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Anyone else buy used brass that they can't load?


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Hope it is ok to post this.

Bought 5000 rounds of 9mm range brass, found that much of it was fc head stamp and trying to prime that stuff on my 550 was just not worth it. Have also found berdian primed here and there.

I'm not sure how we (as buyers and sellers both) make sure that we are dealing with a useable product, but figured I would post the caution and perhaps some advice might pop up.

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... usually try for a trade for more useful brass?

I happen to like FC 9mm brass for lead, and it is not a favorite headstamp around here.

I've not had problems re-priming the FC stuff I have.

What gives you problems?

are you wanting a particular headstamp?

:-D I may have 2k of PMC.

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I buy quite a bit of 233. I have ran into similar situations. I have gotten horribly dirty, to steel cases, to berdan prime (which usually costs me a decapping pin), and the most common which is fewer than I paid for. When I sell I always count and I always throw in a couple extra just to make sure. If one is selling by weight then in my opinion they should include a little extra to make sure the amount advertised is present.

I also know how many will fit in each size flat rate box. If I have someone tell me they have a medium flat rate box with about 2,400 pieces of 233, then I know I can't trust them. Either they don't have a clue what they are talking about, or they are intentionally trying to mislead, or they have found a way to temporarily shrink 223 brass.

I have never sent brass back. I always just assume they didn't know and I take the hit for it. I do however try to note the seller and avoid them in the future. There are some really good guys here...and on the cast boolits forums that are selling some great brass at really reasonable prices. In my opinion find one of them and stick with them.

BTW-- devildog83 on cast boolits is my current favorite.

Edited by dddoo7
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I purchased a medium flat rate box of .40 that supposedly was once fired from a police range. They are FC stamped and they appear to have crimped primers that about 20% end up scrap because when depriming the end seperates leaving the side wall of the primer in the pocket.

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I purchased a medium flat rate box of .40 that supposedly was once fired from a police range. They are FC stamped and they appear to have crimped primers that about 20% end up scrap because when depriming the end seperates leaving the side wall of the primer in the pocket.

That's because they got wet at some point. Crimped primers come right out but won't go in unless prepped. Those cases probably got left outside in the rain or got wet in a bucket
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Yep. I recently bought a flat rate box from someone on here and it was full of FC, Berdan (broken decapping pins), 380, lots of junk. I let the seller know that I was not happy. He offered to take the brass back but by the time I would have reboxed it and drove it to be shipped it wasn't worth it. Lesson learned.

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Hope it is ok to post this.

Bought 5000 rounds of 9mm range brass, found that much of it was fc head stamp and trying to prime that stuff on my 550 was just not worth it. Have also found berdian primed here and there.

I'm not sure how we (as buyers and sellers both) make sure that we are dealing with a useable product, but figured I would post the caution and perhaps some advice might pop up.

I loads lots of FC brass in 9mm without issue. Excellent brass. Now, it's always possible some agency ordered it crimped but the only crimped FC brass I have come across crimped also has a year stamped on it like FC 98, etc.

You can sell it here and get some of your cash back. 1050 users will buy anything!:)

Edited by Sarge
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I've never had an issue with a major headstamp and the crimped stuff was dated as Sarge mentioned.

How did you clean the brass? Might have to decap & reclean to use it. Hrmmm good excuse for a Frank. Arsenal wet tubmler!

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What gives you problems?

Seemed like the primer pocket was too small. Am using Federal primers, perhaps they are larger than some others? Have not had problems with any other head stamp so I just assumed that fc brass was bad stuff, per others comments it appears that was a bad assumption.

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I bought a couple of medium flat rate boxes recently that had about 25% with some pretty heavy black corrosion. The corrosion wasn't a big deal, but the fact that I would get around 1% where the center of the primer would punch out leaving behind a ring made me want to toss all of it. I had 4 primer detonations due to the partially decapped primers. I used to try and push through the stroke thinking I had a piece of brass that was just tough to size, but now I stop everything and make sure it's not a primer issue.

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....,

is that what you are looking at?

partial decapping?

Possibly I suppose. Seemed like the spent primer came out aok though & the pocket was just too small for the Federals. Sorted them out and pitched them already else I would try to take a closer look.

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fc - nt

another one to avoid... into the crimped bin.

from what I have read about the popped primers the top and anivil come out fairly even,

so it looks like a smaller primer pocket

I do not recall a photo.

I'll hunt that

miranda

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I've never had an issue with a major headstamp and the crimped stuff was dated as Sarge mentioned.

How did you clean the brass? Might have to decap & reclean to use it. Hrmmm good excuse for a Frank. Arsenal wet tubmler!

The FC brass I purchased I wet tumbled with stainless pins. I rinsed them 4 times and dried them with a fan. I reloaded 2 days later. I switched to my pickup range brass that I cleaned the same way and had no problems. Edited by Zoomy
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fc - nt

another one to avoid... into the crimped bin.

from what I have read about the popped primers the top and anivil come out fairly even,

so it looks like a smaller primer pocket

I do not recall a photo.

I'll hunt that

miranda

Here's a pic

P6261924.jpg

P6261917.jpg

Edited by tyler2you
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beautiful photos!

yup. that is a great example of partial decapping.

9mm brass may not be worth the effort to dig the rest of the primer out.

that looks like rifle brass, worth it?

miranda

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've never had an issue with a major headstamp and the crimped stuff was dated as Sarge mentioned.

How did you clean the brass? Might have to decap & reclean to use it. Hrmmm good excuse for a Frank. Arsenal wet tubmler!

http://ads.midwayusa.com/product/713881/frankford-arsenal-platinum-series-rotary-case-tumbler-110-volt

That one ? It would help the primers to come out as 1 complete piece or make them easier to remove in general ?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Years ago, I bought what was supposed to be 1k clean, once-fired .40 brass (I think it was from here but I can't remember). I got a box of sand and brass, with most of the brass chocked full of dry dirt. Seems the seller shoveled brass off a range into a box and sold it. Even after several tumblings, couldn't get most of the dirt out and had to trash most of it.

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