Just curious how to keep from buying brass that someone says has been fired once but has been fired multiple times?? I know you guys get on your hands and knees at the range (as did I last week)...just trying to figure out when you "pass on brass" (lol) and when you have a keeper. Thanks!

Same headstamp, obvious factory primers, telltale scrapes down the sides of the brass from sizing. Where the brass came from is huge. If it is from a rifle range, pre-big game hunting season its likely to be once fired and tossed in a bucket.

If you have good dies and proper proceedure therer may or may not be scratches on the brass from prior trips through the dies.

More than anything else the surface finish tells you most of what you want to know...

no matter how brass is polished it can never look like factory brass to the experienced eye....

And that is the difficult part, getting the experience in the first place.

Brass that was originally factory crimped has a distinctive loss of the sparpness of the tooling marks from the crimp after resizing, trimming and particularly trimming.

The apearance of the toolmarks in the extractor groove

Extractor marks

Bolt face tool marks on the case head from firing, etc....

Also many common calibers are less likely to be reloaded... 30-30win for example....

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My way of dealing with it is not to pick up brass other than my own. Brass is just to darn cheap to jack with someones leftovers. Just not worth it. That said I will use once fired military in my 223 and 9mm.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
My way of dealing with it is not to pick up brass other than my own. Brass is just to darn cheap to jack with someones leftovers. Just not worth it. That said I will use once fired military in my 223 and 9mm.

It's funny you said that ramrod. I DO NOT reload for cost reasons but accuracy. I'm thinking I will only reload my own stuff or just buy the new and be done with it. It would be one thing if we were talking Weatherby type stuff...but we are talking 22-250 which is cheap enough new. Thanks for the input guys!

Just to add...

I buy once fired .223/5.56 brass for my AR. I always go for the same headstamp .mil stuff, as the primers are always crimped in.

Removing the crimp makes for more work, but it is guaranteed once-fired.

As Allen said, brass that has been used a while takes on a scruffy look even tho it has been polished.
If you buy 100 new cases, by the time they reach the end of their usefulness, you'll have a good idea of what to look for in range brass. In the mean time, pick up all the range brass you can get. You can cull it or trade it later on.

When acquiring once fired brass , it had better not be polished other wise I'm not buying it .
It's real easy to tell if brass is Once fired or not . I'm pretty sure Most of us have picked up or purchased Once fired in LC or Military cases .308 06 .223 .45 .9MM Etc. There is nothing wrong with it as it works very well .


Brass used to be less expensive but as all Metals have become MORE expensive . Some manufactures are getting a premium price for there NOT so PREMIUM PRODUCTS now days .

Easiest way to pick up purchase " Good " used brass is to only get the stuff with factory primers still in them not polished or resized .

Unless you've dealt with a particular reputable outfit who preforms the above service , then I see no harm in it . Still got 8 fingers 2 thumbs all limbs both eyes and more hair than a grizzly .
After reloading for 40 years , I rest my case ! Pun intended !.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

As has been said; pre-hunting season at the range.

Be at the range when Swat or other police teams are fireing. I have more .308 Fed match brass than I will ever use.

Again; any lot of military brass that is still crimped, but that can be a lot of work. When I was young and poor it didn't matter. roger

it should have a large hole in one end and a small hole in the other end

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
it should have a large hole in one end and a small hole in the other end

I'm talking about buying brass......not women!!!! LOL

wimmen are berdan primed cases

The other thing is what cartridges you are buying that is
described as "once fired"

Common pistol calibers? you are pretty safe, particularly if it's 9mm or 40S&W brass, but on 45ACP brass? who cares
it lasts for dozens of reloadings, so...

Some rifle cartridges are VERY unlikely to have been reloaded... 30-30 win 35Rem? reloaded? your kidding right?

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