Question/opinions on pistol brass

[finz50]

Starting to setup all my reloading stuff up so I went to a guys house to help show me the process. Previously I was told to stick with one brand of brass for reloading due to specs/consistencies with the actual brass. I have a little over 500 rounds of Winchester and another 300 or so of assorted brass (all in .45 ACP). Should I stick with the Winchester or should I use all the brass I have and not worry about it? He said he'd been reloading .40S&W for 2 years and can't tell any difference...what are you guys' thoughts on the subject?

[Jonnin]

I just got into it but I have used a dozen brands of brass, just whatever I picked up, and it all shoots fine. Keep a very strong magnet to pull out the steel crap, discard anything that does not look like brass, and watch for anything primed off center (2 or 3 off center holes on the inside of the brass, instead of one normal hole in the center).

The only reason to stick to one type is if making high quality loads for some special purpose, like pro quality target ammo, and you want each round to weigh exactly the same with exactly the same powder and so forth. Even then, its the bullet weight and powder charge that must be the same, making the brass the same just lets you check your loads more easily.

[Raoul]

Mixed brass is fine assuming you are using a sizing die. Watch out for military brass. That brass is swaged, meaning it has a crimped primer pocket. You will need a tool to fix that and it's another step in the process. We usually just let mispec brass lay.

[lowery100]

The only time I segregate handgun brass is if I am working up some special load for a specific purpose. Otherwise I mix all different brands.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I've had good luck with all the major USA brands at-least-once-fired brass. At one time I had decided that one brand seemed to be reloading a tiny bit easier than the others, but have forgotten which one! It wasn't that big a difference and may have been luck of the draw.

Am not an expert, but the Korean PMC I've reloaded seemed well-made brass. At least as good as the major brand USA company's pistol brass.

Have encountered some obscure unrecognized headstamps on range pickup brass that work OK, and a few other oddball headstamps that seemed more trouble than it was worth to try to reload them.

Have had the worst luck with S&B brass. Maybe some S&B brass is fine, but the S&B I've tried to reload has been more trouble than average. Sometimes I just automatically toss the S&B, then other times I'll take the time to see if they will work. The S&B definitely seems to benefit the most from primer pocket uniforming.

[Raoul]

I've had good luck with all the major USA brands at-least-once-fired brass. At one time I had decided that one brand seemed to be reloading a tiny bit easier than the others, but have forgotten which one! It wasn't that big a difference and may have been luck of the draw.

Am not an expert, but the Korean PMC I've reloaded seemed well-made brass. At least as good as the major brand USA company's pistol brass.

Have encountered some obscure unrecognized headstamps on range pickup brass that work OK, and a few other oddball headstamps that seemed more trouble than it was worth to try to reload them.

Have had the worst luck with S&B brass. Maybe some S&B brass is fine, but the S&B I've tried to reload has been more trouble than average. Sometimes I just automatically toss the S&B, then other times I'll take the time to see if they will work. The S&B definitely seems to benefit the most from primer pocket uniforming.

+1. The S&B is crap.

[USMCJG]

For pistol brass, I load whatever I've got on hand. I do sort my brass by brand, but I don't cull any brands. I've loaded Fed., PMC, PMP, IMI, Speer, and even S&B, and a dozen others I can't remember right now. They all went bang. With pistol brass, I don't see different brands as making that much difference. When I load rifle, it's a different story.

[roverboy]

Same here on pistol brass. I load everything in .38 and .357 and mix them all the time. Target grade loads get a lot more attention.

[DWARREN123]

For range/plinking ammo most brass will work. For target ammo use one type of brass of high quality.

[gregintenn]

If I were looking for all the accuracy I can get, I'd segregate cases by brand; even by weight. As I'm not that great of a handgun shot anyway, I throw it all in a box and use it as it comes. If I wanted to pusg the pressure limits, I'd also segregate cases, starting with a reduced load and working my way gradually up each time I changed brands. I have 38 Special cases from 15-20 different manufacturers, and I can't tell one from the next when shooting.

[deerslayer]

Supposedly, some S&B brass is actually steel, but is gold-colored like brass cases. Steel cases can be hard on your dies. I toss all S&B.

