Collecting Once-fired Brass (a Couple Questions)

[Gumby]

When collecting once-fired brass, is there any reason to keep track of which manufacturer it came from? For example, would you keep once-fired Blazer brass in a seperate container from Winchester brass? Or just toss them all in the same bucket?

Also, do a lot of guys sweep up and collect their own once-fired brass after shooting? I've never seen anyone do it.

I'm thinking of collecting brass to ship for remanufacturing/reloading or less likely, reloading myself.

[IronEqualizer]

Sometimes what you think may be once fired brass could have been reloaded 20 times already. Unless you know it is once fired I would not try and sell it as such. And I do not seperate headstamps and neither do some of the re-manufactures.

[shred]

Yeah, you'll want to chuck the aluminum Blazer and anything else that's not actually brass in a different pile.. reloaders hate those.

[JFD]

I separate all my brass by head stamp. I don't like the lack of "feel' when seating primers on mixed brass. It's a much bigger deal when loading on a SDB compared to a 650, but my old SDB habits continue.

I'll still buy mixed brass, but only if that's all I can find for the price I'm willing to pay.

[MichiganShootist]

If you're dealing with .45 ....ditch the Winchester NT.... it takes a small pistol primer and most .45 ACP shooters hate messing with them.

I run classes at an indoor range...and collect the brass there.... I use the .45 and sell the rest on eBay.

My pistol club sells the general brass left on the range or on the floor indoors.... and the lead out of the back stop once a year to a materials company. With prices at all time high levels... more people and clubs will probably start doing the same.

You can buy brass on eBay from a handful up to a 50 gallon drums. Some sellers have relationships with state operated indoor ranges and sell 100% once fired single head stamp brass from police practice and qualifying sessions.... that is great. Others sell mixed headstamp "junk" from outdoor ranges that range from once fired to un-usable.... so you have to be careful.

Single head stamp brass generally brings a premium price over the mixed stuff for the resons previously noted.

[George]

Blazer CANNOT be reloaded safely! As mentioned CHUCK IT!

One headstamp is the best for reloading because the uniformity of case thickness and other details makes for a much smoother reloading experience. Mixed lot brass is OK for junk reloading (practice, learnin etc), but serious ammo requires consistent brass to remove variance from the process.

That said, I use range pick 9x19 for junk practice ammo and get reasonable results.

There are a number of sources for bulk sorted once fired brass at real cheap prices.

[R/T Performance]

I pick all up sort by caliber when I get time.

Tumble then sort by head stamp.

Wolf and blazer aluminium never come home .

Then reload one stamp at a time.

I like the win nt since It saves time if I need a small batch of 45 I don't have to convert the primer system on my SDB

[Lee Bell]

When collecting once-fired brass, is there any reason to keep track of which manufacturer it came from? For example, would you keep once-fired Blazer brass in a seperate container from Winchester brass? Or just toss them all in the same bucket?

Yes and no. Part of your answer depends on your purpose. When collecting brass, I don't separate it. Even when loading it, I don't generally separate it. If, however, I'm looking for the most consistent reloading results, I separate it before reloading it. Each manufacturer does things a little different. Internal capacity, internal shape, wall thickness and other case features will vary a bit from one manufacturer to another. Given that the cases are in good condition, I don't think it makes a lot of difference what manufacturer you use, but when consistency is important, it's a good idea to segregate the brass by manufacturer.

As for Blazer brass, it will certainly be put in a different container, the trash can to be specific. Blazer ammunition comes in aluminum cases that are not normally considered reloadable. The same applies to anything that comes in steel cases, as some Wolf ammo does.

One more consideration. Military ammunition normally has crimped primers. Most reloaders either don't use it, or clean out the crimp before using it. That makes it a good idea to separate military brass from commercial brass before reloading.

Also, do a lot of guys sweep up and collect their own once-fired brass after shooting? I've never seen anyone do it.

Pretty much all of us that reload, collect our brass if allowed. Not all ranges encourage, or even allow, shooters to police their own brass, let alone brass left behind by others. I don't frequent ranges that don't allow me to take my own brass home and seek ranges that don't mind my taking any brass I find in calibers I reload.

I'm thinking of collecting brass to ship for remanufacturing/reloading or less likely, reloading myself.

Understand the rules and etiquette of the ranges you use and then go for it. Just be careful you're not collecting brass that someone else owns and wants. If you want a confrontation, let me catch you picking up my 10mm brass (uncommon enough on ranges that I generally have to buy it new).

Lee

[XD Niner]

One clarification of a couple of the posts above. CCI Blazer ammo comes in two flavors; aluminum and brass. The aluminum casings can not be reloaded. However, the brass casings are quite suitable for reloading. I have over a 1000 rounds of reloaded CCI Blazer brass in the inventory right now and regularly shoot it.

