When do you scrap your 9mm cases?

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

The majority of my 9mm cases are range finds. I don't know the history of them. They go into a tub after firing. I process them after I build up several hundred. So I don't even know how many times I've fired them. Now I load these light for practice and plinking; so I do nothing approaching max loads. Thoughts?

[growr]

when they split or primer will not stay in the pocket...

[Maximumbob54]

Originally Posted by growr

when they split or primer will not stay in the pocket...

Or when I can't find them.

[W.E.G.]

When they clear the ejection port.

If you see any 9mm cases around my firing point, you're welcome too them.

Besides, I can get eastern European steel-case practice ammo for the same money I can reload the stuff, give-or-take a few pennies per shot.

If I shoot 500 9mm rounds in a year, I'm doing good.

I'm not gonna reload 9mm to save ten bucks a year.

[DWalt]

I don't think I have ever thrown a 9mm case away, and some of mine go back to the 1950s. I have buckets full of them, so maybe I should discard some of the old ones.

[Bohica793]

Originally Posted by W.E.G.

I'm not gonna reload 9mm to save ten bucks a year.

I don't reload just to save money (although that is a nice extra). I reload for performance and for rounds that are either not commercially available or very difficult to locate. I also reload so that I still have ammunition when Congress decides to throw a tantrum and scare everyone.

And I throw away cases when they are no longer safe to use from splits or other defects.

[H Richard]

I don't load my rounds to the max, so I continue to load until it is either; split, loose primer or lost. I toss all the bad cases in a junk brass bucket and when it gets full I take and sell at the scrap metal place.

[3shots]

9mm cases are good and tuff. I loaded a single 9mm case with 5gr. of win.231 115 bullet 21 times and it still had tight primer pocket.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Originally Posted by W.E.G.

I'm not gonna reload 9mm to save ten bucks a year.

I can load 50 rounds of 9mm for under $3 using my own cast bullets. I'm not sure you can buy factory right now for much under $13/box. I heard the Walmart Federals are now $25/100. With tax even those are over $13 per 50. Most of the stuff I see is $15+. So to me, it's worth it.

BTW, thanks for all the replies. Sounds like I am in line with what most of you are doing. But it's good to get confirmation.

[shield]

I usually lose them before I have to scrap them.

[gwpercle]

We don't reload to save money. That's the story we give the wife when we want to buy more reloading "stuff".....Gee honey look at all the money I'm saving by making my own...Yeah Right, big myth perpertrated by reloaders.
I do shoot a lot more with the money I have to spend, but thats only after the equiptment has paid for itself...sort of....Naw , not really , truth is you don't really save money reloading , but it is a fun hobby.
Gary

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

I can only imagine how little I'd shoot if I was paying $25/box for 45 acp, $30/box for 357s and $15/box for 9mm. Yeah, I probably don't save any money. But I shoot about 10x more (at least).

[moxie]

Originally Posted by W.E.G.

When they clear the ejection port.

If you see any 9mm cases around my firing point, you're welcome too them.

Besides, I can get eastern European steel-case practice ammo for the same money I can reload the stuff, give-or-take a few pennies per shot.

If I shoot 500 9mm rounds in a year, I'm doing good.

I'm not gonna reload 9mm to save ten bucks a year.

So why are you posting here?

[blujax01]

Originally Posted by gwpercle

We don't reload to save money. That's the story we give the wife when we want to buy more reloading "stuff".....Gee honey look at all the money I'm saving by making my own...Yeah Right, big myth perpertrated by reloaders.
I do shoot a lot more with the money I have to spend, but thats only after the equiptment has paid for itself...sort of....Naw , not really , truth is you don't really save money reloading , but it is a fun hobby.
Gary

HEY! Ix-nay on the confession, Man.
You'll ruin it for all of us.

[ArchAngelCD]

When? When I lose them.
In most cases with semi-auto brass I lose them way before they fail.

[Engineer1911]

[QUOTE=gwpercle;137465285]We don't reload to save money. That's the story we give the wife when we want to buy more reloading "stuff".....Gee honey look at all the money I'm saving by making my own...Yeah Right. [QUOTE]

My wife saves lots of money. Before me, she was buying ammo at the gun range. Now she is getting ammo for free and supper is ready when she comes home from work. Retirement comes with a price !

[blujax01]

Originally Posted by moxie

So why are you posting here?

