Nashville reloader seeks donated .40 S&W, .380 ACP, and .223 brass

[gunrat]

Preferably Federal, can meet locally..

Thanks

[HOGNUT]

Why not go to a range and pick up brass? We allow brass pickup to all competitors at our matches. We just had a 3 gun event and alot of people shot 223.

[Guest the_accuser]

I'll look today to see if I have any I can give you. I know I have a good bit of 9mm if you want that.

Jason

[Dolomite_supafly]

I would honestly avoid Federal. Most have crimped primers which are a PITA to work out. Also Federal 223 brass tends to be a bit soft in the primer area. This can lead to primers falling out after only a couple of loadings.

Pretty much anything else is good to go.

Dolomite

[Guest the_accuser]

i couldn't find any 40 or 380 brass but I have a gallon bag full of 223 you can have. It has Remington, Lake City, Winchester and some other brass. I already have plenty of our 223 so you are welcome to some if you want it. Anyone is welcome to the 9mm and 45 acp brass I have if gunrat does;t call me by Friday 9/9 at noon. I have at least a gallon bag of 9mm and 45.

Jason

615-403-1719

[R_Bert]

on .223 Rem / 5.56 Nato -

If it is 5.56 Nato brass, it is more than likely crimped. I have heard of non-crimped Nato, but have not seen any yet.

RCBS makes a nice primer pocket swaging tool, and is pretty much a must for any .223 reloading station. I just swage all my .223/5.56 brass. It properly sizes the primer pocket and helps keeps the primers from backing out. You only have to do it once. Most of the brass I have picked up or purchased as once-fired has been military (NATO), and has had the crimped primer.

My thought on Federal brass is slightly different that Dolomite's. While they are certainly not as robust as say, Lake City, I think they are worth the effort (and get 4-5 reloads before I toss). The key is inspection. If any brass, regardless of headstamp, looks suspect....toss it.

B.

[Dolomite_supafly]

If I was going to use one brand of brass it would be a toss up between R-P and Winchester with the nod going to Winchester. I have some R-P brass that has well over 10 loadings on them with no ill effects so far. As a matter of fact I have more load experiance on R-P brass than Winchester but Winchester seems to be more consistent. I am shooting them out of a bolt gun with a very, very tight chamber though. I can take my fired brass and it will chamber into any SAAMI spec chamber because they do not grow with my tight chamber.

As far as longevity goes there was a guy over on ARFCOM that loaded a single piece of brass over 100 times. He was using a neck sizing die and a body siszing die in seperate operations. He was also annealing the brass every so often.

It isn't that hard to get brass to last a lifetime but it does take some work. I start by visually inspecting all the brass and I sort them by brand at the same time. Any obvious problems or crimped primers and the brass goes into the recycle bin. Then after that I begin prepping my brass by uniforming the primer pockets then I debur and uniform the flash holes with Lyman tools. I neck size with a Lee collet and use a body size die by Redding. Then I finish by trimming to length using a Lee trimmer and chamfer the mouth. And with my tight chamber I haven't had to trim in at least 5 loadings and still have plenty of room to go before I need to. I haven't had to anneal yet either, probably because I do not over work the brass with a all in one die that does the neck and body in a single operation. It is a lot of work but when I plan on getting as many loadings out of my brass it makes sense to me because the prepping of the primer pockets and flash holes only needs to be done once.

Another key to brass longevity is to not push the limits. All of my brass is loaded rather mildly compared to most. I use barrel length to get velocity the velocity I want, not powder charges. I push 69 SMK's to 2950 fps with only 24.5 grains of Varget, hardly a barn burning powder charge. In my AR the velocity is a bit low but it cycles and is accurate, .5" groups, so I don't mind. The same load out of the bolt gun holds .4" groups with several .3" groups through its life.

Dolomite

[R_Bert]

Dolomite, just curious, why are you tossing cases with crimped primers ?

I swage mine (5.56 && 7,62 nATO with the RCBS primer pocket swaging too, RCBS 9495 Primer Pocket Swager Combo - Able Ammo. I then uniform the primer pocket and teh flash hole with a reamer. Next run through a small base body die, and collett size the neck, then trim to length.

b.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Dolomite, just curious, why are you tossing cases with crimped primers ?

I swage mine (5.56 && 7,62 nATO with the RCBS primer pocket swaging too, RCBS 9495 Primer Pocket Swager Combo - Able Ammo. I then uniform the primer pocket and teh flash hole with a reamer. Next run through a small base body die, and collett size the neck, then trim to length.

b.

I have so much non crimped brass that crimped brass isn't worth the time to me. I guess when all other types of brass are gone I will drag the crimped stuff out of the recycle bucket (I haven't recyced anything in the last 10 years). As it stands right now I have at least 1,000 pieces of non crimped brass and considering I can load each at least 10 times I don't see me making my way to my crimped stuff.

Dolomite

[R_Bert]

I have so much non crimped brass that crimped brass isn't worth the time to me. I guess when all other types of brass are gone I will drag the crimped stuff out of the recycle bucket (I haven't recyced anything in the last 10 years). As it stands right now I have at least 1,000 pieces of non crimped brass and considering I can load each at least 10 times I don't see me making my way to my crimped stuff.

Dolomite

Ah, a matter of convenience. That makes sense. I was just wondering if there was a technical issue I had missed.

Lock & Load !

Bert

[Guest BobPayne44]

i couldn't find any 40 or 380 brass but I have a gallon bag full of 223 you can have. It has Remington, Lake City, Winchester and some other brass. I already have plenty of our 223 so you are welcome to some if you want it. Anyone is welcome to the 9mm and 45 acp brass I have if gunrat does;t call me by Friday 9/9 at noon. I have at least a gallon bag of 9mm and 45.

Jason

615-403-1719

I will take the 9mm if you still have it.