Buying .223 brass - an honest question.... why?

[bigbossman]

Why does anyone buy it? Every time I go to one of the local ranges or BLM land, the ground is literally carpeted with it. Good stuff, too.... LC, Hornady, etc.

I have half a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff that I've collected in 4 or 5 trips. It's everywhere.

[L4D]

Some people just have the time to collect it outdoor or indoors or have a connect/deal with a local range. The local range I go to is consistent in coming in and sweeping up the brass before I can get a chance. Sometimes I get lucky in between sweepings, depending on whos shooting what. So, depending on MY circumstance, I might just buy some from someone if I need it.

[tabascoz28]

I've thought about buying it but can't bring myself to. New brass at least takes no work/injury to prep. I know I probably have developed some kind of carpal tunnel or arthritis from taking out those primer crimps. New brass is also not loaded hot by the factory potentially causing damage. Also, if you make $40-$50 an hour, your time is worth more than picking up brass, cleaning, taking out the crimp, annealing, some people pre size.... Just buy it or buy rounds in bulk.

Some people demand the best for competition in accuracy so maybe they need the expensive Lapua brass even for 223.

[golfish]

It's the prep work. I'm retired so I kind of enjoy it. Sizing, trimming and getting the primer pocket right takes some time. I've been working on a 5 gal bucket for some time. Even after I spend all that time, there's just not a whole lot of savings when you consider the cost of components. But I still won't buy factory ammo

I went to my local range a couple times last month, I'm going again tomorrow. I had to stop picking it up because I found my self shooting less. 223/556 (mostly LC) 9mm and 45acp is everywhere. It's not like I needed any of it but I can't help myself. I've seen one of their private bays so full of brass that I could have spent 8hrs picking up brass ... I'm just disappointed that can't find very much 7.62x39 there....yet. maybe tomorrow

[Abenaki]

There is no place within a hour and a half of me to pick up brass.

But. when I can, I am a brass scrounging monkey!!!!

So, some times I buy once fired brass. I also shoot things like 41 mag, 8mm Lebel. you aint gonna find that brass laying on the ground.

Take care
Abenaki

[bohoki]

i bought some once i wanted to make a large batch now if i only pick up half my brass i have a lifetime supply

[tabascoz28]

I know my .223 can't last as I've seen split cases on the 1st or 2nd reload. Any make really doesn't matter. So I do anneal and am not loading hot. As it's a semi auto and I have a few ARs, I have to make them to min spec. I'm sure if I had a bolt 223 I'd buy Lapua and get 20 loadings out of it.

['ol shooter]

I have lots of pick-up brass, but I wanted to roll some I knew was once fired so I bought some from our fellow member Sankor. He sells tumbled once fired LE range brass in various calibers, all quality stuff. I recommend him if you are wanting some good brass at a more than fair price.

[cz74]

Recently someone in the lane next to me shot 4 boxes of brand new Hornady Match 6.5 Creedmoor out of his bolt gun and dumped the shiny brass into the range bucket, my gain!

[bigbossman]

Recently someone in the lane next to me shot 4 boxes of brand new Hornady Match 6.5 Creedmoor out of his bolt gun and dumped the shiny brass into the range bucket, my gain!

I see that all the time with 7mm Mag, 6.5CM, 308, and most recently 30-06. The guy went through about 6 boxes of it, and left all the brass behind.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

Why does anyone buy it? Every time I go to one of the local ranges or BLM land, the ground is literally carpeted with it. Good stuff, too.... LC, Hornady, etc.

I have half a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff that I've collected in 4 or 5 trips. It's everywhere.

Not quite 'everywhere.' Not 'everywhere' has places where quite a few people go to shoot. Even when they do, many of the locations have 'rules' which preclude the average user from picking up spent brass. (I can think of two indoor ranges 'locally' which forbid it, even your own brass. I've also been to outdoor ranges which preclude it.)

Then there's the idea that many simply don't trust brass which has been fired through 'someone else's firearm.' Some of that comes from disreputable companies selling 'once fired' brass; i.e., how does one know it is just 'once' fired? Some of it stems from not knowing how or not having the ability to 'properly' inspect the brass. Some of it comes from the old adage of "you know where YOU shot it, through what, and how your firearm treats the brass."

Of course, there are those who feel that 'new' brass, if kept with the same rifle, is more accurate and/or less work when reloaded.

In short, there are myriad reasons. Some of them valid, some old wives' tales, a few lingering prejudice, and, as with most things, some simply imagined by individuals. Thus, the question isn't 'why does anyone buy brass.' The question is why a given individual buys new, uses only that which has been fired through their firearm, why they are willing to purchase or 'sweep up' once fired, why they...

It's kinda like not criticizing something even if 'they' are. You could suddenly find 'they' don't appreciate what 'you' think, even if you're saying the same thing, because it's not necessarily considered a 'shared' experience.

[xfer42]

I do buy brass occasionally from CalGunners. I recently bought 1500 308 cases since I need to start tossing brass with loose primer pockets. Some get lost in the dirt, holes, sticky bushes and snow. The only brass I find is my own from last week/month/year, and National Guard stuff (556 blanks, 50BMG blanks, grenade spoons, M30 Main Gun Signature Simulators, Abrams tank shoes). Its scary sometimes. Ive found 4 live M30 MGSS pods out there. The kids love treasure hunting for 50BMG blank brass.

M30 MGSS, Ive found 4 of the white ones:

https://wescomdefence.com/product/combat-fighting-vehicles/main-gun-signature-simulators-mgss/

[Tripplet918]

I've bought brass from a real good guy of a Calgunner. He sold me 5 gallon buckets of brass for 100 bucks each.

When I computed for the time it takes me to pick up a 5 gallon bucket, including sorting out rocks, it made sense.

I will still pick up brass thats easy to pick up. Stuff next to my bench, next to the match starting point, neat piles left by other people. I wont spend 1-2 hours picking up brass anymore unless Im cleaning my own mess.

Picking up what I can without overly obsessing getting everything single piece of my brass back makes the 5 gallon buckets last a real long time.

At the range I shoot at, a private club, you can generally grab all the brass you want, but it takes time to do it as the ground is basically gravel.

[NapalmCheese]

I bought brand new Starline .223 cases when I wanted to do some serious load dev simply because I was too lazy to sort the thousands of range pickups I had by headstamp and date.

Also crimped primers have (and still occasionally) cause me decapping issues. I've got a bucket of brass that I started processing and stopped because it seemed like every other round would either push my decapping pin back up out of the die, or just deform the primer without actually pushing it out making it a pain in the *** to get off the shell holder.

Sooo, spending money to save on headaches.

That said, I'm about ready to sort all of my .223 so I can convert components to ammo so I can buy more components!

[bigbossman]

Also crimped primers have (and still occasionally) cause me decapping issues. I've got a bucket of brass that I started processing and stopped because it seemed like every other round would either push my decapping pin back up out of the die, or just deform the primer without actually pushing it out making it a pain in the *** to get off the shell holder.

You need a decent de-capping die. I've processed literally thousands of military brass with crimped in primers, and the Lee die has never had an issue popping them out. Sometimes I get the "domed" ones that resist, but they always come out. I have broken RCBS pins, and I've even broken pins on a Lyman universal de-capper (twice!). I have never broken a Lee pin, ever.