WEG reloads a lot, just not 9mm. I know quite a few folks who don't mess with the 9 - or didn't until recently...

[gwpercle]

Originally Posted by blujax01

HEY! Ix-nay on the confession, Man.
You'll ruin it for all of us.

Wives don't read the reloading posts ( I hope) and it's just payback for the times they come in from the mall and say "see this blouse was $70.00 and I got it for $30.00...saved you $40.00."...I still haven't figured out how that math works , she spent 30 and saved me 40 ???? So we are justified in our mathmatical calcultions reguarding savings and reloading. You could save money if you didn't keep buying new neat gear and gadgets but you got to have those neat new and better tools. It's like some sort of addiction.
Gary

[moxie]

Originally Posted by blujax01

WEG reloads a lot, just not 9mm. I know quite a few folks who don't mess with the 9 - or didn't until recently...

I didn't until fairly recently either, but I see no reason to rain on the OP's parade. If one can't be responsive, why post? All he's doing is talking down to the OP.

[scooter123]

Originally Posted by Jayhawkhuntclub

I can load 50 rounds of 9mm for under $3 using my own cast bullets. I'm not sure you can buy factory right now for much under $13/box. I heard the Walmart Federals are now $25/100. With tax even those are over $13 per 50. Most of the stuff I see is $15+. So to me, it's worth it.

BTW, thanks for all the replies. Sounds like I am in line with what most of you are doing. But it's good to get confirmation.

I'm going to have to call you out on your quoted cost per 50, that works out to 6 cents per round. The cheapest current price I've seen on primers is 29.99/1000, or 3 cents per round. If you are using a US powder you can figure on a powder cost of 1.5 to 1.8 cents per round, for Vita Vouri you can up that to about 2.5 cents per round. Based on today's price for Lead of 0.93 per pound a 125 grain bullet is going to cost you 1.7 cents if you can find pure lead at the market price. In the real world a specific alloy suitable for casting bullets is going to run about double that so being realistic you probably have at least 3 cents in every bullet you cast. We can neglect your lube because that cost is likely below 1/10 cents per round and we'll also neglect the cost for your brass because if you're loading moderate loads you can likely expect 30-50 reload cycles. So, .03 + .0165 + .03 totals up to 0.0765 dollars or 7.65 cents per round. So, at todays best prices you're running at 3.83 dollars per box of 50.

Granted, that aint bad at all and some might point out that I'm quibbling. However, the point of this is to cite todays costs so all those naysayers can see what the real world cost actually is for someone casting their own bullets.

BTW, I prefer shooting plated bullets because it's cleaner and I don't have a good area for casting that has adequate ventilation. Actual real world cost for loading the 9mm using plated bullets will run pretty close to 6 cents more per round than that cited above. So the cost per box reloading plated bullets works out to 6.82 for a box of 50. All you doubters out there just try and find any 9mm this cheap anywhere. You'll need a time machine.

Finally, anyone shooting 38 spl. needs to know that it only costs about 10-15 cents more to reload fifty 38 specials than 9mm. The reason for that is the larger volume in a 38 spl. case requires a bit more powder, usually about 5-8 percent. So, compare the cost to reload a box of 38 special to what you can occasionally find at Walmart and you are looking at about 4-7 bucks versus something like 25 dollars.

[jfp357]

I`m with you Scooter. There is a savings and it is fun. You don't have to camp out at Walmart hoping to get your ammo just to find out there is none.

[SMSgt]

I partially recycle mine every time I go to the range. Bubba sweeps up half of mine and throws it in the scrap bucket; I pick up half of his and throw it in my empties bag. The trick is to have Bubba shoot more rounds than I do.

[Bkreutz]

I scrap mine when they show one of two different pictures. I've attached copies below. I find a split one every 5000 cases or so, no real pattern except they all were Federal cases. The other instance is when I can't read the headstamp anymore. The second is the most common reason they go into the scrap box.

[blujax01]

Originally Posted by SMSgt

I partially recycle mine every time I go to the range. Bubba sweeps up half of mine and throws it in the scrap bucket; I pick up half of his and throw it in my empties bag. The trick is to have Bubba shoot more rounds than I do.

[Freischütz]

I shoot them until they crack. With some brands the primer pocket may loosen to the point where it won't hold the unfired primer. Those go in the trash too.

[djh1765]

As long as they will hold the primers tight and are not cracked or split keep on loading them.