[Guest friesepferd]

for plinking, I used mixed. If I want some more accurate target ammo I will seperate, but don't care which I use, as long as they are the same brand it will help with accuracy a lot.

I actually did a big study on brass a found there to be a statistical differance between brands, but did not find that any one was better than the other.

[Jonnin]

Supposedly, some S&B brass is actually steel, but is gold-colored like brass cases. Steel cases can be hard on your dies. I toss all S&B.

it would stick to a magnet if that were the case... Its cheap, probably a low copper content (more brittle?) but I have yet to see a S&B case that was not usable. I run a magnet over everything anyway, just to be sure. There is a type of silvery case (not S& that does not do well, it expands but does not contract, so the primer pockets are loose, the bullet seating is loose, etc. Most of those seem to be stamped FC but some of the FC is regular brass. I think it may be nickel or an alloy of nickel or aluminum.

[LngRngShtr]

Pistol brass,..brass variance isn't as crucial as rifle for accuracy commercial head stamp or lot # age etc.

UNLESS

you are going for elimination of as many variables to "make sure it is you" in a match , confidence in equipment is very important...

or Nuclear hot ammo ( redline)

we used to shoot PPC and Bullseye a lot when I was young,.. tried all the various tricks and found that with our pistols at least... just a good sound repeatable technique while reloading was the biggest factor in ammo and from a Ranson rest the brass was the least of our variables... good components and good technique are all that is needed

BTW one of our guys, a nationally ranked shooter , could actually shoot higher scores with a load that wasn't in the top 3 of our Ransom rest test.. it just "felt" better to him, nothing like doing mounds of work and have someone like this do something like this to remind you that the human element changes everything....

John

P.S. Since you have brass that's the same and assorted,.. load up some test ammo and have someone "blind load" your pistol for you and see if your shooter/ammo/pistol combination can tell the difference

we used to do this when testing a possible new load for the upcoming season.

it keeps you as neutral as possible during testing, then load up for your assistant and see if there are any repeatable results

you may have a combo that is affected by brass or not,..but at the very least you will know for certain if it matters in your setup..

Edited March 8, 2011 by LngRngShtr
P.S. load test

[SpacemanSpiff]

I use whatever I pick up, even S&B. The only problem I have with S&B is priming. With my Lee hand primer, I usually have trouble priming, but I bought a RCBS bench mounted priming tool that has no trouble with S&B.

The only time I sort the brass is to separate brass and nickel.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

At least some of the S&B 9mm and .380 looks a little "odd" on the base of the cartridge. The shape of the extraction groove and base is noticeably different than the USA stuff. I don't know if all of it looks that way. Maybe S&B gets it from different factories in different nations or whatever.

The oddness of the bottom of the base might make it fit looser in the Square Deal B shellholder, dunno.

Also, as you say, the primer pockets seem too small. I bought an RCBS Trimmate motorized case prep machine and started uniforming all the brass primer pockets (because it is pretty fast with the trim mate). The trim mate definitely works a lot harder and removes more material on the S&B than other brands. Oddly, it seems harder to seat primers on the S&B even with the pockets uniformed, though it does make it easier after uniforming. That is why I was wondering if maybe the cases also don't quite fit right in the shell holder plate.

[tnhawk]

I try to seperate my brass as much as possible but haven't seen any noticeable difference in the performance.

[TullyMars]

I never separate brass for practice ammo. I only load near max loads in new or once fired brass that I'm sure of where it came from. Be aware also that there is 45acp brass out there with small primer pockets. Give all your range brass a good looking over before reloading.

[Dave Shooter]

From personal experience, trying to stuff large pistol primer into that small pocket can be VERY exciting. A 1050 has lots of leverage...

[Guest highvoltage]

if its s&b it goes to the trash. other brands been fine. i do sort and trim all my brass to the same length. that's where i have seen more consistent accuracy with my loads.

[Guest rec4309]

I mix brass except A-merc. S&B is OK if you run a primer uniformer in it. Also watch out for win NT and some older Win match as it uses small primers.