Is unprimed the same as once fired?

[kukoo]

hello all.
i am trying to find out the answer to a question that the British home office has asked me. I am wanting to buy around 20.000 to 30.000 once fired 9mm brass casings to use in artwork.
I have asked my home office if i need a license to import these from the USA they said if they are unprimed then i do not need a license or any permits to import from USA.
So if someone out there could put me straight with the question
ARE UNPRIMED BRASS CASINGS THE SAME AS ONCE FIRED?

that would be really helpful.

many thanks.

peter

[ke6guj]

once-fired cases usually have a primer in them, although it is a spent primer. You could get once-fired brass that has been processed to remove the spent primer.

So, you would need to contact your home office to determine if once-fired brass that has a used primer in it is acceptable to them, or if the primer needed to be physically removed.

[joelogic]

Once fired can be unprimed. Brand new brass can be unprimed. 10 times fired can be unprimed. Usually once fired unprocessed brass still has a spent primer in it. That my be ok for you since there is no longer any explosive compound. 20,000 pieces, however, may be hard to come up with. Most people on here are individuals. For your needs you may need to ask a shooting range directly or offer someone a service fee to middle man the deal.

[thempopresense]

once fired could mean a few things depending on who does the prep.

1. Once fired = Brass fired through a weapon and thrown into a bucket still containing FIRED/Spent/Used Primer (No longer a working primer).
2. Once fired = Tumbled (Cleaned), Re-sized and De-primed (spent primer removed and brass sized to standards).

You need to ask if a used or spent primer is considered primed. A primer can only be used once unless you take the time to restore those too. Otherwise you will want "Re-sized and De-primed" brass. That should not have a primer.

[Milsurp Collector]

Once fired means they were fired once. They may or may not still have spent primers in place. Their once-fired condition doesn't tell you anything about the presence of the primer.

Unprimed means there are no primers, unfired or fired. It could be brand-new never-primed brass, or fired brass that has been deprimed.

When I shoot new rounds I end up with once-fired rounds that still have spent primers in place. After I deprime the brass it is still once-fired, but they are unprimed.

However, if it is advertised as once-fired brass it most likely has either spent primers or no primers, not live primers. Ask the bureaucrats if spent/used/fired primers in the brass are OK.

[kukoo]

thanks for all the reply's guys, i will get back to the home office, with the info, and see what they say.
thanks guys

[gose]

You also need an export permit from DDTC (Directorate of Defense Trade Controls) to get it out of the US, which will make it cumbersome and expensive (just the filing fee is $250).

You're probably better off buying from Europe. Send me a PM and I'll try to hook you up with someone over there instead.

My guess is that they're worried about primed brass, no primer, or spent primer, shouldn't matter.