I was wondering if buying brass in bulk was a good idea. Or is bulk brass lacking in quality. I recently bought some Remington bulk brass from Cabela's and loaded up some ammo. The charge was 49 grs. of imr 4350 behind a 150 grn. Nosler Ballistic tip. Well today I was getting ready to reload them again when I noticed that as I stood them on their base they looked like the leaning tower of piza. I mean there is a really pronounced bend in the case. I checked some fired rounds of factory ammo and they are all ok. So I know it isn't the rifle. Do you think I got a batch of soft brass or is this to be expected from bulk brass. BTW it was new never fired brass.

bulk brass is all I ever buy, Rem, and Winchester, never had a problem

You didn't mention the cartridge or firearm but...

In general I wouldn't expect brass to be deformed like this. You description makes it sound like a candle that stood in the sun too long! I've never seen that. I have seen brass deformed from semi-auto and full auto firearms that might have this general shape. ALL of that was factory, i.e. military loads but from a very few weapons and not all rounds then. I've never experienced this with bulk brass which is bulk for how it is packaged there being no difference in how it is produced (material or method).

Have used Remington bulk brass in .338 WinMag and .375 H&H Mag ... certainly have never seen this kind of a problem.

Call Remington. If they had a problem with a run of brass they NEED to know about it!

Bulk brass is the ONLY way to buy the stuff. I am wondering if your primers were protruding a tiny bit...possibly backing out due to slight headspace or pressure. Naturally if the primer isn't flush, it's going to make the cases stand up goofy.

Deprime them and see how they stand. I can't imagine the problem you are describing otherwise.

[ 12-09-2002, 08:43: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]

I buy WW, Rem, Norma, and Lupua in bulk, I like Lapua, WW, best.

I agree about the primers. check those.

i agree backed out primers or even some that a little of the cup has flowed back could be the culprit. i have had some fired 9mm brass that the cup flowed back into the fireing pin pretty badly.

a .357 mag can be your best friend..........

If I can get it Winchester brass. Try this at a gunshop that sells bulk brass like in bins. Feel the case smoothness, with both Rem and Win. Winchester is smoother by far. I've had less throwaways with Win bulk brass.

The problem is not the primers as the brass had already been deprimed. My thoughts now are turning to my press. I used to use a Lee Turret press and never had a problem. This brass was resized using a Rockchucker press. I wonder if there is a problem with the presses ram and the die being badly misaligned. Perhaps the hole for the die was drilled out of kilter. I still have some of the brass that I haven't loaded so I will check it and see if it is straight. If it is I will full length resize and then check it again. I will let you know what I find. Thanks for your replies. BTW it's a Remington 700 in .270 Win.

OK this is what I have found so far. Using a RCBS case master gauging tool, I rested the brass on the V-blocks with the dial indicator stem resting in the extractor groove. The runout measured .020 on the case I was talking about. On new never fired factoy loaded ammo runout measured as much as .011 This was with Remington brass as well as Winchester brass. I ran the one with .020 runout into my FL die and nothing changed. I never realized there was that much runout in new brass.

Has anyone else ever checked their brass in this manner?

This is why serious target shooters carefully check each case;roundness, length,weight, head perpendicular to case,primer pocket,primer hole,ID and OD concentricity. Like anything manufactured there are tolerences ( 1.000 +.050 -.020 for example ) and sometimes you find things out of tolerence.