Overall consensus of reloading range pick up or other brass

[DizzyJ]

(OVERWHELMING) Majority of my pistol brass is range pick ups whether picked up by myself or bought from others in bulk.

There's not as much risk re-using straight walled pistol brass since there's generally less pressures and no shoulder to stretch out thereby thinning the case.

Rifle brass I've used a few hundred range pick ups but you've got to be careful with those. Especially some of the .223 or 5.56 as many are shot out of semi auto loading rifles with generous chambers. Lots of case stretch can happen there and life expectancy can be greatly diminished.

I once bought 1,000 once fired 308 cases for what I thought was a decent price. After processing them I wasn't so sure. They took an extreme amount of force to resize on a single stage rock chucker press. I determined they must have been fired out of a very loose chambered machine gun. Accuracy was difficult to achieve as I had inconsistent neck tension and hard brass from being overworked in the loose chamber.

That batch caused me to wind up spending a decent amount of money on an AMP annealing machine. However, the subsequent brass resized with a lot more ease and consistency and the group sizes shrank quite noticeably.

It was quite the learning experience, albeit a somewhat expensive one.

 

[ageingstudent]

(OVERWHELMING) Majority of my pistol brass is range pick ups whether picked up by myself or bought from others in bulk.

There's not as much risk re-using straight walled pistol brass since there's generally less pressures and no shoulder to stretch out thereby thinning the case.

Rifle brass I've used a few hundred range pick ups but you've got to be careful with those. Especially some of the .223 or 5.56 as many are shot out of semi auto loading rifles with generous chambers. Lots of case stretch can happen there and life expectancy can be greatly diminished.

I once bought 1,000 once fired 308 cases for what I thought was a decent price. After processing them I wasn't so sure. They took an extreme amount of force to resize on a single stage rock chucker press. I determined they must have been fired out of a very loose chambered machine gun. Accuracy was difficult to achieve as I had inconsistent neck tension and hard brass from being overworked in the loose chamber.

That batch caused me to wind up spending a decent amount of money on an AMP annealing machine. However, the subsequent brass resized with a lot more ease and consistency and the group sizes shrank quite noticeably.

It was quite the learning experience, albeit a somewhat expensive one.

It's worth noting that details count with range brass. If you find a pile of 5.56 laying there and some slob left the factory boxes there and they are all Lake City brass and the primers are same color one can be fairly confident it's once fired.

Also pay attention to the primer color. Quite often different brands of primers have different colors. Being whether or not they are nickel-plated. S & B are kind of a pinkish color, most recent Winchester are brass colored and CCI, Federal, and Remington are nickel-plated. If you find a bunch of LC brass with pinkish S&B primers it's probably not once fired.

Also where you get it counts. I have seen brass at a gun club after a 9 mm major event that I wouldn't even try to reload. The primers and the brass were just beat to hell. Frankly not worth my time when it's been overloaded like that.


One can also tell if the crimp has been removed on 556 brass usually. If the crimp has been removed obviously it isn't once fired.

I like doing the detective work and thinking about it. That said you should always be reasonably careful with your range brass. Usually you don't find things like 300 Winchester magnum laying around.

Edited for grammar and spelling that my phone autocorrect screwed up. Thanks Google, you illiterate boobs.

 

[Mikej]

That batch caused me to wind up spending a decent amount of money on an AMP annealing machine.

Oh, that musta' been tough, being forced to buy one of the coolest reloading tools ever. How terrible for you.

 

[DizzyJ]

Oh, that musta' been tough, being forced to buy one of the coolest reloading tools ever. How terrible for you.

If you feel bad for me you can send me some $$ to help me with my pains.

 

[Mikej]

If you feel bad for me you can send me some $$ to help me with my pains.

Well, I don't know how close you are, but if there's ever anything I have that you need to borrow, it's yours to borrow.

 

[DizzyJ]

Well, I don't know how close you are, but if there's ever anything I have that you need to borrow, it's yours to borrow.

You're not the only person on this site willing to give. Lots of extremely generous members here I've found over the years.

 

[DizzyJ]

Well, I don't know how close you are.

I'm not sure how close I am either. That's what happens when you're lost.

 

[CLT65]

I once bought 1,000 once fired 308 cases for what I thought was a decent price. After processing them I wasn't so sure. They took an extreme amount of force to resize on a single stage rock chucker press. I determined they must have been fired out of a very loose chambered machine gun. Accuracy was difficult to achieve as I had inconsistent neck tension and hard brass from being overworked in the loose chamber.

I once bought a couple hundred much the same. They were hard to size and on closer inspection I found that a good percentage of them had "incipient case head separation". Due to the seriously loose headspace of the gun they were fired in, they were pulling apart at the base. The whole bunch went in the scrap bucket.

Other than that, I shoot a lot of range brass; I've just learned to check it over closely first.

 

[bcp]

You should never reload range pickup brass. Leave it there.
.
.
.
.
More for me.

Bruce

 

[gmerkt]

I will reiterate what has already been said, just for emphasis. Most people who leave brass behind are not reloaders, their leavings are usually once fired. Free once fired is just as good as paid for once fired.

 

[orygun]

Almost all of the "pick up" brass I've found is once fired. It's from the slobs that don't do anything but trash our forests and it's not unusual to put them back into the box they came from because that was left laying nearby.

When I find a pile of matching headstamp brass I pick it up and either reuse it or sell it.

Geeze, I once found 18 rounds of brand new, once fired 45-70 brass and felt I'd won the lottery! The only way it could have been better would have been the last two rounds and the box.

