Range brass

theBuilder

theBuilder

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Hey guys, so I dont reload yet, but i plan to get a beginners setup going this winter. Whenever I'm at the range I make a point of collecting any brass i find. My question is, how can you determine if some of this brass is once fired, or discarded by a reloader who has figured its no good for another round of use?

Do I need to do a quick visual inspection of each case for certain obvious things? Or does it come down to case wall thicknesses or some other measurements that im not equipped to measure? Thanks

Jon
 
If it looks messed up don't use it.
There is no way to know for sure if its once fired.
If the hole on top where the bullets sits is not perfectly round its ok. It can't be flattened out though.
If it is dirty from carbon its fine.
Look towards the lower part of the brass body, if there is a lot bulging don't use it
 
Not impossible to tell if you can recognize factory primer color .I wouldn't bother with .303 British brass once fired out of who knows what? Harold
 
With rifle brass your really going to have to thoroughly inspect every case for defects and incipient case head failure. Straight wall cases are easier, just inspect for split cases and your good to go.
 
For brass used in old wartime rifles look up Smelly's thread about using hair or dental rubber bands to aid in firing the cases so that you limit or avoid the stretching mentioned. They are getting a lot of firings out of brass "broken in" using that method and then only neck sized from that point on.

If the brass cleans up fine then it's likely once fired. If it has a lot of rub lines along the sides it's likely been reloaded a few times. For handgun ammo anything is fine and it's OK to live with the occasional split casing. For rifle brass you want to examine it a bit more closely looking for the smooth satin factory finish or at most only a few lengthwise markings that indicate once fired or only used for a very few reloads.

It's also my experience that keen reloaders take all their brass home with them unless it's clearly split or separated. Or you might just find a big batch of a single size which has the hazy lengthwise rub marks from reloading numerous times. That indicates that the whole batch was used to what the person expects is the end of life for that batch. Probably good to leave that batch in the bucket.
 
I pickup any Lake City 5.56 brass at the range that still has a crimped primer and knowing its once fired.

My advice is since your just starting to reload is to buy new brass of one brand from the same lot using work up loads.

Once you have been reloading for a while then look over and inspect your range pickup brass and decide what you want to do with it.
 
He pretty much illustrated the problem in the video, and two reasons why it occurs, in his words, a springy action, and the parts where he mentions the forces applied to the case head. That can be minimized by proper FLS or neck sizing. You do not want to set the shoulder back any further than you absolutely need to, to chamber the round. Not well explained in most of the die instructions on the setup, either.
Another thing to look for and avoid on range brass is any corrosion issues, most times you can see them, sometimes you can't see them, but can detect them with a bent paperclip, in the same manner he used to look for the stretch groove.
Another issue with old surplus brass can be with having had old, degraded powder in them,
This thread ( mods may get upset as to where it is from, but, it is too valuable not to share) shows some of the things old powder can do to a case, and has some valid backup info to it. You never know where range brass or old cartridges came from for sure;

http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=157820
 
Any range brass that has what appears to be dark soot coming out of and surrounding the primer picket could be, to be polite, well used. One possible reason for this could be the primer pocket has expanded after a lot of use and the case should be tossed -- unless you want to potentially damage your bolt face.
 
OP, I've been reloading for just a couple of years with a press, a long while ago started with a Lee loader kit for my 303Br.

No disrespect intended for those of us that pick up range brass but if I was to do it there would only be a few headstamps that I would pick up. If you search around here a little bit you will find the headstamps that are tougher favorites of the most experienced and for good reason.

Regarding the 303, the chamber of mine is quite large and about 1 out of every 5 there is noticeable misshapenness and "out of roundness" near the base after firing. These cases actually have the start of separation near the base. These are Federal, Winchester and Remington factory loads. I haven't reloaded any tougher cartridges for this rifle but the point here is that after firing, if one in every 5 has a visible defect what would the probability be of the other 4 developing issues shortly there after with reuse? This is not the same concern using modern day rifles I know but a person never knows the chamber the cartridges came from and if significant stresses have been produced leading to premature cartridge failure. That's where the tougher brass steps into the equation. Less probability.

