9mm brass and bullets

[glenwolde]

9mm brass is just all over the place. With the popularity of the cartridge the market has been flooded with supply from all over the world. I tend to stick with the American stuff, Remington / Federal / Winchester for reloading target ammo. I load the foreign stuff but I segregate it and delegate it to plinking ammo.

Here's a cheap source for brass Once Fired 9mm Brass Cases | Reloading Supplies | Precision

 

[Moe Mentum]

Starline brass, Xtreme plated 124 grain bullets, and Power Pistol powder.

 

[george_lehr]

I was pleased with the range brass I bought from ACME Bullet Co. at $20.00/500.
George

 

[fredj338]

If buying new, tough to beat Starline for quality. I also like win, Speer, not a huge fan of federal or fc, soft brass, loses the primer pockets way too soon. Typically it's cheaper to buy bulk ammo like wwb for the brass vs buying brass & loading it.
Bullets, your best bet will be precision delta for jacketed, berrys or extreme for plated. I shoot lead or coated lead almost exclusively but in 9mm, can be a tough learning curve. I would start with 2000 precision delta jacketed & learn the ropes. Then try lead if you are cutting costs.
Unique is a great 9mm powder, but not best at levels below midrange. If you want truelly light loads you want powders in the aa#2 to w231 range.

 

[Nevada Ed]

As mentioned above it depends on what type of bullets you will try to reload. Lead, coated, plated, jacketed or even Moly.

Powder is another way to keep prices low, depending on how it is used.

Generally larger bullets will take LESS powder in their loading data but they will usually cost a little more..........

Another thing is the OAL of a load.
A long OAL of a 124 gr plated RN, Ball type design, can hold up to 6.3 grs of a slow burning powder.......... but crank that OAL down to around 1.08" and just 4.8grs is a compressed load.

Have fun and stay safe.

 

[fredj338]

In a service pistol load,powder is the cheapest part, I never even consider it in the choice of which powder I use. With primers at 3c, bullets at 7-12c for say 9mm, 1c or 2c for powder, who cares. That is about the diff from cheapest to most expensive. Not really thrifty paying an extra 1c per bullet to save 1/2c of powder.
Your greatest savings comes from reloading the brass case. Next up is making your own bullets. If you cast your own from free, scrounged alloy, then PC to ht coat, you are saving 6-11c per round, significant, but you will have more time invested.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Yes;
as a shotgun shooter we did the same thing here in Nevada when the bags of shot went from $18 up to $42 a bag for lead.

Shooting steel was another item that had us doing the math on what a reload cost was vs the factory duck or goose loads on the shelf.

It comes down to target loads or "Quality" loads that need top dollar units in the mix, depending at what it will be shot at.

Check out the new Hornady low drag bullet with the new "Plastic" melt prof bullet tip for hunting, price tag.
Later.

 

[Fishslayer]

If you want to go with new brass you can't go wrong with Starline. You can buy it direct with free shipping.
https://www.starlinebrass.com/order-online/caliber.cfm/caliber/9MM/

I use brass that I've scrounged at the range. Straight walled pistol brass lasts nearly forever. I toss severly bulged (Glocked) and any AMERC cases I come across. Some with the NATO cross need to have the primer pockets decrimped.

Be careful. Brass scrounging can become an obsession, as can the whole cleaning process, etc.

Xtreme makes a very good plated bullet. I use whatever I find on sale.

FWIW I use a small spritz of One Shot on my pistol brass. 9mm is a tapered case & the sizing step on dry brass can require a bit of effort.

 

[SpecRacer]

Keep in mind as your read this story that my local Bass Pro Shop charges $27 with tax for 100 new 9mm cases.

I went to the range today. Not my outdoor club range which is closed for lead removal, but to an indoor pay to play range. It is brass heaven! I fired 50 9 mm rounds in a half hour and left with 190 9mm empty cases. I think it more than worth the $13 price they charge for all day at the range and not fire one shot, just to pick up all the brass.

 

[Nevada Ed]

About Bass Pro...........

I have a $25 gift card from last Christmas that has yet to be used............
does that give you a clue of what I think about that store?

