Range Brass

[bruce381]

even when i find a cracked pistol round i set it in my range bag as shot it but leave it.

[damndave]

All of my brass is range pickup except for my match 308. Bad ones just get sorted and put in the recycle bin.

[sammy]

My reloading experience is fairly limited. Over the past 3 years I have loaded about 100,000 (total) .45acp, 9mm and 10mm. In all I have never had a single problem of any kind with brass failures. Keeping in mind I am loading mainly for Glocks.

Talking with other shooters at my club a few have had problems loading 9mm and .40 S&W cases too many times. They were getting case failures. Since I don't load .40 S&W I have no comment but my 9mm cases I throw out after the third loading. Most of the time when I go to the range I bring home more brass than I used so this is not a problem. Never had to buy 9mm.

10mm is very difficult to find so I have purchased most of what I have. The cases are separated in bins as to how many times they have been loaded. So far the only problems I have had are cracked cases, no blow outs.

Now, .45acp, no one I have spoken with has ever had a ruptured case. The only examples I have seen are double charges. .45acp is the only case I don't separate by times loaded. Some of the cases i have have been loaded so many times the head stamp can't be read. Some of these are from the 50's and still re size and load fine. .45acp is over built and has half the pressure the 10mm and 9mm cartridges have. I think this helps with longevity.

So long story short:

9mm load 3 times and throw it out
10mm and .45acp load them until they crack.

Anyone disagree? Just curious what others say on the subject. Sammy

[zfields]

Im loading barely power factor in 9mm, I dont really bother counting my loadings, but I know Ive gotten more then 3 out of plenty of them.

10mm if you loading full bore I would worry about the loadings a bit more.

.45.......yea, load it till it cracks.

[Bill Steele]

I can't remember the last time I had to throw away a 9mm case because of a split case or loose primer pocket.

My .44 RM don't last nearly as well (no surprise there I guess). I would say my .45 ACP brass seems to wear out faster than my 9mm. I throw away a lot more cases due to splits and loose primer pockets than 9's. Then again, I shoot a lot more .45 ACP than any other handgun round.

I don't keep cycle counts on any of my handgun brass, just inspect them after cleaning and during the loading process.

I have never had a head failure on handgun brass.

[Sunwolf]

Once it's clean it easiy to see flaws. If the headstamps is crisp looking, it probably once fired & GTG, 60,000 rounds loaded & I've bought very little new brass. Had very few issues.

This^^^^^.

[Fyathyrio]

I won't pick up range brass (.45 usually) unless I see who shot it and ask the shooter about it. Usually it's non-reloaders, they bought a box to shoot, and don't care if I scrounge their brass. That way I know it's once fired, and not at-least-once fired. The only time I'll leave brass is if I feel it's been loaded enough times. So if you get my "once fired" brass, it may actually be 10x fired or so.

With rifle, I don't want to deal with mixed brass with a variety of internal capacity. I have a ton of once fired mil-surp LC brass I got while deployed, plus the initial batch of commercial I bought before getting onto reloading. That way I only have to worry about two types of brass, work up two loads, and not worry about pressure, ect. One nice thing about mil-surp is you know it's once fired if you get it straight from the source. Oh, and the Dillon swager isn't a poop sammich, it's more like bologna when you would prefer a nice Philly cheese steak! Once it's set, you can cruise through a bunch while watching TV.

[Viagrow]

For crimped primers I don't worry, my Dillon 1050 takes care of that as part of the progressive process I also have the Dillon swage for smaller batches.

[mjmagee67]

If you only load your 9mm 3 times please send them to me so I can load them another 3 times at least. I normally load 9mm 5-7 times.

[Fishslayer]

Y'all can send me that .mil .45ACP & 9mm brass! I'll dispose of it properly.

.mil .45ACP & 9mm is pretty robust. Decrimping isn't that big a deal IMO.

If you're not going crazy with the flaring die .45ACP lasts a looooooong time.