Mixed Brass Question

[muddocktor]

Here's my experiences with the brass you mentioned with 357 brass:

Winchester - Good stuff
Star - I take this to be Starline, good brass
R-P - OK, a bit on the thin side
G.F.L. - Fiocchi brass, very good stuff
Federal - Good brass
PPU - not too much experience with it but it seems to be holding up
Blazer (brass) - OK brass
Aguila - Mexican brass, not much experience with it
X-treme - Variable, I think they have used multiple different vendors to make their brass
PMC - OK brass, seems to loosen the primer pocket prematurely though
Hornady - Good brass but you got to watch for short brass. The brass used with their flex tip bullets is shorter than regular 357 Mag brass
A USA - No experience
A-Merc - No experience
S&B - Good brass but primer pocket has a sharp shoulder that tends to hang the primer if not careful priming them
Sig - No experience
CBC - Magtech brass. Decent quality
IMI - No experience
Jag - No experience
Deco - If it's Geco, then I find that brass to be thick as compared to many other brands
NNY - No experience According to this website here, that is Cyrillic letters equal to "PPU in the Western alphabet. So that should be PPU brass made for Europe and the Eastern Block countries

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm just getting into reloading for my 357 with light to medium loads. I just bought 500 cases, once fired and mixed, on line. They weren't kidding when they said mixed - 20 different types. From what I've read there is no problem mixing brass with the target loads I'm planning but I've never heard of some of these. Are there any on this list that I should not use or have caused problems in your experience? I have no problem tossing any questionable brands.

Winchester
Star
R-P
G.F.L.
Federal
PPU
Blazer (brass)
Aguila
X-treme
PMC
Horniday
A USA
A-Merc
S&B
Sig
CBC
IMI
Jag
Deco
NNY

All the above brass can be used for more than target ammo but for a few. Toss A-Merc and A USA to into the scrap bucket without a loading IMO. I have no experience with NNY, Deco, Jay or Star brass. All the others are good. Try to put together 50 round boxes of the same headstamp for similar neck tension for better accuracy.

How much did that brass cost you? 500 pieces of brand new Starline brass which is high quality costs $76.49 on Midway USA right now.

Edit: I like IMI 38/357 brass. I never had a problem with IMI cases.

 

[StrawHat]

I competed in PPC for about a decade. I shot enough to fill several 5 gallon pails with spent primers. Here is what I learned about head stamps. My load was a 38 Special target standard, 148 grain wadcutter over 2.8 grains of Bullseye, sparked by Federal primers. (I trimmed all of my brass once and never needed to again.)

I used mixed headstamp for practice rounds and Federal brass for matches. Looking at my records I am not sure why I did this as my practice scores equaled my match scores.

I remember that Federal brass was the most consistent stuff at that time but it all lasted for many firings. Some of the best brass I had was nickel plated stuff I got from a guy in a steel mill. I forget the headstamp, it wasn't common, but they had buckets of them. I got two or three 5 gallon pails full of the empties and shot them until they split. (You could always here the split empties "ting" when you poured them out for cleaning.).

The best part about free brass is it gets you shooting.

Kevin

 

[stansdds]

Definitely toss the A-Merc and A-USA brass, it is junk and should be avoided like the plague.

 

[mikld]

Seems to be a consensus above so I'll pitch the A USA, A-Merc, Jag and IMI to start. Too much at stake to screw around with questionable brass.
Thanks for all the replies guys, exactly the info I was looking for.

I have used a lot of Israel Military Industries (IMI) brass, mostly handgun brass and I have had no troubles with it...

 

[PapaWheelie]

All the above brass can be used for more than target ammo but for a few. Toss A-Merc and A USA to into the scrap bucket without a loading IMO. I have no experience with NNY, Deco, Jay or Star brass. All the others are good. Try to put together 50 round boxes of the same headstamp for similar neck tension for better accuracy.

How much did that brass cost you? 500 pieces of brand new Starline brass which is high quality costs $76.49 on Midway USA right now.

Edit: I like IMI 38/357 brass. I never had a problem with IMI cases.

I paid $36.00 ($40.00 less 10% coupon code) plus $8.00 shipping. I must say I was very disappointed to get 20 different headstamps in one bag and to have to throw away brass because it's garbage or unsafe. Live and learn - but I'm glad I asked here and received good replies before I found out it was garbage the hard way.

 

[mikld]

I haven't heard of any brass that is unsafe, at least for a few reloads. The A-Merc I've read about are just poorly made, with some dimensions out f range, too large primer pockets and off center flash holes. I don't remember any case separations on the first reload but some have very short case life. I think I would sort the "common" brass, the first eleven on your list (Star?) and just keep the others in a box somewhere and you can play with them when you gain more experience with used brass. I carefully inspect every case, and measure some, that comes into my shop and I'm satisfied my brass is good to go...

