Hello All! I'm new to this forum and new to reloading. I own a .357 Magnum (S&W 686-6" Barrel, 6 cylinder) and after five months, have had one hell of a time finding factory ammunition so I purchased some reloading equipment.

I have about six-hundred cases of once fired brass, (ammunition I fired myself) and I purchased a bag of 100 suposedly "once fired" brass from the range. It contained twelve different manufacturers brass and need help identifying it, and for those who are technically minded, what brass is appropriate for handgun reloading and what is garbage. Personal experience with various brass and loads in .357 Mag would be appreciated!

I would also like to pool your minds for good resources about cartridge development, and brass identification.

The brass is: "RP"-Remington, "Winchester"-Obvious, "Hornady"-Obvious, "*I*"-???, "G.F.L."-???, "S&B"-???, "CBC"-Magtech?, "MIDWAY"-???, "PMC"-Obvious, "FEDERAL"-Obvious, and what I believe is Star brass-it has a star, a circular line and another star.

I'm leery of re-using the 150 Federal brass cases as 24 of the 150 Federal's American Eagle brand 158gr cartridges that I used were very hot, causing flat primers, hard to eject cases, and a handful of times I was unable to rotate the cylinder. So far Federal has not returned my calls. Should I throw out brass that was hot or resize and experiment? Thanks.

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-JAC