New brass or range brass for open pistols?

[Chillywig]

Your budget makes this decision. If it was all free everyone would be using brand new super comp brass and leaving it lay. Trying to save money you reuse, pick up range brass, buy used processed. As long as you have a good QAQC process for your loaded ammo you should not find any ammo related problems on the firing line. To a certain extent reloading is a big part of the hobby and I receive a lot of enjoyment making my own ammo

[costeel]

For 9 major I prefer range brass sorted by headstamp. Mixed brass always  seems to give me an FTF every couple hundred rounds.

[CocoBolo]

IMHO Lee Dies are crap, had them sold them.  Once fired is fine for Maj loading I've shot a few 100,000+, loaded on Dillon 650 with Dillon dies, or Hornady with Hornady dies.  I started out shooting them more than once, but when I saw all the primers in the corn, I made the decision once and done, replacing slides is expensive (breach face erosion).   One step I added to the process is the magnet check, since some brass isn't brass but looks like it.  I started out running all the brass thru the casepro (rolling), but changed to only rolling the drop check failures.

 

The drop check is your friend, if it doesn't drop all the way in and fall out freely it is bad, toss it or fix it.  I also recommend the bullet cases, makes it easy to find that short round or a high primer.  For major matches I will do a second drop check, insurance. 

[chgofirefighter]

On 1/24/2022 at 9:45 PM, iflyskyhigh said:

Shot em till the primers fall out

[iflyskyhigh]

Lee dies aren’t crap. They work just fine.

 

I actually sold my Dillon dies and kept the Lees.

 

If you aren’t going to roll size the Lee U die is great. Especially for mixed range brass. 

 

Shoot em till the primers fall out.

 

Lots of ways to skin a cat. Be wary of anyone on here that tells you their way is the only way. Their way probably works, but….

[Snoopy47]

On 1/24/2022 at 3:44 PM, zzt said:

..........I hear the talk about new brass feeding better and extracting better.  I don't buy it..........

 

Agree. If you take the time to Quality Check each step of your reloading process you end up with 100% reliable reloads. You might have a nice little box of sub standard loads you save for practice, but fully quality checked reloads are just more time consuming at the benefit of being less expensive (free) brass. 

 

Buying new brass is merely buying time from reducing the reloading process, not necessarily making better loads that end up in the match ammo box.  

[iflyskyhigh]

12 hours ago, Snoopy47 said:

 

Agree. If you take the time to Quality Check each step of your reloading process you end up with 100% reliable reloads. You might have a nice little box of sub standard loads you save for practice, but fully quality checked reloads are just more time consuming at the benefit of being less expensive (free) brass. 

 

Buying new brass is merely buying time from reducing the reloading process, not necessarily making better loads that end up in the match ammo box.  

That’s a great point and well put. Probably one of the better points I’ve seen and also could apply to so many of the discussions on here. 

 

So much of reloading is a time to cost equation. You can buy all kinds of stuff that will allow you to load more ammo quicker. Not necessarily better, just more of it faster.

 

It’s up to each person to decide how much they’re willing to spend in order to expedite their process.

 

Some people don’t enjoy reloading and do it as a means to and end. Others actually enjoy the process. 
 

As stated earlier, 100 ways to skin a cat, 99.9 of them will do just fine. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by iflyskyhigh

[MikeyScuba]

I’ve got 200,000+ cycles on my Lee 9mm U die.

 

As for Hornady?  I’ve had 2 come apart and my Dillon dies sit unused.  
 

the Lyman pro die pack wasn’t worth the $.

[Posvar]

I used to run new Starline brass for majors in my 9x19. Now I used mixed brass for everything that I process myself. Start with the Rollsizer decapper when brass is dirty, next I wet tumble without pins but using Brass Juice cleaner, dry then roll size with the Rollsizer, finally load them up on my 1100 using Dillon dies. Case gauge and roll.....My SV runs 100% this way. 

[TONY BARONE]

Spray brass with Hornady one shot De prime with U die wet tumble with Frankford arsenal no pins. Brass is now clean and will keep press clean. Seat primers .005 .007 deep. Brass will crack before primers fall out. Never had to plunk test which is a joke. No need to roll size never had to. 

[chgofirefighter]

I was fortunate enough to find a local guy selling a brand new commercial roll sizer so it was purchased since the deal was too sweet to pass up so now I have a roll sizer and about 30k pieces of 9mm brass to roll size  in the future I will buy one headstamp fully process brass for shooting major but for minor mixed brass will do.  Buying new brass just isn't cost effective IMO~ 

[looking4reloadingdeals]

I started shooting a Honcho last year with 9 major. I shot about 10k rounds through it last year and I had one ammo failure (failure to load the second round on a stage)
 

I only use range brass sorted by headstamp. I sort out Fed, Win, and Blazer only. Last year  I did not rollsize and only used a Lee U die to process my brass taking multiple steps to cull out bad brass such as over reamed primer pockets, stepped cases (which those specific headstamps don’t have anyways), cracked cases, dinged case mouths, etc.  
 

