Once Fired Brass: Never Let Your Guard Down

[csmsss]

.40 S&W and .45 ACP cases are very easy to get mixed up. They are the same length and nearly the same diameter. When I'm doing range pickups for .45 (I don't shoot .40), I take a .40 S&W case and slide it inside the fired case I've just picked up. If it doesn't slide in, it's a .40 case, and if it does, it's a .45.

In a loose box or bag of fired brass, it'd be nearly impossible to pick out all the .40 brass without examining each round individually.

 

[DennRN]

I've only broke down and bought one lot of "once fired brass" from a gun show.
All of it was 45 acp, all large primers, and about 8% need to be smashed flat with a hammer and tossed in the scrap bucket. A reloader must have been testing a high pressure load. All his S&B brass had signs of high pressure and one had a split case. Clearly not someone who has heard of getting advice from this awesome forum.

I had to go through the rest of the brass under magnification and even feel inside each case with a probe before I was willing to use the other headstamps. Totally not worth the effort.

If you have to resort to buying your brass once fired, get them directly from a local range. Most ranges give discounted range time with ammo or reloading purchases anyway. Make it a point to get to know the guys who do the brass shoveling.

The range counter guy at my LGS always gives me a discount because I'm either buying supplies or telling him I want to but he doesn't have any of the good stuff in stock =)
The range officers there sweep any brass in my vicinity straight back and let me know they are going to bucket soon, so I can pick through it before they move it away. Even though I don't have to buy brass there, I know through that they sort with screens and again by hand to box by headstamp. Since I also know that they only carry a few brands of 45 or 9, I can ensure that a vast majority of THOSE headstamps are actually only once fired factory loads.

 

[Mohave-Tec]

How much did you pay? $50 to $60 per 1000 is the norm in Vegas. 730 cases of pistol brass should be good for about 25,000 loads.

 

[g.willikers]

An easy check to see if brass is truly once fired is to count the marks from the extractor around the rim area.
There should only be one - yes?

 

[jcwit]

Have always wondered what the big deal was regarding "Once Fired Brass". Who cares, you get it home and process it ant fire it and guess what, it twice fired, furthermore if its handgun it makes little difference.

Sorta like bread, buy it fresh in the store and the next morning its a day old.

 

[cheezhed]

I also check the rims for extractor marks to get an idea as to how many times
a case has been reloaded but sometimes I pick up cases at the range that have no mark on them. This must be from a pistol with a carefully fitted extractor
or perhaps a non 1911 pistol.

 

[Mohave-Tec]

Spank that puppy cheezhed.

 

[DennRN]

Have always wondered what the big deal was regarding "Once Fired Brass". Who cares

I only care because "once fired" tend to come from factory loads that are within industry safety standards. I look over my brass, but I'm know I'm not perfect and might miss a questionable case once in a while.

 

[Travelin' Man]

Since the gentleman handed you 4 separate bags of 250 cases each perhaps he made a simple honest mistake and misread what was written on the bag (did you look at the writing on the bag as you purchased them?). Assuming that is the case and you had 30 small primer cases out of the remaining 750 cases that is not too bad and the easy solution is to swage out the primer pockets to large primer with a device such as the Dillon Super Swage 600. With that tool you should be able to "fix" those cases in a couple of minutes.

I sincerely DO NOT believe that you were "ripped off" for that implies intent and I just don't see it from your description of events.

 

[jcwit]

I've never tried it, but I seriously question swaging small primer pockets into large primer pockets.

All that metals gotta go somewhere.

 

[schmellba99]

the easy solution is to swage out the primer pockets to large primer with a device such as the Dillon Super Swage 600. With that tool you should be able to "fix" those cases in a couple of minutes.

Negative. This tool is made to swage the crimp in military brass so that normal primers can be seated, not to increase the size of the primer pocket from small to large.

I presume one could use a reaming type tool to make such a change, but that is a lot of work for very little gain IMO. Toss the small primer pocket brass and move on.

 

[smuckie]

Trade 22 lr's for 44 mag brass

Got 2 bricks(525) Federal 22 lr that am willing to trade for some used 44 mag brass, let me know

 

[schmellba99]

Man, I should have held onto my .44 mag brass instead of giving it to my buddy for nothing.

Sometimes I hate being nice.

 

[mikld]

All brass is good. I have range pick ups totaling about 250 for .40 S&W., 100 or so .380 ACP, 60-80 .30 Carbine, a double handful of .45 Colt and I don't own any guns that fire them, but I'm keeping them all....

Of course all the others (.38, .357, .44 Sp. and Mag., .45 ACP, 9mm, .223/5.56, 30-30, and 30-06) get recycled!