I just sorted over 2k of 9mm range brass by headstamp. My reason was that there were a bunch of cbc headstamp cases mixed in and they seem to be much harder. They messed up my oal average by more than double. I keep my 9mm below .003 total spread by oal and the cbc cases would seat .010 longer. Loading all cbc cases together got me back to my standard deviation.
Do you sort range brass for pistol by headset stamp.
- Thread starter AJC
- Start date
I do not shoot range brass
I shoot only combat style handguns and I am happy with 2" groups at 25 yards. Sorting brass is not necessary for that.
Yes I do , but by sorting I just dump them in a bag with the same brand , ie one bag of federal , one bag of blazer etc.... Then when I need 50-100 I sort them also by lengths and might have to trim a few.... Then shoot them till they get hard and toss them into my recycling bin and start over... Since I am only loading a target load they last a very long time.... I have always been told to just load them till they won't hold a primer or split but in the end the case heads get chewed up and the brass gets hard on mine...
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I'm talking about how hard the brass is so when you go to resize the case it's super hard to resize and when you go to seat a bullet it's really resistant to seating a bullet. Oal is affected by how consistently you can see the depth of the bullet
I would really consider sorting by length and trimming on a roll crimp cartridge currently I'm just dealing with semi autos so I don't ever trim or really worried about length
My philosophy is only use one brand of brass for each caliber to create consistency. Or if multiple brands, sort it into batches by brand.
I haven't shot piston in a few years, but when I did, I had batches of 1,000 and it was all the same brand. I didn't pick up range brass. Sure, its free, but it requires time sorting as you are.
I use RP in my .38 Special, because the groove is a bit wider than others, and it fit the full moon clips real well. I think I have about 3,000 pieces of that.
.45 Auto is also RP if I remember right. Have several thousand of that too. Shoe boxes work well to hold the emptys, and ammo cans for when loaded. Reloading can #1
I haven't shot piston in a few years, but when I did, I had batches of 1,000 and it was all the same brand. I didn't pick up range brass. Sure, its free, but it requires time sorting as you are.
I use RP in my .38 Special, because the groove is a bit wider than others, and it fit the full moon clips real well. I think I have about 3,000 pieces of that.
.45 Auto is also RP if I remember right. Have several thousand of that too. Shoe boxes work well to hold the emptys, and ammo cans for when loaded. Reloading can #1
Are you seating and crimping in the same operation, this will cause OAL problems.
It is better to seat in one operation and then taper crimp the cases.
Many types of competitive pistol shooters use range pickup brass. Meaning they reload whatever brass they pickup that has been scattered all over the shooting area.
That being said I buy bulk once fired military Winchester 9mm brass to keep them uniform.
NOTE, the Lee factory crimp die with the carbide ring in its base is a cheat for those who do not trim their pistol cases. The carbide ring will size the longer cases that bulge when crimped. This same die is used for the Lee bulge buster kit to size the base of the case to a uniform diameter.
Lee also makes a undersize die that sizes the case .002 to .003 smaller in diameter. This is for thinner cases or cases fired many times that spring back more when sized. This die is used by competitive shooters who use range pickup brass to increase bullet grip.
Below you will read postings on range pickup brass used by competitive shooters and reloading methods.
Brian Enos's Forums
General Reloading
https://forums.brianenos.com/forum/4-general-reloading/
I do separate the seating and crimp processes, learned on my 3 box of 50 that it creates way more uniformity and prevents bullet deformation.
I have not used the lee dual ring die but I have considered picking one up. I have replaced the barrel in my glock with a storm lake or it may have been mandatory. I must be lucky because I have only had one round in about the 2000 9mm I have reloaded not chamber due to case deformation.
I shoot 10 and 15 yards most. Limited to 20 in the indoor range. It's funny to watch people shoot Ars at 5 and 7 yards while I shoot pistol at 15.....and they miss an 8 inch circle?????