Mixed headstamp brass I put into my bucket and sell to the scrapper.

 

[CLT65]

Geeze, I once found 18 rounds of brand new, once fired 45-70 brass and felt I'd won the lottery!

That's funny, because just yesterday I found 18 pieces of shiny, once fire .45 Colt brass. Not as valuable as 45-70, but very nice nonetheless.

 

[orygun]

I think I've found one 45 Colt, but I've never found a 41 Mag.

 

[CLT65]

I found most of a box of PPU 8mm Lebel brass on the ground at the range a couple years ago. Sometimes free range brass is awful expensive. That handful of brass ended up costing me $150 for an 1892 Berthier rifle, $40 for some dies, $20 for some clips...

 

[Caveman Jim]

I buy & sell range brass. I have sold close to a ton & a half of range brass in the last year and a half and have probably six or seven hundred pounds out in the shed wet tumbled and will be heading to New homes here shortly.
That's all we shoot, range brass that we picked up or that I bought.
I gave my oldest son a bunch of 45acp brass a few years ago, he quit counting how many times he reloaded them cases after fifty time and the head stamps were wore off. He has tossed some that got wore out, but still has a large amount left.
Of all of the brass I sold I never recieved a complaint about it being bad or being unreliable.
Compare the prices of new brass to range brass. You can buy a lot of range brass compared to fifty or a hundred pieces of new brass.
Unless you are shooting long range or competition I would hesitate to buy or reuse range brass.
That's all we have been shooting for years, even my rifle hunting ammo is mix head stamped range brass. Most shots are amount fifty yards. I shot four this past season, on last year (took my grandson deer hunting and let him go for a shot and always took to long to shoot) and five deer the year before that.
You will have some people who will never use any range brass what so ever.
But most of us do use range brass.

We are like twins aren't we? I've ratholed and sold a lot of range pickups from the pit I'm that I'm the volunteer caretaker. It has helped me keep the pit clean & open, keeps my reloading costs down, funds my hobbies out in the shop and keeps me busy during my retirement days.

It's worth noting that details count with range brass. If you find a pile of 5.56 laying there and some slob left the factory boxes there and they are all Lake City brass and the primers are same color one can be fairly confident it's once fired.

Also pay attention to the primer color. Quite often different brands of primers have different colors. Being whether or not they are nickel-plated. S & B are kind of a pinkish color, most recent Winchester are brass colored and CCI, Federal, and Remington are nickel-plated. If you find a bunch of LC brass with pinkish S&B primers it's probably not once fired.

Also where you get it counts. I have seen brass at a gun club after a 9 mm major event that I wouldn't even try to reload. The primers and the brass were just beat to hell. Frankly not worth my time when it's been overloaded like that.


One can also tell if the crimp has been removed on 556 brass usually. If the crimp has been removed obviously it isn't once fired.

I like doing the detective work and thinking about it. That said you should always be reasonably careful with your range brass. Usually you don't find things like 300 Winchester magnum laying around.

Edited for grammar and spelling that my phone autocorrect screwed up. Thanks Google, you illiterate boobs.

I've processed many .223/5.56 cases that I've separated by head stamps, I also save the good .223 for 300BLK conversions.
I would separate all the nickel primered brass and sell them.
I kept a bunch of the "true once fired" LC brass which I separated during the depriming before wet cleaning operation by feeling the tension of the crimp. The rest I sold…

 

[ageingstudent]

I think I've found one 45 Colt, but I've never found a 41 Mag.

I sure wish somebody would leave me some .357. Darned revolver guys. Always putting their brass right back in the box. Every once in awhile I find a few. Almost never a full box.

 

[orygun]

I sure wish somebody would leave me some .357. Darned revolver guys. Always putting their brass right back in the box. Every once in awhile I find a few. Almost never a full box.

And that is one of the reasons I enjoy shooting revolvers. I hate searching for brass.

I did drop a 500 S&W case once that I never did find.

 

[PiratePast40]

I've discovered that you need to inspect 9mm brass closer than in the past. With suppressors, 9mm PCCs, and full auto more common, there is much more bulged brass out there. If you tend to load toward the hotter end, might want to keep an eye out for stepped cases since some people have reported case separation. I separate stepped cases and use them for my "bunny fart" 147 grain loads.

 

[P7M13]

90% or more of my auto pistol, 5.56, 223 and 7.62 brass is range pickup or once fired. Revolver is ~50%.
Other calibers are >80% fired by me or virgin.
Inspection is key, even in the 1x brass fired by me.
When I started out, I would go to great lengths to salvage brass. Now, I toss at any imperfection.

might want to keep an eye out for stepped cases since some people have reported case separation. I separate stepped cases and use them for my "bunny fart" 147 grain loads.

Stepped cases are a bane.
Didn't know what they were when I first encountered them. Now, I toss those without hesitation.

 

[Mikej]

I've discovered that you need to inspect 9mm brass closer than in the past. With suppressors, 9mm PCCs, and full auto more common, there is much more bulged brass out there. If you tend to load toward the hotter end, might want to keep an eye out for stepped cases since some people have reported case separation. I separate stepped cases and use them for my "bunny fart" 147 grain loads.

Describe "Stepped Cases"? Bulged, yes, never seen one that was noticeably bulged though.

I haven't been around many out door ranges for some time. We stop by the Beaver Dam Pit when we go mushroom hunting though. There's nothing there in the way of brass, unless you want .22. Or some 9mm flies under a boulder. I figure since the great scamdemic hit brass pickens are pretty scarce in the great outdoors aren't they?