Just curious, where do you get your handgun brass from?

Do you just buy dirty brass, new brass, or fully processed fired brass?



Ike







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I picked up my own used brass plus a bit over 300 rounds of 9mm at the range last weekend. Most folks at the range just leave it on the ground. I ask the range master to borrow a broom and dustpan and pick it up and toss it into a plastic bag. I sort it out when I get home.

Some people have access to large quantities of range brass. I know a county sheriffs dept that piles up a hundred pounds in short order. I buy it from these sellers when it's available. Jim

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That's just somebody talkin.

Picked up all my brass on the range (except for 357, that one I actually bought).

I know it sounds strange but I buy most of mine on Gun Broker for once fired brass. There are sellers up there selling brass in 500, 1000, and larger piece quantities for decent prices and they usually have decent shipping charges. Now be advised that not all of their brass is once fired as I believe they get it from gun ranges or they are a side line business for gun ranges. Anyway they usually ship fast and the product is decent and after tumbling works well and looks great.

Usually fired/not cleaned brass at gun shows by the bag....not lately!

At the local indoor range, I keep an eye out for neighbors shooting what I like to reload who are not picking up. I ask if I can pick theirs up and not only do I usually get a 'yes' but many times they help.

Some look at me like I'm crazy.... Yeah, crazy like a fox; Free brass!

Also, at the local shooting hole on BLM land, I look for "glory holes" of brass. Last weekend shooting 5.56, I found a shooting spot with a ton of new looking, I mean shiny, .45 Winchester brass!!

One good thing about the Jonny-come-lately's is they leave perfect brass laying around every time they shoot. Me, I scrounge everything reloadable up and give away what I don't want to a buddy.

There is some brass, but in all calibers I can't find enough to do any good. I save brass that I shoot and lately have bought some Starline which seems to be good stuff.

depends on the caliber.
if I'm forming 400 corbon from 45 auto, I buy new.
32 win special .. 30-30 range brass reforms to 32 just fine. its not a massive step. However Ive found maybe 15 pieces of 30-30 since I took on the project months ago. 30-30 just isnt as popular as it was.
revolver cartridges ... good luck finding that laying around. I buy that new.
45 auto, 9MM, 40 and 223. one could live off range brass alone.
However I run both new and range brass ...
range brass gets a moderate loading and is used for informal shooting where I might lose the stuff.
high end loadings are built into new

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it just needs more voltage

Wherever I can get it free or cheap. Clean or dirty, doesn't matter to me.

I got most of my handgun brass from buying new factory ammo and saving the brass before I started reloading. I am also willing to buy once fired brass when needed. Check the Classified forums on this forum and see if you can find what you need.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Keep what I shoot, p/u what I find at the range (which has been slim lately) & buy from a guy that after he shoots a 1,000 rds or so of various pistol calibers calls me.

Except for my 44mags, I don't see the point in paying double for new brass. Once fired from a reliable source is way cheaper & you are only losing on reload. Rilfe brass, I also go once fired for 223 & brass for my M1, but precision & hunting rifles, I buy new & track each reload.
I started shooting IDPA about 18m ago, haven't bought a 45acp case since. I haven't bought 9mm or 40 brass in 20yrs, it's aways around the local ranges.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

bought some online (once fired)
bought some from somebody in a forum that listed it for sale.
bought some from a local ammo reloader (all cleaned, inspected, deprimed, lubed - nice!)
Bought some mil surp from CMP

Our range rents out at times to LEO - 223 and 40 is most common, 45Gap and 12g 'do not reload' from slugs. I however shoot 9/38/30-30/30-06 so none of it does me any good.

I keep my brass, except around here IDPA is all lost brass (the guy running a stage gets all the brass shot at his stage as reward for working the match)

I would not and do not shoot any matches where the brass is lost! You pay your entrance fee, they shouldn't take your brass too. Not for me at all!!!

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Home, home on the range...

Last time I bought brass, it was $10/5gal bucket. Lots of stuff in there. I had gotten everything I wanted out and gave the last of it to a friend. He got 1500+ 9mm from my leftovers!

Pretty good for him! Free of charge!