Two things the majority of pistol shooters never do.
1. Anneal their cases. (AccurateShooter pistol case humor)
2. Trim their cases.
That is why Lee made the FCD die with the carbide ring in is base.
Anyone experimented with the crimp tightness on a 9mm
https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/...htness-on-a-9mm/?tab=comments#comment-3136330
Below a 9mm case before a taper crimp.
Below the same 9mm case after applying a taper crimp, this crimp is for streamlining the case mouth for feeding and not for added bullet grip. You will also see the case is wasp-waisted and the diameter of the case controls bullet grip and not the crimp.
Below you trim revolver cases if you apply a roll crimp to apply the same crimping force. If the cases are not trimmed the longer cases will bulge below the crimp.
On the flip side I use a taper crimp with plated bullets with light loads with my .38, .357, .44 special and .44 magnum.
My 11 to boy did amazing while shooting next to an ar. I did not want this situation but took it for what it was and evaluated his performance. To be honest he did better than I would have. Gets tons of positive comments from all the range staff. #proudDAD
I shoot for fun and IDPA, and in both cases mixed range brass works great without any need for separating, except to throw out all steel and aluminum cases. The only sorting I do with 9mm is to get rid of those pesky 380's and 38 Supers, and for 45ACP cases is cull/recycle any small primer cases. When I shoot a major match I break out a batch of new brass to ensure there will be no issues.
Unlike rifle brass which grows/lengthens as it gets shot, pistol brass shortens as the base swells. I run all of my reloads through a case gage, which catches any Glock bulge. Besides case bulge, the other issue that seldom is checked with pistol brass is minimum case length. When the case gets too short it is prone to light strikes (failure to discharge) since it is no longer indexing off the case mouth / chamber shoulder. In this scenario the strength of the extractor is the only thing holding case when firing pin strikes.
A friend bought one of the new Silencerco Maxims (integrally suppressed 9mm). There have been a number of reports of light strikes. He experienced similar issue and started testing. The pistol fired reliably when fired with new brass, but became unreliable with reloads. After some further testing he narrowed it down to the case length being the issue. Range brass that fell short of SAMI spec minimum case length would always resulted in light strike. Unlike his Glock (strong extractor/spring), which held short case firm enough to take force of firing pin strike, the Maxim's extractor/spring is not strong enough to overcome the firing pin strike resulting in the cartridge gets pushed forward resulting in light strike.
Unlike rifle brass which grows/lengthens as it gets shot, pistol brass shortens as the base swells. I run all of my reloads through a case gage, which catches any Glock bulge. Besides case bulge, the other issue that seldom is checked with pistol brass is minimum case length. When the case gets too short it is prone to light strikes (failure to discharge) since it is no longer indexing off the case mouth / chamber shoulder. In this scenario the strength of the extractor is the only thing holding case when firing pin strikes.
A friend bought one of the new Silencerco Maxims (integrally suppressed 9mm). There have been a number of reports of light strikes. He experienced similar issue and started testing. The pistol fired reliably when fired with new brass, but became unreliable with reloads. After some further testing he narrowed it down to the case length being the issue. Range brass that fell short of SAMI spec minimum case length would always resulted in light strike. Unlike his Glock (strong extractor/spring), which held short case firm enough to take force of firing pin strike, the Maxim's extractor/spring is not strong enough to overcome the firing pin strike resulting in the cartridge gets pushed forward resulting in light strike.
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The vast majority of my 9mm loading is for combat pistol training. So I only sort out the military and crimped primers and the “sleeved” brass ( the ones with the thick walls below the bullet.).
for accuracy shooting (bullseye) I’d sort out one make from known once fired brass and develop a long line load with that. All the rest goes into the short line load. After 3 firings put it in the practice bin.
for accuracy shooting (bullseye) I’d sort out one make from known once fired brass and develop a long line load with that. All the rest goes into the short line load. After 3 firings put it in the practice bin.
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