However I do have a Scheel's, Sportsman's Whse. and a Cabela's inside 8 miles from my house.

 

[SpecRacer]

About Bass Pro...........

I have a $25 gift card from last Christmas that has yet to be used............
does that give you a clue of what I think about that store?

However I do have a Scheel's, Sportsman's Whse. and a Cabela's inside 8 miles from my house.

When they are on sale, they have great cargo pants with deep front pockets. My favorite.

 

[fredj338]

Keep in mind as your read this story that my local Bass Pro Shop charges $27 with tax for 100 new 9mm cases.

I went to the range today. Not my outdoor club range which is closed for lead removal, but to an indoor pay to play range. It is brass heaven! I fired 50 9 mm rounds in a half hour and left with 190 9mm empty cases. I think it more than worth the $13 price they charge for all day at the range and not fire one shot, just to pick up all the brass.

Which was my point about buying say 1000rds of quality 9mm, brass cased, & shooting that for the brass. Even buying once fired, say $50/1000, so 5c each + 3c for a primer, 1c for powder & call it 8c for a bullet, you are at 17-18cc per round & have to reload it. What is 1000 Blaser brass in 9mm these days, $210, 21c each?

 

[mtgianni]

I believe that 9mm and cast are a great mix. The smoke and soot is a function of lube and fit. My cartridges run me $5.50 a hundred with cost of $1 a lb for lead, 4 gr of AA2 in a 6 lb jug and $25.00 a K primers.

 

[SpecRacer]

Which was my point about buying say 1000rds of quality 9mm, brass cased, & shooting that for the brass. Even buying once fired, say $50/1000, so 5c each + 3c for a primer, 1c for powder & call it 8c for a bullet, you are at 17-18cc per round & have to reload it. What is 1000 Blaser brass in 9mm these days, $210, 21c each?

And, that is less than what I can find per round locally for .22 ammo.

 

[SpecRacer]

I believe that 9mm and cast are a great mix. The smoke and soot is a function of lube and fit. My cartridges run me $5.50 a hundred with cost of $1 a lb for lead, 4 gr of AA2 in a 6 lb jug and $25.00 a K primers.

Do you cast your own? What mold do you like? How hard is the mixture? What do you use for lube?

 

[mtgianni]

I use water dropped wheel weights for 9mm, 356402 and the NOE 135 gr fn. 358242 is another great shooter. Lube with Felix and fit to the throat.

 

[e3mrk]

I found that the 124 gr.works better in My Pistols than the 115 gr does.

 

[Fishslayer]

All the pennies here & pennies there & 1K round cases discussion becomes moot when nobody has any ammo anywhere. That HAS happened ya know, and recently too.

 

[rsrocket1]

Reloading stores near Reno

About Bass Pro...........

I have a $25 gift card from last Christmas that has yet to be used............
does that give you a clue of what I think about that store?

However I do have a Scheel's, Sportsman's Whse. and a Cabela's inside 8 miles from my house.

Sportsman's Warehouse in Reno near the Costco is a good store. They don't price gouge, but consequently have had very low inventories of powder lately (like in the past 2 years). The one in Rocklin got quite a few Hodgdon kegs of Titewad and Universal (like Unique), but the price hikes on the Universal made it unattractive ($180). I did get 8# Titegroup there a few weeks back for $138 before tax. If you catch them when they get 8# jugs of Alliant powder, they were still charging $120 the last go around. Scheel's is pretty good to although a little more expensive and Cabelas in Verdi is even more expensive.

They opened a BPS in Rocklin a few months ago and their prices were completely out of whack. At least $100 more for any gun you could otherwise buy locally, $30-$40/# for powders and just about everything else 25-33% more expensive.

Personally, I'd use their gift card on clearance clothing or maybe a kid's pop gun.

 

[federali]

El Foundo Groundo

Yup. whatever I can pick up at my local outdoor range. I also commit the sin of of not sorting my brass by headstamp or most any other criteria. If it's clean, not Berdan primed, hasn't been stepped on or show obvious signs of having been reloaded, I'll use it.

Frankly, I've used virgin brass and scrounged brass and at least in my 9mms, I see no difference in accuracy.