If you ever do find yourself in need of brass and can't find once fired or a deal anywhere then try Starline Brass first before trying a big box retail website or store. Starline sells direct and is usually cheaper than anyone else out there.

Now if only they would make .30-30...

I usually use new factory ammunition for break in and pick up my brass
I also pickup range brass and buy once fired to supplement my supply
44 spl and mag is purchased new,
And for rifle I usually start with cheap/affordable factory (well that is non existent today) And try and buy about a 100pcs new to keep me in supply
CCW SD ammunition is all new factory!

I bought a 50-cartridge box of MFS Hungarian-made .38 special and was going to save the brass but the LGS owner said he can't reload because it's European ammo and the brass can't be reused. He was busy and couldn't quite explain why -- at least to my satisfaction. Something about "berdan" I think vs. American-made, which goes by another term or word. Any clarification?

New Brass from STARLINE, direct from the manufacturer.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

About 95% of all my brass is free range pickup form all the years when I visited the public range,back then ammo was plentiful and people just left it lying when they left. It was about an hours drive from my house so I made a day trip of the range visit not only to shoot but just to hang out help new shooter,talk reloading and pick up all that free brass.

I have more 9mm than I will ever ware out and convert some of it to 9 x 18 Mak. for my PA-63. The only caliber that never show up much was 300 Sav. so I took all the Win. .308 brass and made 300 Sav. brass from it. Other brass like .357 or 38 Spec. I swapped out brass I couldn't use for those. 7.62 x 54r and X39 reloadable brass was hard to find at the range as well,for those I pretty much had to buy that but I've gotten good deals on those two calibers over the years.

When I acquire a new caliber, I'll usually get a couple boxes of commercial ammo for testing, but then it all range ammo after that. I use it for all shooting purposes and have never had an issue with using it. Clean it and inspect closely, culling out any that's too damaged to be reused.

Look in the bottom of the inside of the case. If you see two very small holes then it's a Berdan primed case where the case itself requires the use of Berdan primers. That style of primer cannot be punched out in a die. It requires a claw sort of tool to pry them out.

Boxer primers are what you normally reload with and if you look into the bottom of the inside of the case you should see a roughly 1/16" flash hole dead center. Any ordinary sizing and depriming die will punch those out.

Oddly enough I've read that Boxer primers are a Euro invention and Bedan primers are a US invention and for whatever reason along the line we adopted each others primers. We made out the best though.

Left is MFS cartridge (bedan), right is from Wisconsin Cartridge Corp. (boxer) (don't think they're in business any more). I don't see any difference between the bottoms.

Um.......inside the case. It is really hard to reload any case until it is empty....

Just sayin'!

I didn't shoot any of the MFS yet so had no basis for comparison. But do see the small hole referenced by MaxBob in the Federal. Stupid me.

I get mine from shooting factory ammo and from friends.

Unless they have recently changed, MFS is boxer primed. I just checked my stash of brass and the 38 Special MFS I have is boxer primed.

I found Skip's house on the side of the road, and just pilfer his while he is casting.

I'm saving my MFS for now. Is it decent ammo? I got a box of 50 at a discount price of $18. Been sitting on the LGS shelf for a long time.

I've been blessed to have a range that doesn't mind if I pick up a little extra. If you folks let me know what the most needed is, I'll box up some and have another free raffle. The 40 cal I gave away on January brought some interest but the 9mm I gave away last week only gathered a few responses.

I buy new factory ammo, shoot it and reload. With some calibers new ammo didn't used to be much more than new unfired Remington or Starline brass. That's changed. Also, I used to buy some "once-fired" at gun shows--but that's changed also. Right now, I'm just waiting for the panic buying to wear itself out and reloading what I already have.

I saved brass for 20 years before I began reloading. Even now, friends and family save their brass for me so it adds up fast. I resize/deprime and tumble in batches then store it in food storage bags 'til I get around to reloading it.