[jepp2]

Near the bottom of the article in this link a study was done to determine the maximum number of loads for a variety of 9mm brass. Average number of loads was 35. Yes, sample size of 2 per manufacturer was very low, but results were still interesting.

[amazingflapjack]

They laughed at me when I was saving and loading 9's-then there weren't any, and the laughter stopped.

[G-Mac]

Originally Posted by moxie

All he's doing is talking down to the OP.

Or maybe just being honest. I gave up on reloading 9mm a long time ago myself.

There wouldn't be any "range brass" if there weren't people that just left it laying there before they packed up and went home.

[mkk41]

Originally Posted by W.E.G.

When they clear the ejection port.

Yep! The ammo was always too cheap and the cases too small to justify a 9mm set up for my Dillon and I ain't gonna do them single stage. Don't shoot much 9mmP anymore. I did buy a bunch back when I could get 124gr FMJ for $100/1000rd delivered. Still have a few cases. Bench time is needed for real calibers like .38 Special , .45 ACP and .41 mag.

But I still save my boxer primed brass because ya just never know!

[EugeneNine]

I see a lot track the number of times a case is reused but I shoot on my farm and sometimes don't find all the ejected casings until later so I end loose track of the counts on those. So I gave up on trying to count and instead inspect them close.

Originally Posted by W.E.G.

When they clear the ejection port.

If you see any 9mm cases around my firing point, you're welcome too them.

Besides, I can get eastern European steel-case practice ammo for the same money I can reload the stuff, give-or-take a few pennies per shot.

If I shoot 500 9mm rounds in a year, I'm doing good.

I'm not gonna reload 9mm to save ten bucks a year.

If its not worth your money to reload then why is it worth your time to post in reloading threads?

[CatSnipah]

When I pack them up to send them off to Freedom Munitions.

Or when I sell them to folks who want to reload for themselves.

[G-Mac]

Originally Posted by mkk41

Bench time is needed for real calibers like .38 Special, .45 ACP and .41 mag.

[mtgianni]

I bought primers last year @ $105 per 5k, 25 shipping. Cost per 100 primers is $2.60. Lead ww alloy is $1 per lb. 125 gr x 100 = 12500/7000 = $1.79 Powder this Sept. was $148 per 8 lb keg. $18.50 lb/7000=$0.0026. 4 gr powder = $0.01. 100 shells have a powder cost of $1.04, lead cost $1.79, primer cost $2.60 total per 100 rds is $5.43 cost per 50 is $2.72. I could add in time and amortization of equipment, the $0.005 cost of homemade lube but neither would convince the naysayers. I could also talk about the lead that was bought scrap for $0.25 a lb. I shoot 1200-1500 9mm a year.

[Engineer1911]

I built a bullet sifter for $9.67 from used 2x4 lumber and new hardware cloth / screen. In 1.5 hours at the range (I was going to shoot anyway) mining bullets from the berm yielded 275 lbs of bullet metal. I DON'T CARE what the alloy composition is because the cast bullets are for plinking.

I have amortized the cost of molds, bullet sizer, etc years ago. Based on primer and powder prices when I filled my inventory (powder $18/ # and primers $22 / 1000 including shipping) my ammo costs for centerfire handgun ammo is under $2 per 50 rounds. I have supplies for at least 5 more years. Two simple thoughts: 1) Retirement, 2) Be prepared!!

Diversify: 9mm, 38 spl, 357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, & 45 acp plus a half-dozen rifle calibers. Life's too short for just 22 LR and one center fire caliber.

You can't spend your entire retirement working on a 'Honey Do' list.

[W.E.G.]

Wow.

Lots of hatin' on me for saying I don't think 9mm is worth my time to reload.

If you shoot a LOT of it, AND you are satisfied with the performance of lead bullets in your application, AND you don't feel that your time is mis-used loading it, then go for it.

I've reloaded a thousand rounds or so of lead-bullet 9mm, and I was dissatisfied with its performance. The "cheap" steel case stuff worked at least as well, or better.

I do reload a lot. I can't spend my whole life at the reloading press. If all you reload is 9mm, I can see where you might justify the time.

All I'm really trying to say is, 9mm is the least-worthwhile round I've ever loaded when I account for my time invested, and the performance delivered by the finished product.

And you can still have my brass (what little brass-cased 9mm I shoot) when it clears my ejection port.