I saved a ton of federal brass that was once fired from 3 savage bolt actions we owned in the same caliber. My first reloads using this brass was better than factory, but because the accuracy was not repeatable enough for my liking, I got into brass prep a little deeper. If that's all you are looking for when you are reloading then consider the posts here.

For myself going deeper into brass prep to get the reloads consistently accurate with federal and Remington brass, (along with a few neck separation failures just with moderate loads) I've concluded in my situation that there is a definite difference in brass quality. The time and effort spent to OCD this brass more like bench rest shooters, was a complete waste of time...albeit a great learning experience. I liken it to having to wrench on my old chev truck every week to go to school as compared to a newer vehicle that a person only has to maintain. I appreciate the value of a newer vehicle because I know what's like to make older ones just get you from A to B. For myself, after the neck separation stuff, I couldn't risk it for hunting. After searching here and following the advice of some real experienced guys I've tried tougher brass, applied the same OCD techniques, and never had to cull any. (and no case failures.)

Again, not trying to change your considerations of using range pickups because I started the same way, just trying to provide awareness based on my experiences. I don't know what calibres you are reloading for but there are some alternatives for new brass or once fired tougher brass that are affordable, and provides for less suspicion of it's previous life. FWIW.

Regards
Ronr
 
I would not pick up any brass that I did not know was once fired. I would have to see the cases being fired before I would pick them up.

The only exception being when LEOs came to the range for training days. You can tell that its the LEO brass because they are the only ones allowed to walk down past the fire line while shooting. I picked up a lot of 223 a few years ago that was so far past the fire line interspersed with the live rounds that they dropped that it could only have been once fired LEO. I still have enough 223 brass to last a few more years from that.

Typically though I am not interested in once fired brass. I would rather buy quality brass like Lapua and reduce one area of second guessing from my reloads.
 
One item nobody's mentioned (I don't think...) - primers.

I personally use any brass I find, until it dies; once-fired, many-fired... all the same to me. But the first check I make on pistol brass (not easy to make on rifle brass, with old eyes like mine), is look down the mouth of the cartridge and count the flash-holes in the base, leading out of the primer pocket:

1) one bigger hole in dead-centre? - Boxer primed; good cartridge, pocket it.

2) two (or more; occasionally I've seen three) around the dead-centre? - Berdan primed; not nearly as good, and myself, I bin all of those.

The big difference for North American reloaders is that we use Boxer, the Europeans use Berdan. Without going into the weeds, Boxer are dirt-simple to remove the old primer - a decapping pin in the centre of the resizing die goes down that centre hole and pushes it out. Berdan primers are not nearly as easy to remove - the Europeans have a wicked claw tool that 'sometimes' takes it out cleanly, or you can fill the case with water, fit a close-fitting rod down the neck, position the case over a block with a hole drilled in it and give the rod a whack with a hammer, popping the primer out hydraulically - but Berdan primers are not particularly available in North America, and they have a couple different sizes to Boxers - you can't just drill a hole in the centre of the primer pocket and shove a Boxer primer in.

The BIG problem with Berdan primers is that there is no hole in the centre of the primer pocket - so if a Berdan-primed empty finds its way into a run of Boxer-primed empties, and you shove it in your press and haul down on the lever, the decapping pin has nowhere to go and will likely snap-off - and your reloading session just ended (says the voice of experience; .303 was what I started-out reloading, too).

Edit - and North American presses and priming tools are set for Boxer primer sizes, so you'd have to round-up a European primer tool to fit the Berdans; I know neither of my Progressives could handle Berdans, which would greatly slow-down and complicate a pistol reloading session.

So I recommend you make your choice and stick with one fashion of primer or the other - the decapping pin you save might be your own. This can provide angst, if you're picking-up range brass. I wandered down into our indoor range and eyeballed the brass bucket - and lo and behold, there were ~a hundred chromed .45 empties in it! What a sight! - I went head, shoulders and both hands into the brass bucket and started scooping empties - and had most of 'em in my pocket when I started wondering why my fellow club members, brass-hounds all, had not picked them up. So a quick look down the mouth of one - they were Berdan primed.

I left them in the brass bucket, and cried all the way home. V:I:
 
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