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"Shall not be infringed"

i am a member of a heavily used range...soooo...i find it there all the time in many calibers....the range owner has probably 50 or so 5gal.buckets of brass at any one time...i can take a bucket home,sort thru,pull what i want and buy by the pound (cheap) of course i save my own brass and on occasion buy the oddball brass that i do not find,such as 41 magnum from either winchester or starline

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

I hate picking up brass, especially in the mud, so I buy it once fired in bulk. 40 S&W is easy to find and cheap. 223/5.56 was easy to find and cheap before recent events. Basically I keep a stockpile on hand and only buy more when the price is right. Brassman Brass was a good place but last time I checked, he was cleaned out

I buy mine. Usually Starline brass.

If I buy new brass I have enough to make decent sized batches of ammo with the same manufacturer and lot. I still have mixed used brass that I don't mind plinking with, but I'm trying to refine my loading methods, keeping track of number of times fired and the like. With the price of .357 factory ammo, I don't count on being able to get a lot of brass just by saving it.

berdan priming is a different setup from out more familiar boxer primed system.
in our boxer type, the anvil is in the primer and the flash hole is center of the case web.
Berdan the anvil is integrated into the primer pocket and the flash holes are offset to the sides of this anvil.
Berdan can be reloaded, however without an easy way of depriming due to the hole arrangement, there is very little interest in doing so. you can load 4 - 8 boxer primed cases in the time it would take you to reload a single berdan ... assuming that you have managed to source the appropriate primers and tools to do so.

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it just needs more voltage

I'm a member at a private gun glub . Very few reloaders so I'm drowning in 9 mm and 45acp once fired brass .

I have over 1000 9mm brass casings, now I just need reloading equipment!

I scrounge mine wherever I can, but if I need to buy some, I get it from T J Convera. You can't tell his processed brass from new.

Hydraulic depriming of berdan primed cases is fairly easy,you just fill the case with water,place it in it's appropriate shell holder for the caliber resting on a block of wood and use a nut driver handles that fits fairly snug in the case and give it a whack with a mallet,berdan primer pops right out. If your nut driver is just a little loose and your not getting enough hydraulic pressure a strip of plastic cut from a zip lock storage bag placed over the case mouth before the tool is inserted will do the trick.

I have about 1K Lapua berdan primed 7.62 x 39 cases that will get reloaded one day as soon as I order some .217 berdan primers. If I have to pay hazmat and shipping I'm going to make it worth my wild.

Berdan was an American whose priming system became the European standard. Boxer was an Englishman whose system became the American standard. Something got mixed along the way, apparently.

After you have been shooting for years, brass comes from everywhere:
range pickups.
new brass purchased (Starline, as stated above)
new ammo fired (usually WWB breaking in a new bototm feeder)
gifted from friends
local trader lists (got a huge cache of .44 special there)
LGS that sells lots of once-fired brass (or used to, anyhow)

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

One sure and easy way to tell if a cartridge is berdan primed is to break the decapping pin on your resizer. Somehow one got into my 30-06 brass and I was really getting steamed because the case wouldn't go through the die.

Except for a few hundred that I managed to save from factory loads that I have shot, all of my pistol brass is range pickup brass. I load .45 ACP, traditionally a low pressure round and as such, the brass tends to last for a LONG time. Therefore, it doesn't bother me to pick it up, tumble it, and use it without much worry. I have even started using those Federal cases with the small primer pockets. Works fine.

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NRA Life Member

1. pick up my brass from factory rounds.
2. pick up my brass from reloads.
3. pick up orphan brass from shooting area.
4. buy once fired brass when cheap and available.
5. buy factory brass.
Usually in that order of priority.

I've been getting my brass (.40 S&W) from Gunbroker, friends and I bought some brass online. Bullets and primers on the other hand have been a little more difficult to find at times. Just a matter of time before they start showing back in stock though.

I get a lot of brass dumpster diving at the range. I once had a range officer who saved all the .38/.357 brass at the range and would sell it to me at a very cheap price. Also I get brass from friends who shoot but don't reload. Right now I have a lot of brass!

I had great luck dumpster diving at the local range back home but not here; too small of an area.

Only range pick-up I can get is twice a year at our quals. Sometimes there area a lot of goodies left over from others and sometimes not. I save the .223 and some .40 from our quals.

Only brass I've had to buy is .357, .38 Super and 10mm

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442