[JFD]

Of course A-Merc is garbage.

[raz-0]

At least in my press, some brands wind up loading to a slightly different OAL than others. For maximum consistancy I should sort by headstamp, but I don't bother.

a-merc goes in the garbage like others have said, I cull NT .45 from my .45 brass, and crimped primer ammo goes ina separate pile to be dealt with later or junked.

[elenius]

What's the problem with A-merc? I bought tons of this ammo (.40S&W) before I started reloading, and I collected the brass so I could re-use it. I've loaded a couple thousand of them on my 550. No problems so far, but I would like to know what to look out for. I do load minor (for Production) so that gives me a lot more safety margin...

[Gumby]

Thanks for the info. It's much easier to seperate the casings now rather than later. All it takes is a seperate box. And that way I'll have them seperated if need be.

Also, as XD niner pointed out, yes the blazer ("blazer brass") that I have is of the brass variety, not aluminium.

[Punkin Chunker]

Understand the rules and etiquette of the ranges you use and then go for it. Just be careful you're not collecting brass that someone else owns and wants. If you want a confrontation, let me catch you picking up my 10mm brass (uncommon enough on ranges that I generally have to buy it new).

Lee

Amen there. It doesn't even have to be the "rare" stuff. It's irritating when your brass is hawked by people scarfing OPB (Other People's Brass).

It bugs me enough that there are people I won't squad with, because I've noticed that as soon as I finished a stage, they swoop in to pick up the brass behind my run as soon as the SO calls the range clear, while I'm still forward scoring.

One such runs a 625. When I pointed out that he was picking up a lot of my brass, he said he wasn't purposely picking up MY .45 brass, just what was left on the ground. But then, 3/4 of the brass in his bag wasn't in moon clips.

I'll pick up range brass, but not before my own run, and I try to coordinate with other .45 shooters to give them what they shot. Especially if it's the SO who's shooting with the squad on a local meet.

[Lee Bell]

Amen there. It doesn't even have to be the "rare" stuff. It's irritating when your brass is hawked by people scarfing OPB (Other People's Brass).

It bugs me enough that there are people I won't squad with, because I've noticed that as soon as I finished a stage, they swoop in to pick up the brass behind my run as soon as the SO calls the range clear, while I'm still forward scoring.

I was under the impression that there was protocol for that. Perhaps those of you that shoot matches often can encourage those that run the matches to adjust a bit for that. The reading I've done says that the norm is for members of your squad who are not shooting to pick up your brass, magazines, speedloaders, whatever, while you are scoring and for you to return the favor while they are scoring. It would seem simple enough to incorporate that into the match rules, at least helping to resolve the issue.

I'll pick up range brass, but not before my own run, and I try to coordinate with other .45 shooters to give them what they shot. Especially if it's the SO who's shooting with the squad on a local meet.

I don't compete outside of my club. In the somewhat modified PPC matches we shoot once a month, there are only two of us that shoot 10mm. For the matches, I use only Starline brass. The other 10mm shooter uses only nickel plated brass. It makes it quite easy for us to ensure that eacy of us goes home with as much of the brass we came with as possible. Other shooters, who all know we're shooting 10mm, help us recover our brass as well help them recover theirs. At a recent meet, when it was all said and done, I went out to see if I could find more of my brass. In doing so, I didn't limit myself to 10mm. I picked up all the .40 and .45 brass I found. I cleaned the .40s and added them to my supply already large supply. The .45s, I cleaned and returned to the shooter who had fired from the station to my right, who, like me, reloads for her .45. I didn't need the brass, I have a few thousand cases in stock, and she appreciated the consideration. Better still, in a club environment, every time she loads one of those cases, she can't help but remember my kindness. Like several that reload only for the reduced cost, she doesn't clean her brass often. As someone that reloads more for the enjoyment of reloading than the savings, the first thing I do when I return from the range is toss everything in the cleaner. I scrap anything that won't clean to my standards.

Lee

[JFD]

I can't comment on A-Merc .40s, since there was no way I was going to buy anymore of the stuff, but their .45 brass is garbage.

Originally it would split really bad, usually on the first firing. Now it's so thick that I can immediately feel it when resizing if I missed culling one. Primer pockets can have assorted problems, including poorly sized and off-center.

I am pissed if I get any of this stuff when buying brass. Of course it still happens....but what are you going to do?