BTW; when you buy "once fired brass:, and unless they specify one headstamp, you will get every kind of case they gleaned from a range or dealer. I have purchased a lot of once fired brass and most will sweeten the pot with two to five cases over count, and I once got 100, 45 ACP cases with 2 steel cases, but that is the exception...

 

[PapaWheelie]

mikld,
Appreciate the response but as I'm in the north side of my sixties, and have more boxes of stuff that "I'm saving for later" than my basement can hold, I just threw out anything that was questionable. It hurt, but I owe it to my son who someday will have to go through these boxes.

I ordered mixed and really don't have a problem with receiving and mixing different headstamps. I read what I can and didn't think there was a problem mixing for the loads I was planning. I guess I was disappointed though in the large number of different types. I was unfamiliar with most of them and asked if there was any I should know about.

 

[BB57]

For practice and plinking loads in pistol calibers I don't discriminate.

If I encounter a problem on the press (under or over sized primer pocket, etc), I'll toss it in the recycle bucket, other wise I load it and shoot it.

If I am loading target loads where accuracy matters, I'll sort by headstamp. But be advised that many companies do not make their own brass, but instead contract with other companies that just headstamp it for the requested brand. And who they contract with can change. (Winchester is very bad in this regard.) That means sorting by headstamp doesn't always work as well as you'd hope it would.

----

If I am loading self defense loads, I will use new brass, or once fired brass that I fired from that new brass. There is no significant difference between new brass and once fired brass provided you properly resize it.

I disagree with the crowd who insist you only want to use factory ammo for your self defense loads. I am able to load much more consistent self defense ammo than any factory ammo I have encountered yet. I have full control over the primers used, how they are handled, the powder type and charge, and the bullet and bullet consistency, seating depth and OAL to optimize performance in my handgun.

I have never had a failure to fire with my hand loaded self defense loads. I cannot say the same about factory loaded self defense loads.

 

[mikld]

mikld,
Appreciate the response but as I'm in the north side of my sixties, and have more boxes of stuff that "I'm saving for later" than my basement can hold, I just threw out anything that was questionable. It hurt, but I owe it to my son who someday will have to go through these boxes.

I ordered mixed and really don't have a problem with receiving and mixing different headstamps. I read what I can and didn't think there was a problem mixing for the loads I was planning. I guess I was disappointed though in the large number of different types. I was unfamiliar with most of them and asked if there was any I should know about.

Yes, I understand. My wife came out to my shop the other day to call me in for lunch and just looked around at my tools and equipment (I have two tool chests stuffed with a 25 year accumulation of mechanic's/electrician's tools). Later that evening she asked me what is she going to do with all that stuff when I die. I gave her the names of two friends and told her to give them the keys for the shop and have them empty it. I'm sure they would enjoy that (about 2,000 cast bullets, 200 lbs of lead ingots, 20+ lbs of powder, 5,000 empty cases, 1,000 jacketed bullets, 4 presses, 12 die sets and about 1.58 metric tons of assorted reloading tools...).

 

[PapaWheelie]

Yes, I understand. My wife came out to my shop the other day to call me in for lunch and just looked around at my tools and equipment (I have two tool chests stuffed with a 25 year accumulation of mechanic's/electrician's tools). Later that evening she asked me what is she going to do with all that stuff when I die. I gave her the names of two friends and told her to give them the keys for the shop and have them empty it. I'm sure they would enjoy that (about 2,000 cast bullets, 200 lbs of lead ingots, 20+ lbs of powder, 5,000 empty cases, 1,000 jacketed bullets, 4 presses, 12 die sets and about 1.58 metric tons of assorted reloading tools...).

I have way too many hobbies and have collected years of "stuff" from each. I seldom throw anything away. You know - you never know when you might need it.
My son has already told me that when I'm gone he's going to have a rummage sale with a one dollar pile, a five dollar pile, and a ten dollar pile.....

 

[Nightowl]

As was stated in one of the above posts, Hornady .357 brass is significantly shorter than other brands and should be separated and loaded separately, due to pressure and crimping differences.

Personally, I just throw them away as they are more trouble than they are worth! They are such a small percentage of my brass and I have so few rounds that they are not worth doing separately.

 

[mtgianni]

If there is a line after the star you will find no better brass than Star-line.
Back in the day if you ordered 10,000 wadcutters you could get any headstamp you wanted, including your own name.

 

[stansdds]

Starline is excellent brass, but their case head stamps do vary. All of them have a star, but some will be *- or *-* or *-*-* or -*-. Most of their brass have a 5-pointed star, but some of their brass have a 6-pointed star.