My opinion is that range brass is perfectly fine for 9 major as long as you put in your time and make sure you’re getting rid of all the junk you pick up, cause there’s usually a lot of it. As said above, using range brass is trading saving money in exchange for more time invested. For me personally, I’m not married and don’t have kids so I have more time available than most do so at this point it’s better for me to spend the time sorting brass and save that money for other things. In the future it’s very possible I would switch to buying fully processed or a batch of new brass that I would reuse and keep separate in exchange to keep my time. All personal preference in my opinion. 

[konkapot]

How many uses are you all getting out of your 9 major brass? I "get" the shoot it until the primers fall out but I'd like to prevent cracking, which i've had some of lately. 

[Posvar]

26 minutes ago, konkapot said:

How many uses are you all getting out of your 9 major brass? I "get" the shoot it until the primers fall out but I'd like to prevent cracking, which i've had some of lately. 

About 5 or so 

[gnappi]

I don't use range brass at matches, but once fired I pick up at the indoor range I train at is ok. Those shooters are not reloaders so that works out. I don't have or want brass prep hardware to be using bulged brass.

 

[Blueknight749]

I was very fortunate that my agency went to 9mm.  Shooting Open 9MAJ and Carry Optics, I've been able to collect once fired, same lot number brass in a huge way.  Every now and then I'll get a cracked case but for the most part I'm pretty happy with what I've got!

[OpenshooterMclass4lyfe]

I buy once fired 9mm brass.   Do an initial inspection before cleaning then clean rollsize then inspect once more and after it leaves the gun it stays on the ground.    For the price of once fired brass it doesn’t bother me a bit to leave it for other people range chicken it. 

[Posvar]

1 hour ago, OpenshooterAclass4lyfe said:

I buy once fired 9mm brass.   Do an initial inspection before cleaning then clean rollsize then inspect once more and after it leaves the gun it stays on the ground.    For the price of once fired brass it doesn’t bother me a bit to leave it for other people range chicken it. 

Agreed. Do the same. I am using a roll sizer decapper and roller sizer which have been amazing. 

[OpenshooterMclass4lyfe]

9 minutes ago, Posvar said:

Agreed. Do the same. I am using a roll sizer decapper and roller sizer which have been amazing. 

Haven’t gotten the decapper just yet but it’s on the list.   I recently picked up the rollsizer and I was amazed how much of a difference it made when case gauging my loads.   Well worth the money.  

[Posvar]

4 minutes ago, OpenshooterAclass4lyfe said:

Haven’t gotten the decapper just yet but it’s on the list.   I recently picked up the rollsizer and I was amazed how much of a difference it made when case gauging my loads.   Well worth the money.  

Yes. For 9mm Major I can’t imagine not having it. 

[sharko]

Always range brass sorted buy headstamp, wet tumbled and rollsized. If I change headstamp I chrono jus to make sure I don't have to adjust my load. I'd never use my good brass as I'd loose it, we never stop to pick up brass and at the end of the day I'm done except for the teardown. I only pick up brass at practice and our bays are an ocean of brass.

 

[Sarge]

I guess I should feel good about being one in a million who can shoot NON roll sized 9MAJOR Ammo with zero problems. I have loaded sorted range pick up brass over and over and over for almost ten years. LEE udie $30. How much is a roll sizer?

[iflyskyhigh]

1 hour ago, Sarge said:

I guess I should feel good about being one in a million who can shoot NON roll sized 9MAJOR Ammo with zero problems. I have loaded sorted range pick up brass over and over and over for almost ten years. LEE udie $30. How much is a roll sizer?

You’re two in a million. Lee U. I don’t even really sort cases, besides culling the stuff that stands out when I put a load into the pan to spritz with One Shot. Probably been shooting my open gun 7-8 years with no issues.

 

Had more issues with ejection tuning, then I ever did with bad brass.
 

Guess we’re just lucky. But at what point does it cease being luck, and just become a statistical anomaly? 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 100,000?

 

Maybe if my livelihood depended on it I’d feel differently? Who knows?

 

No right or wrong or answer with this one. Whatever floats your boat.

 

On 3/17/2022 at 4:20 PM, konkapot said:

How many uses are you all getting out of your 9 major brass? I "get" the shoot it until the primers fall out but I'd like to prevent cracking, which i've had some of lately. 

 

No idea. I don’t have specific 9MM major brass. Just comes out of my 5 gallon buckets of 9. I’m guessing with the amount of brass on the ground, unless you mark your brass, most are probably lost and new ones picked up before you’d split em. The process kind of lends itself to a natural state of turnover. 

Edited April 9, 2022 by iflyskyhigh

[zzt]

I really don't get this.  $1250 for a roll sizer and you have to do all the prep and sorting.  I can buy 25,000 fully processed, roll sized, same head stamp brass for that.  All I have to do is load them.

[zombywoof]

13 hours ago, Sarge said:

I guess I should feel good about being one in a million who can shoot NON roll sized 9MAJOR Ammo with zero problems. I have loaded sorted range pick up brass over and over and over for almost ten years. LEE udie $30. How much is a roll sizer?

Three....