guppie1160
Regular
- Location
- Halifax Area
is there any way to tell once fired brass......or if I am buying brass do I just hope the seller is honest
once fired brass or not
- Thread starter guppie1160
- Start date
You *may* be able to see marks on the brass from re-sizing indicating it has been reloaded. It is not always the case. Honest sellers is the only way unless you want to pick up some range brass you know has been fired & forgotten.
That being said there is nothing wrong with reloading used brass. You should be checking each piece of rifle brass as you use it and spot check handgun brass (I check each piece of handgun brass too if it is a magnum caliber) but that's just me.
That being said there is nothing wrong with reloading used brass. You should be checking each piece of rifle brass as you use it and spot check handgun brass (I check each piece of handgun brass too if it is a magnum caliber) but that's just me.
An experienced eye can tell if brass has been fired, however; more than once is very difficult. One possible way to know is: if there is multiple ejector marks on the head of the case, from very high pressure reloads.
sunray, don't tell anyone my secret, but I just bought another 500 once fired Lake City cases.
You see if the once fire case still has its primer and crimp its a dead give away its once fired.
Anything else is just a educated guess and getting enough to make it worth while picking up.
This is why I like my two AR15 and my bolt action .223, I sometimes get free once fired brass in five gallon buckets from a policeman.
And sometimes I have to buy it and ruin my cheap bastard image.
guppie1160
1. Never buy anything you have not held in your hand.
2. If you buy new brass you will never get screwed.
3. Buy the brass and bullets in large lots
4. The green tip bullets are for shooting Zombies and the red tip is for everything else, life is good.
And remember the TV program the "X-Files" was filmed in Canada and the show started off with these words.
"Trust No One" and "The Truth Is Out There"
Meaning sunray may be an alien and you can't trust a word he says.
I reload to make a better cartridge most common rounds are available in a inexpensive factory round some where by the time you put a load together it ain't much cheaper why risk a 1000 dollar gun to save 50cents used brass is like used condoms you don't know where I its been
Depending on the cartridge, and if you know the source, truly once fired brass is not a bad deal. $20/50 Norma .308 match brass use to be available on CGN, which is a pretty good deal for that quality of brass.
Other stuff that shops get from ranges etc may be trash or once fired...but at $8/50 you should expect to toss a few out, have a couple dozen decent that will last, and some to fire and forget at the range.
Other stuff that shops get from ranges etc may be trash or once fired...but at $8/50 you should expect to toss a few out, have a couple dozen decent that will last, and some to fire and forget at the range.
It is all but impossible to determine "one fired brass" other than the crimped brass shown above. I'm only talking about 9mm, 40 and 45. All the brass I've reloaded has been range pickup.
I don't care a whole lot. I handle and inspect it 5 times. 1) Sorting 2) decap 3) loading, 4) move/count/transfer from press to ammo can and 5) load magazine.
If at any time I find a issue it's tossed into the appropriate bin. A trash can, pull bucket or the berm.
I don't care a whole lot. I handle and inspect it 5 times. 1) Sorting 2) decap 3) loading, 4) move/count/transfer from press to ammo can and 5) load magazine.
If at any time I find a issue it's tossed into the appropriate bin. A trash can, pull bucket or the berm.
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As already mentioned the only once fired I've ever bought was 1,000 rounds of .308 Lake City with crimped primers still in place.
I'll be the first to tell you that processing 1,000 pieces of crimped brass is quite a feat even with a progressive press, Rt-1200 trimmer and a super swager.
I'll be the first to tell you that processing 1,000 pieces of crimped brass is quite a feat even with a progressive press, Rt-1200 trimmer and a super swager.
If it has been cleaned/tumbled/ss pin tumbled it is absolutely impossible and you rely totally on seller honesty. If it is still primed and uncleaned you have a better chance as almost every reloader will chamfer at least the inside case mouth and this is visible if looked for and most reloaders will trim after first firing and chamfer both inside and out. Again this is readily visible if looked for, however it still isn't guaranteed............seller honesty is still the only true yardstick though. Experience is invaluable and after handling millions of cases there are little tell tale signs one can pick up on.........most of the time.
Straight walled cases tend to last forever anyway so not much concern there.
I've seen bottle neck factory ammo I fired that I wouldn't even load again it was so stretched (looking at you Remington .303 Brit).
Military cases with crimped primers can vary from easy to process (Hirtenbeger with 3 tiny crimps that can be removed with a chamfer tool) to stuff that needs swaging. Mil cases are heavier and last much longer as well, but have reduced case capacity, so better for plinking or auto's then target work.
