Mixed Brass Question

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PapaWheelie

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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
 
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Examine carefully after tumbling, toss any that have issues, resize and examine again. I would trim for OAL. When priming, be a wary of primer pocket tightness and toss any that are sloppy. Should be fine for target loads. Buy yourself some new brass for heavy loads and hunting. You want factory ammo for self defense.
 
Based entirely upon my own "science experiments" with 9mm range pick-up brass, I would rate the quality of the head stamps in the following order:

Excellent: SIG, X-Treme. WIN, R-P & StarLine

Good: PPU, GFL, S&B, Hornady, Aquila

"Meh": Federal, Blaser, All Else

The above ranking is based on standard deviations and extreme spread of the weights of the cleaned (but not de-primed) 9mm pick-ups. 357 brass may be an entirely different kettle of fish, but it's what I've got to go on. 357 brass pick-ups are uncommon around here. -S2
 
Speedo2 said:
357 brass pick-ups are uncommon around here. -S2
Click to expand...

Thought it would be here too so figured I have to buy it. It will be lot easier for me to save the brass when you just swing the cylinder out and dump the brass vs. crawling on my tired old knees picking up semi-auto brass.
 
Mixed Brass

I just reloaded some 357 mixed brass with RP,winc, GLF, CBC, and a couple
of PMC. The PMC had a really different feel in resizing, all the rest felt about the same. Maybe the PMC is thicker? I have used Jag in 45Colt and was quite pleased with it. Willyboy
 
Winchester--- good stuff, its Winchester
Star--- Star Line, when I buy new brass, this is what I prefer
R-P--- Remington-Peters, its ok, but I wouldn't buy it
G.F.L.--- Fiocchi, good stuff
Federal-- No complaints
PPU--- Prvi Partizan Užice, its Serb
Blazer (brass)-- its ok
Aguila--- ok
X-treme--- no experience with this one
PMC-- I like the brass alloy but often the flash holes are off center
Horniday--- Hornady it used to be good brass when Norma made it for them, not sure about now
A USA--never heard of it
A-Merc--never heard of it
S&B-- Sellier & Bellot another eastern european headstamp
Sig--- No experience
CBC---Magtech
IMI--Israeli Military Industries
Jag-- never heard of it
Deco-- Are you sure its not Geco?
NNY[/QUOTE]


When I get a quantity of brass, I try to separate out the ones I want to keep and then shoot all the random headstamped ones when I go shooting somewhere I don't feel like picking up brass.
 
I picked up some amerc .45 brass somebody left on the range, and found out why they didn't bother picking it up. The brass had large variance in thickness and length. I trimmed and few, then put the rest in the salvage recycle bucket when I saw the thin areas.
 
Appreciate the replies, Thank you. I think I'll take the advice, reload the questionable stuff once and toss.
Israeli Military Industries? You know I do remember seeing what looked like an ordinance mark - but don't remember on what. Wonder where they came from.
 
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Winchester--- good stuff, its Winchester. Mine has varying thickness on rims. May jam in your case holder.
Star--- Starline is excellent brass
R-P--- My favorite brass for wadcutters
G.F.L.--- Good to go
Federal-- Favorite brass for range loads
PPU--- Good stuff
Blazer (brass)--Good stuff
Aguila--- Good stuff
X-treme--- Fine
PMC-- Fine
Horniday--- Hornady it used to be good brass when Norma made it for them, not sure about now
A USA-- GARBAGE. RECYCLE IT.
A-Merc--GARBAGE. RECYCLE IT.
S&B-- Great!
Sig--- No experience
CBC---Works well
IMI--Check IMI. I throw out all their 9mm brass because they reinforced the case head, reducing capacity. Could cause a dangerous pressure situation. Make sure its not the same on their revolver stuff.
Jag--???
Deco-- Probably Geco, works fine
NNY - NNY is cyrillic for PPU. Works fine
 
I've been reloading 357s since the late '70s and not found any cases that were really "bad", and have used many of the ones you listed, 13, and you listed a couple I've never heard of. While I have not tried any, the A-Merc as been reported to be very poor brass in several reloading forums, and if/when I come across any, I toss it. For a new reloader, it's OK to sort brass by headstamp and when I start a load work up, I stay with one mfg. until I reach "the" load and after that I'll often go to mixed brass for my reloads. When I started reloading, way pre-web, I sorted my brass by headstamp, partly because I was inspecting them anyway, and my COD and ignorance. Today I sort by headstamp for my accurate rifles, during a work up, and of out of boredom...

38 Special, mixed brass
357 Magnum, standard loads, mixed brass.
357 Magnum, heavy, near max loads, sort by headstamp.
44 Spec., mixed brass.
44 Magnum, standard loads, mixed brass.
44 Magnum, T-Rex Killer loads, sort by headstamp.
380 Auto, 9mm, 45 ACP, mixed brass...
 
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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.
 
A-MERC is usually of poor quality, with off center flash holes, etc. Maybe OK, but check them just in case. Never heard of Jag, Deco, or NNY, sorry.
 
I've used range pickup mixed brass and am very familiar with all the attendant headaches that can go along with its use. Brass costs more than it ever has, but amortize the cost over the life of once-fired, same headstamp brass or new brass and it's really very cheap without all the accompanying potential problems of pickup brass.

Mixed pickup brass with an unknown history may work fine, but it will never work better than new or once-fired brass with the same headstamp.
 
rockquarry said:
Mixed pickup brass with an unknown history may work fine, but it will never work better than new or once-fired brass with the same headstamp.
Click to expand...

This!

I sort 45 and 9mm by mfg. With the exception of A-Merc, A-USA, X-treme, and any Tula headstamp anything not made in the US will get 1 reload and shot at the fu-fu range that discourages policing your brass.

When I go to my favorite range with my reloads I know what headstamp I am shooting. When I get home usually 95% of the brass is the headstamp I took with me. Anything extra is range pickup that will get extra scrutiny. I always come home with more brass than I carried with me.

The 9mm because of internal volume and quality of the brass issues. The 45 to get only small primer as I have gone to the dark side. My 44 and 357mag is all starline. I have a pile of US made mix 38spl that is my plinking stock.
 
OP, you asked about target loads(to me that means mid range lead rounds < 1000 fps) , for general plinking the mixed brass is fine, as long as the brass is serviceable it will be fine. The only thing to be aware of is the slight variation in case lenght may create inconsistent crimps, but again we are talking target loads right? which typically only need a very mild crimp anyway.( no need to over work the brass) The Hornady brass will be noticeably shorter than the others. No need to trim pistol brass, but you do need be aware of variations, you may need to adjust your crimp die on the fly. I try to sort and load brass based on head stamps this helps.
 
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Right now all I'm loading for is for indoor target <1000 fps and low 900's the range I want to be in. I just tossed all the brass that was suggested above and sorted all my brass by headstamp. Since I bought these once fired I have been trimming all to 1.280" for uniformity of the taper crimp and, from what I've been reading, that should be the last time I need to trim as long as I stick with the .38 loads in the 357 brass. I shot my 686 today for the first time ever and used the first 200 reloads I made. I'm happy to say they all went bang and produced better than expected groups at 50 feet.

And today I also learned why they call Unique combustible dirt....
 
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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
 
PapaWheelie said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
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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
 
PapaWheelie said:
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.
Click to expand...
I have used a lot of Israel Military Industries (IMI) brass, mostly handgun brass and I have had no troubles with it...
 
ArchAngelCD said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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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...
 
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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.
 
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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.
 
PapaWheelie said:
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.
Click to expand...
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...).
 
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