costeel Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 I don't know if it is common, but it did happen to me when a piece of stepped brass snuck through on the reloading process. Second shot on a 32 round stage, had to disassemble the pistol and then pull out the ring of brass from the chamber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyVey Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) For a few years now I always check brass that I collect from the indoor range I shoot. If you have a tag listing that you collect brass, they RO's often use a broom and push anything into your lane. They don't care what kind of brass it is, and what size. So, coming home, I pour it into an old colander and go with a magnet through it; picks up all the steel "brass". Then I hand pick the Aluminum cases and toss, then sort out the other calibers... The brass then gets sorted as follows: first check every round for steps inside, and cracks - toss this into the brass scrap bucket. While I have the brass in my hand, I sort them as follows: WIN, FED and RP go into one container = this is the best brass (at least for me) PMC, Blazer, and some brands other go into the second container = my second choice CBC, SB, PPU (NNY in Cyrillic) etc and some other go into the third container, this is the brass I leave at the other range I go to. All other odd stuff, mainly some weird looking and anything military goes into my brass scrap bucket (I get something like $2-$2.50 per pound at my scrap yard). This is my personal selection process...so others may differ. The brass in the first picture would go into my scrap. I do this process for .45 as well, sorting out the .40 and I keep them for a friend. Edited March 14, 2022 by RudyVey some adds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jejb Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 13 hours ago, RudyVey said: For a few years now I always check brass that I collect from the indoor range I shoot. If you have a tag listing that you collect brass, they RO's often use a broom and push anything into your lane. They don't care what kind of brass it is, and what size. I'm kind of the opposite of this these days. I have probably 10K of 9mm brass that is sorted for stepped/damaged cases and wet tumbled. So when I go to the range, I sweep my area clean and push anything in front further down the range before I start shooting. I only want to pick up what I shot. Yeah, I'm sure I have a small net loss each time I go, but for now, I'm good with that. Saves me time at the reloading bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Attaching a strong magnet to the outside of your casefeed tube is a good way to catch any steel cases that sneak in. I used to just tape one on, but a friend gave me a nice printed magnet holder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VortecMAX Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 8 hours ago, jejb said: Yeah, I'm sure I have a small net loss each time I go, but for now, I'm good with that. I call it tithing to the range gods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formerlyphat Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 On 3/14/2022 at 3:34 PM, VortecMAX said: +1 on this. The swage gage by Ballistic Tools is a must have item. You can use the "go" end to check for crimps, and the "no-go" end to check for worn out brass. Mike Another +1 here. I wish I had gotten one sooner. I have both the small and larger primer swage gages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N7VY Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 The second post of this thread talked about “Norma” brass. I never thought I would come across it as Norma brass is expensive. I loaded 100 rounds yesterday and I got 8 pieces of Norma brass. Flash hole is way to small to get a pin in there. Maybe Norma got a new “Covid” supplier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Someone shot several hundred rounds of it on one range I frequent and didn't pick any up. Some imported ammo came with it I'd guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thor447 Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 (edited) I decap separately, and with an FW Arms die, it makes quick work of the Norma brass. It swages out the flash hole a little larger, and I've had no issues loading/shooting any Norma brass. Regarding headstamps, I separate out any stepped cases, along with SVT and CBC brass. I learned through trial and error when running completed rounds through a case gauge, 99% of my failures were with CBC and SVT brass. I'm also finding some recently picked up S&B brass with really tight primer pockets, which have no visible crimp marks. I finding it easier just to toss those and move on at this point. At this point it takes me longer to sort the brass than it does to load it. It is worth it though. Edited March 19, 2022 by thor447 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 20 minutes ago, thor447 said: I decap separately, and with an FW Arms die, it makes quick work of the Norma brass. It swages out the flash hole a little larger, and I've had no issues loading/shooting any Norma brass. Regarding headstamps, I separate out any stepped cases, along with SVT and CBC brass. I learned through trial and error when running completed rounds through a case gauge, 99% of my failures were with CBC and SVT brass. I'm also finding some recently picked up S&B brass with really tight primer pockets, which have no visible crimp marks. I finding it easier just to toss those and move on at this point. At this point it takes me longer to sort the brass than it does to load it. It is worth it though. To your last statement, with the price and rarity of components, plus the occasional jam-ups while loading it is indeed worth the extra time. Just curious, have you tried to swage the S&B brass just to see if it helped? I’m wondering if it’s like some I had where the pockets are tapered and it doesn’t help. You have to uniform them to cut out the taper. A real pita. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 Look what I just found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 52 minutes ago, zombywoof said: Look what I just found. Looks like you found a couple of them the hard way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedwagon Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 (edited) On 3/19/2022 at 9:41 PM, zombywoof said: Look what I just found. I'm fairly new to reloading, I'm assuming this is stepped brass? I've only seen this in steel cases that I discard. The FW Arms decapper with the small pin does a good job on the Norma cases. Edited March 21, 2022 by Speedwagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedwagon Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 On 3/11/2022 at 1:30 PM, lefty o said: a primer pocket go-no go gauge is a handy tool. especially if you are getting older and blind and hate trying to read all them tiny headstamps. Never knew about these, good info. Just ordered them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 2 hours ago, Speedwagon said: I'm fairly new to reloading, I'm assuming this is stepped brass? I've only seen this in steel cases that I discard. The FW Arms decapper with the small pin does a good job on the Norma cases. Not stepped, berdan primed, note the 2 flash holes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHI Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 This is stepped brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedwagon Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 I haven't come across this yet but probably would`ve tossed them if I had. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobkoh Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 12 hours ago, rishii said: Not stepped, berdan primed, note the 2 flash holes Norma is Boxer not Berdan primers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaot1c Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 22 hours ago, AHI said: This is stepped brass. Just sorted about a pound of those out of my stash. Curious what the price of scrap brass is going for theses days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyVey Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 4 hours ago, Khaot1c said: Just sorted about a pound of those out of my stash. Curious what the price of scrap brass is going for theses days... Here about $2 per pound of mixed brass scrap - I always drop of a mix of primers and the bad and broken brass at my local scrap yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runnin2live Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 10:57 AM, Speedwagon said: I'm fairly new to reloading, I'm assuming this is stepped brass? I've only seen this in steel cases that I discard. The FW Arms decapper with the small pin does a good job on the Norma cases. There is nothing worse IMHO then snapping the recapping pin if these aren’t found proactively Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlvrDragon50 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 On 3/11/2022 at 12:30 PM, lefty o said: a primer pocket go-no go gauge is a handy tool. especially if you are getting older and blind and hate trying to read all them tiny headstamps. Never heard of this before, but it woulda saved me a lot of spilled powder pains! Ordering one now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 3 hours ago, SlvrDragon50 said: Never heard of this before, but it woulda saved me a lot of spilled powder pains! Ordering one now. A little tip, they have a groove on the stem and one is larger than the other. Go-no-go. Mine were real similar in size so I marked them with a green and red sharpie in the groove. Much faster to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 10 hours ago, Farmer said: A little tip, they have a groove on the stem and one is larger than the other. Go-no-go. Mine were real similar in size so I marked them with a green and red sharpie in the groove. Much faster to see. good point, i filled the groove on the no-go side with red model paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcrunner Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Not as common, but I also lookout for OZK stamps, I think these are from Freedom Munitions stuff, these are stepped but also brass COATED steel. The cases stick to my magnet when I'm removing tumbling pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now