[Punkin Chunker]

I was under the impression that there was protocol for that. Perhaps those of you that shoot matches often can encourage those that run the matches to adjust a bit for that. The reading I've done says that the norm is for members of your squad who are not shooting to pick up your brass, magazines, speedloaders, whatever, while you are scoring and for you to return the favor while they are scoring. It would seem simple enough to incorporate that into the match rules, at least helping to resolve the issue.

Lee

Sounds positively Utopic -- you probably probably have the whole squad in motion between shooters as they get set up for the next run, instead of a couple pasters who also reset any steel while the kibbutzers keep the benches warm.

Mind if I come shoot with you guys?

[Lee Bell]

I was under the impression that there was protocol for that. Perhaps those of you that shoot matches often can encourage those that run the matches to adjust a bit for that. The reading I've done says that the norm is for members of your squad who are not shooting to pick up your brass, magazines, speedloaders, whatever, while you are scoring and for you to return the favor while they are scoring. It would seem simple enough to incorporate that into the match rules, at least helping to resolve the issue.

Lee

Sounds positively Utopic -- you probably probably have the whole squad in motion between shooters as they get set up for the next run, instead of a couple pasters who also reset any steel while the kibbutzers keep the benches warm.

Mind if I come shoot with you guys?

I'd love to have you shoot with us guys, but there is no us guys. This comes entirely from reading information others have posted so that newbies, a classification I'm not even up to yet, will understand how things should work. I have almost no knowledge of how they do work in the "real" competitive world.

Perhaps it's naive of me to say it, but it would seem that those that are very involved with action shooting sports could, and should establish protocols for their meets that promote this kind of cooperation. It sounded good when I read it. I guess I should have known it was too good to be true very often.

Lee

[DanM]

If you shoot 40, poke around and ask the cops where they shoot at. I scored all the 40 brass I want for free, and it's Winchester.

[Nik Habicht]

The local steel match puts down a large tarp to the right of every shooting position --- that makes it easier to recover shot brass. Typically the shooter paints the steel after his run, while squadmates recover his brass.

Our squad at USPSA matches is made up of a few people shooting 9mm who don't care, one who does and benefits, a bunch of .40 shooters who mark their brass to make it easy to identify, and one .45 shooter who also cares. We do a pretty decent job of brassing --- but it's harder on field courses....

[HKjon]

Whoever does the brass for Magtech (CDC? CBC?).....it's easy to see which ones are once-fired. The primer has a stamp that looks kind of like an A

[BBunin]

Amen there. It doesn't even have to be the "rare" stuff. It's irritating when your brass is hawked by people scarfing OPB (Other People's Brass).

It bugs me enough that there are people I won't squad with, because I've noticed that as soon as I finished a stage, they swoop in to pick up the brass behind my run as soon as the SO calls the range clear, while I'm still forward scoring.

I was under the impression that there was protocol for that. Perhaps those of you that shoot matches often can encourage those that run the matches to adjust a bit for that. The reading I've done says that the norm is for members of your squad who are not shooting to pick up your brass, magazines, speedloaders, whatever, while you are scoring and for you to return the favor while they are scoring. It would seem simple enough to incorporate that into the match rules, at least helping to resolve the issue.

Lee

Our club does this also.

I was under the impression that it was common practice, if not universal.

[LittlePistol]

Once again...tons of great info...

I recently shot at an indoor range and the guys who run the range were kind enough to let me snork up all the brass I could in the 15 minutes before closing, and as a result, I ended up with a lot of "trash."

Now I know what I'll be doing after dryfire practice tonight!

[NoTenX]

Ask the RO what the brass policiy is, some have what ever brass hits the ground is theirs to be reloaded, sold, some expect you to police your brass so they don't have to. Some may have military using with crimped primers that you will have to swage the primers before you run it through your progressive rreloader. Ask the shooter in the next station if they are saving their brass, remind those in next station you are reloading yours(some shooters don't even know you can reload) so they don't just sweep up all brass to dump in can.

As far as sorting you can feel differce reloading. crimping is different and case capacity for powder can be different. sometimes it does not matter. separate at first see if mixed brass matters to you or is a waste of time. remember nicks,grit,dirt can damage your dies. They have bags that you can separate you brass, toss in tumbler, and keep separate.

[Trooper]

It is probably a result of brass prices Down Under that it is AUTOMATIC (and of course expected!) for others in the squad to collect mags & brass while scoring/patching goes on.. and to hand the lot over...

Any 9mm shooter who doesn't want it back will just say so at that point... those shooting 38 Super ALWAYS want it back!!

We too are lucky in that our range is used by Police/Customs/Sky Marshalls etc... most of whom shoot Winchester 9mm.. and leave the brass. That brass is distributed to club shooters....

I've been shooting IPSC for about 6 months now and have never purchased any 9mm brass! Unusual.. but nice!