listen for case damage.

[Edge40]

I try to cull out any Winchester whether it's win, winchester or otherwise. It seems to have a lot of crimped primers so I end up crushing them. Also probably 90% of the time it's Winchester brass that doesn't pass my case gauge. I try to avoid foreign made stuff too for case gauging issues. I don't always sort but when I do that's what I pull.

[kevin c]

PPU, GFL, S&B and CBC I find I have problems with primer pockets or extra thick brass at the case mouth causing gauging problems. Winchester I have problems with the cases not going into the shell plate without sticking, I think because the case head is expanding with multiple firings, making the extractor groove too tight in the shell plate.

I have had no problems with IMT/FM/Ammoload cases. AAMOF, I got curious about all the negative press, and am running a little experiment.

I currently have a batch of IMT brass that started as once fired that I am following on multiple firings. I started with 500 cases and am down to about 420. I use my match load (3.3 to 3.4 gr N320 over a Bayou 147 at 1130, WSP or CCI SP) or practice load (CSB-1 3.5 gr, otherwise the same as the match load) at 130 to 135 PF, through a G34 with a factory barrel. The brass is all case rolled between firings. Sizing is with silicone spray, that is wiped down but not completely removed before using the ammo. The brass is all marked, used only in practice for stand and shoot drills, so I can recover the brass. So far I've shot the cases 8 times (for a total of nine, including the factory loading) without a single failure. Not even a split case so far. Primer pockets are a bit looser, but still not like some of the range brass that I shoot in practice that likely has been through an open gun.

Yes, I have friends who shoot minor who had this type of brass separate on them, but, so far, it hasn't happened to me.

[JonF]

CBC and Aguila for me get reloaded, but get unequivocally sorted out for practice only or run through my polymer guns with generous chambers, not match chambers. That south american brass is a bit thicker than other brands and i've had a few FTF issues getting stuck not fully in battery. Other than that, i weed out weird chinese brass or any unusual stamps like that. NT, S&B are fine for me.

[ruleyoutoo1911]

Wow I'm really surprised. CBC and Tula go in my misc bucket since I sort everything. They load and shoot and reload fine in 9MAJOR. S&B as well but it needs swept with a magnet first and the reamed.

90% of my case gauge failures were from CBC and Tula.

Culling those two headstamps alone boosted my efficiency exponentially.

Regarding S&B, it seems to be very high quality brass provided you ream or swage.

Exactly this. Jacketed bullets in particular with Tula would bulge so bad they have locked up more than one gun where I couldn't rack the slide to eject the round. I had to use the end of a table to push the slide against to eject the round. I started case gauging after that and tula almost 90% of the time wouldn't gauge so I started culling them out. IMC has stepped cases and I had them split in half at the step more than once.

This. I use Tula and CBC for practice ammo batches only but even then it locked up my friends Glock 19. Turned out to be a Tula case. Went home and case gauged the rest and found some more that wouldn't gauge.

Thinking about scrapping Tula in the future as unusable even for practice.

Also had issues with the Chinese LY brass, had a small batch and half of them the primer pockets were so loose that the primer would fall right back out after priming. On the rest the primer would move with minimal force with a paperclip. Went ahead and just scrapped all that Chinese junk.

I actually happen to really like S&B brass. Once the pockets are reamed its easy to load and seems to be good quality brass.

Edited June 22, 2016 by ruleyoutoo1911