Preferred pistol brass?

Butcherbill

Butcherbill

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I know people have their preferences in brass manufactures when it comes to rifle brass, how about pistol brass? I’m sorting through a big load of 9mm brass, most I’ll keep and some is going to go up for sale in 500 & 1000 pc bags.

It’s all previously fired, range pickup. Mixed headstamps, Blazer, Win, R-P, Speer, S&B etc etc. What do you prefer? I’ve got a ton of it and will likely have more this season as well, so some of it will need to go.
 
Starline is about the best I've seen and used. But really, pistol brass lasts such a long time...usually for me, it's whoever is the cheapest and available.

But I don't load 9mm. Still cheaper to buy it.
 
For 9mm it really doesn't matter, I use range pickup for the most part.

For competitive shooting in 32 S&W Long I prefer Lapua. For bullseye loads in 45 ACP I prefer Starline.
 
I'll use anything except foreign brass, only because I find it gives me the most headaches (harder to resize, tighter pockets etc.).

6MT said:
I don't load 9mm. Still cheaper to buy it.
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Really? I guess I'm fortunate to still load 9mm (and will do so for a few more years) at approximately $170 per 1K.
 
I've done a few hundred thousand reloads.
Never once paid attention.

It doesn't matter unless you're selling it and someone neurotic see's it's all one manufacturer.
Shoot it all.
 
For 9mm Major and hot HP loads I like consistent brass. Starline is hard to beat but honestly in 9mm it's pretty rare unless you buy it, which I have never even considered. It's all the same really, post #4 says most of what there is to say.

I don't mind S&B and other euro brass but it can be a pain on a progressive with most primers. Some like S&B have very tight primer pockets, if the case isn't well centered and if you aren't using primers with chamfered sides it's almost a guarantee you will fight to get it in. I solve the issue by just hand priming when it's worth it.
 
My preferences for pistol / handgun brass are what I have, what I can get free or cheap, or if the previous conditions aren't met: what is available.
 
Perfect, I won’t bother then. I had a feeling people weren’t to picky about pistol brass like they are for rifle cases, I’ll just bag it up mixed and list what I don’t keep. It’ll save me the hassle of sorting through it, which suits me fine.
 
4n2t0 said:
I'll use anything except foreign brass, only because I find it gives me the most headaches (harder to resize, tighter pockets etc.).



Really? I guess I'm fortunate to still load 9mm (and will do so for a few more years) at approximately $170 per 1K.
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That’s nice! I won’t because the last 2500 rounds I bought worked out to $.22/round. So I won’t load 9mm any time soon.
 
I know I'm the exception, but I'm pretty picky and anal about all my brass and I sort everything by headstamp. Does it make a difference for accuracy? Probably not. But having everything feel the same going through the press, and not having to worry about things like crimped primer pockets just makes everything run smoothly. My preferred brand is usually just what I have the most of for each calibre, but for 9mm not only do I have the most Blazer, it's actually pretty decent. Primer pockets are the right size, and flash holes are fairly consistent (Winchester is pretty bad, flash holes so gnarly they've gotten stuck on my decapping pin).
 
I am not picky with my pistol brass and will only separate headstamps for a couple of reasons.
When reloading hunting loads for my .44 Mag carbine, I like to use all Remington from a lot that I purchased 30 yrs ago.
I find S&B primers in S&B brass (especially in 45ACP) are very tight and I crush too many on my AP press. I separate them to do a separate run with different primers.
I check for surplus 9mm brass for crimped primer pockets, separating them and de-crimp at a later time.
 
6MT said:
That’s nice! I won’t because the last 2500 rounds I bought worked out to $.22/round. So I won’t load 9mm any time soon.
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Where did you get 9mm for .22 a round? Don't hold out on us, let us in on your secret because even going back about 8 years the cheapest I could buy it for was about $240 per 1K.
 
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4n2t0 said:
Where did you get 9mm for .22 a round? Don't hold out on us, let us in on your secret because even going back about 8 years the cheapest I could buy it for was about $240 per 1K.
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Private deal on the EE. Also local, so no need to ship. Bought it late summer last year.
 
Snider shooter said:
Pistol brass I don’t worry about sorting head stamps. Just a waste of time and a make work project.
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The only time I've sorted handgun brass was for bullseye 38Spl target loads, only to try and minimze variation. IIRC, I used to get larger groups when I was using mixed brass, but the improvement in my groups could have come from practising more after I started sorting out one brand for the 3Spl wadcutter loads.
 
Anything without a crimped pocket if I am being picky. But I just scoop em up and run em through the hopper.

I find that if I primer won't go, it's usually a Winchester case, or s&b.
 
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