Thought I'd Seen Everything

woodlotowner

woodlotowner

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 99.7%
591   2   2
Location
Haliburton County, Central Ontario
So, the ad on the EE said 'new' brass. I bought it, put it in the cupboard (because I didn't need it right away), and only just got it out yesterday to load some rounds. Buddy must have a stainless steel media tumbler because even though the brass did indeed look new, it was not. My first clue was that it didn't chamber in my rifles (I always try a few to see if they will chamber without the need to work new brass initially). Next I discovered that a bullet would slip through the neck without any effort (I have never seen this in new factory brass before), followed by a couple of steel tumbling media pins falling out of some cases where I surmise they had been lodged since their go in the tumbler. They looked alright after a full sizing, but then I begin to prime them only to find the pockets were loose. A close inspection of the pockets revealed the telltale three distinct evenly spaced erosion marks from a magnum primer, which even a steel media tumbler obviously cannot etch from a primer pocket. I am confident that this is at least only ONCE fired brass as the imprint in the primer pocket strongly suggests a firing.

I only share this here because I see how easy it can be to make used brass appear new with a steel media tumbler. Also to suggest one keeps a close eye on odd lots of 'new' brass you may purchase so this does not happen to you. Had I even suspected for a moment these were fired brass (they looked that good, really) I would have done a detailed inspection at the time and busted the CGN member on the spot.

I would gladly post the miscreants name here, but it was some time ago that the brass arrived and I have cleared my inbox at least twice since that time. I cannot reliably remember who he was.

Not a big loss in the scheme of things, but these types of members are out there for sure.

Ironically, I now think I want a steel media tumbler. :)
 
Last gun show I went to I got me arse fewled just like this.
Shiney brass looking new.
Not the case.
I figured they were soaked rather than tumbled.
Suppose if the factory bag is still sealed up one should be good to go.....?
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me.

About a year ago I purchased some Lapua 223 Match Brass that was told it was new, when it arrived on quick inspection it looked great but a few months later I start to load for the season and exact same problem. Loose primer pockets ???
Confused I have a closer look and a few stainless tumbling pins fall out of one of the cases into my had .... I was pissed but like you couldn't remember who I purchased it from.

Now I keep at least one message from every purchase in my in box just in case.

JJ
 
Thank goodness on the EE there is probably a way less than one per cent of the sellers who would be so low as to lie about brass being new, when it wasn't.
At a gun show there is a table of shiny brass all done up in lots of fifty in a clear plastic bag, with the calibre designation and the price marked on the bag. If you pick up a bag and hand the vendor the money, you will have bought a bag of used brass.
But if you first ask the vendor, they will tell you that it is once fired brass, full length resized and tumbled. In my mind easily worth the price they have on the bag.
 
I only pay with Emt so when I create the profile for the seller in my banking app, I include the item bought and the price paid in the profile name.

For example, if OP sold me 250 Savage brass for $30, his name in my banking app when processing emt payment would be woodlotowner250savbrass30. This gives me the ability to go back thru my e-banking records to determine who, what, when and how much.
 
Holy crap... that's a #### move.

I'll be posting up some brass some time next week, and I'll be honest in saying it's once fired range brass, decapped, ultrasonically cleaned and tumbled. When I was punching primers all the federal stuff had the telltale green sealant on the primers. I may be an #######, but I am an honest one.
 
bassman said:
I only pay with Emt so when I create the profile for the seller in my banking app, I include the item bought and the price paid in the profile name.

For example, if OP sold me 250 Savage brass for $30, his name in my banking app when processing emt payment would be woodlotowner250savbrass30. This gives me the ability to go back thru my e-banking records to determine who, what, when and how much.
Click to expand...

Great idea. Looking into how to do this now for the next EMT. Thanks.
 
jimmyjazz said:
I had the exact same thing happen to me.

About a year ago I purchased some Lapua 223 Match Brass that was told it was new, when it arrived on quick inspection it looked great but a few months later I start to load for the season and exact same problem. Loose primer pockets ???
Click to expand...

Sounds like this might have been the same guy. I'd bet that he's buying the brass new, shooting it 5-6 times or more, and then selling it as "new" to fund his next purchase of genuinely new brass.
 
If a seller is selling "new " brass it should be in a sealed bag or box, if the seal is broke....Id be suspicious. Although its not pleasant there have been far worse scams on here. I lost $400 on an optic many years back...still chaps my butt. Maybe go through your sent PM's sometimes they dont get deleted as often.

Cheers!!
 
Yah have to love that, once at a show I eyed up a nice big bag of 30 30 brass labeled new for 1/2 of what it should have been. Only closer inspection, the guy had SS tumble nice and shiny, but there where crazy neak splits in 1/2 the brass. I questioned him, he gave me a bull**** answer, I told him to close his table. There are always scammers out there. Just a note about SS clean, very expensive I personally go to the pet store and buy raw walnut shell soak it with lyman case cleaner and run a load in my tumbler for 1hr. After that run it through for 15min with dry walnut, honestly looks just as good and, a lot cheaper.
 
I bought some once fired Federal brass with gold primers. Maybe Federal has used gold colored primers but I have never seen any.
 
hometownhero said:
I thought everyone kept at least one pm form a seller until they had a chance to inspect said item. Only seems logical to me
Click to expand...

I do now, until then I had many perfect transactions so I didn't even think of keeping any record and on initial look when I received the brass it looked great it wasn't until months later that I discovered the issue when I needed the brass.

Sad what some will do for a few dollars.

JJ
 
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