Then you have some guns that destroy brass on the first firing anyway, so buying new factory brass is not really economical....
I also find Federal cases tend to have pretty loose pockets after very few firings so I try not to get too attached to those.
I've seen bottle neck factory ammo I fired that I wouldn't even load again it was so stretched (looking at you Remington .303 Brit).
Military cases with crimped primers can vary from easy to process (Hirtenbeger with 3 tiny crimps that can be removed with a chamfer tool) to stuff that needs swaging. Mil cases are heavier and last much longer as well, but have reduced case capacity, so better for plinking or auto's then target work.
Then you have some guns that destroy brass on the first firing anyway, so buying new factory brass is not really economical....
I also find Federal cases tend to have pretty loose pockets after very few firings so I try not to get too attached to those.
I have seen lots of used brass. If it's reasonably clean and not covered with green verdigris spots as well as cheap enough I buy it. I always completely anneal any brass unfired by myself. I don't clean the brass until it is annealed either. My brass doesn't have to be polished, I'm not quite that anal yet. As long as it's clean and soft enough to reload easily life is good.
One thing I have noticed about range pick up brass. If it comes from a commercial range the usual rule is "if it's on the floor it belongs to the range." I don't use commercial ranges because luckily for me our club range is user clean up. We have cans available for those that don't want to save their brass. Of course I usually go through it all to collect the usable stuff. Often, the brass is hard and not usable without annealing. That's why I anneal brass unfamiliar to me.
Factory ammo is usually loaded with "gold" colored primers. If the cases have "silver" colored primers you can be reasonably sure it has been reloaded.
Often at gun shows there will be bags of cleaned/deprimed brass for sale. Mostly this stuff is range pick up brass. Some people can't be bothered to anneal their brass and just toss it after two or three reloads. This doesn't mean the brass is no longer useful. It just means some extra preparation is needed to make it user friendly. I have old Dominion cases that have been reloaded and recorded over sixty times and they are still fine but of course need to be regularly annealed.
One thing I have noticed about range pick up brass. If it comes from a commercial range the usual rule is "if it's on the floor it belongs to the range." I don't use commercial ranges because luckily for me our club range is user clean up. We have cans available for those that don't want to save their brass. Of course I usually go through it all to collect the usable stuff. Often, the brass is hard and not usable without annealing. That's why I anneal brass unfamiliar to me.
Factory ammo is usually loaded with "gold" colored primers. If the cases have "silver" colored primers you can be reasonably sure it has been reloaded.
Often at gun shows there will be bags of cleaned/deprimed brass for sale. Mostly this stuff is range pick up brass. Some people can't be bothered to anneal their brass and just toss it after two or three reloads. This doesn't mean the brass is no longer useful. It just means some extra preparation is needed to make it user friendly. I have old Dominion cases that have been reloaded and recorded over sixty times and they are still fine but of course need to be regularly annealed.
Maybe.... Most Remington and Winchester ammo I've seen has brass colored primers, but I have seen Winchester ammo with nickel plated primers. Other brands (Federal and Hornady), I've seen with nickel plated primers. Winchester brand primers that I've used are brass, with Federal and CCI being nickel plated.
For a non-critical application (plinking or just because ammo), I wouldn't worry about it. For serious stuff (benchrest or LR target shooting), get a source you can trust; whether that source is reliable for once fired, or new brass.
Yup, that's why I didn't type "all"
Lets face it, not all chambers are created equally. Some rifles with chambers reamed to minimum spec will eject the brass almost as clean as when it was loaded into the chamber. Others with chambers reamed with newer reamers will be right on spec or someplace within the plus or minus boundaries. I recently picked up a Winchester mod 70 that was made in 1980 and was in the push feed style. Lovely rifle with a great trigger and beautiful bore with a shiny chamber.
Every round it shoots, no matter how stout the load, leaves soot all the way to the shoulder. This chamber is right on maximum spec in the neck area and the neck doesn't expand quickly enough to seal so a bit of carbon laden gas flows back around the neck shoulder area. This same situation can and does occur with minimum spec hand loads at times.
I have seen once fired brass that looks like it has been fired several times because of chamber conditions and headspace issues. It can be a real concern. If you can't or won't anneal your brass, when you prep your brass, lube it properly and resize it you will definitely "feel" whether the brass forms easily or has been work hardened from repeated firings. Heating up the cases by firing and air cooling them will harden them eventually. Depending on their metallurgy this can happen after their first firing, especially with some of the larger magnum cases.
