Am I wrong to expect the brass to be very usable? I recently bought 142 pieces of 30-06 "once fired" brass and it was chit. I had to throw away 40 pcs because of case head seperation and some were trimmed way down: One being 2.435" which is about .050" shorter than suggested case trim length. Here are some pics:
![[Linked Image]](http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/003-28.jpg)
This was the shortest one. The others ranged from 2.465"-2.471" (still too short).
![[Linked Image]](http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/001-35.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/004-24.jpg)
Should I be pissed? I'm going to let it slide this time, but feel like if people say it is once fired it should be very servicable. Hell, I just threw away 100 pieces last month that this chit was susposed to replace. Just for the record, I have bought some damn good brass from some good guys here in the past. This time, not so much. What do you guys think????
It looks like some (all) of the brass has been run thru a F/L die. I would be kinda leery of brass that had been resized and had the primer punched out. The primer is one of the ways you can tell if it is indeed 1X.
If the seller bought the brass as a component, I doubt that he would prep it up, shoot it once, and then sell it.
In my experience, buying second hand rifle brass is a waste of money.
In my experience, buying second hand rifle brass is a waste of money.
Agreed. You have no idea if it is truly "once fired" or not. I pick up all the brass I find at the range and recycle. My guns cost too much to chance shooting brass of unknown heritage.
I doubt very much the brass was once fired. Unless there was a very significant headspace problem in the rifle, you will NEVER get incipient headspace separation on once fired brass. In addition, as noted above, it's highly unlikely one would size and trim once fired brass they were intending to sell.
You should be pissed.
I have bought LOTS of once fired brass but only from trusted sources. Thus far it has worked well for me. There has been a trend, since the Obama reloading scare, for every Tom, Dick and Harry to sell small lots of range brass and, surprisingly, people buy them. I generally only buy large lots (say 500 to 1,000 pieces) unless it's more unusual brass in which case I might spring for as few as 100.
What do you guys expect when buying "once fired" brass
I would expect it to be once fired.
Not trimmed, not resized. Then again, the only used brass that I would use is from a buddy or brass that I cannot find new and I was desperate for (rare or not made often). .30-06 would not be on the radar.
Trimmed indicates something other than once fired. 99.9% probability you got ripped on this particular deal.
I avoid resized as I want to see the fired primers. They can sometimes revealmany sins.
I have no idea why anyone would want to use once fired brass, unless they plan to shoot it once and not recover the cases - so just for garbage disposable loads.
Treated well, brass is the cheapest of all the reloading components, so it just makes no sense to me to start the reloading cycle with brass that is already messed up (not fired in the gun you are going to use it in). Even Lapua brass is very affordable when you consider it will last 20-40 or more reloads.
Sorry, but you asked what I thought...
Personally, I wouldn't buy it.
Dober
BSA,
I'm with the others regarding the trimming indicating that it's likely more than once fired. The expansion rings at the case heads in your pics appear fairly substantial. Possibly stiff reloads in a generous chamber. Are you running a L-shaped pick with a sharpened point inside your cases to check for incipient separations that aren't visible from the exterior?
Question- "What do you expect when buying "once fired brass?"
Answer That the one time it was fired it was loaded with an oversize bullet and a powder charge 15% over a proof testing load and fired in an m-60 machine gun with excessive headspace and the wrong bolt.
That would be for 243 brass, of course. Brass for an 06 would have been fired in a 7 magnum chamber.
I would expect this because I bought once fired brass from the Campfire once. Just once...
Fred
I don't buy "once fired" brass personally, nor do I pick up "range brass".
I've bought and sold once fired brass several times on the Campfire and I've been happy with the deal every time.
Never had any complaints from those I sold brass to either.
The vast majority of people at the Campfire are honest, upstanding folks who wouldn't lie to sell $30 worth of brass.
It appears the guy who sold BSA this brass isn't included in that group however.
Once fired brass has ben fired once, generally from commercial or military original loadings. Anything different is not once fired.
I have had good luck with a couple of sellers here on the Fire. Many cases I have were purchased as powder mules, so the actual specs are not real important. However, when they're sold as once-fired, that's what they should be. Period.
What do you guys expect when buying "once fired" brass
I would expect it to be once fired.
Not trimmed, not resized.
I agree. Why would someone bother resizing it, let alone trim just to sell it, they don't get any more for their time.
I've bought once fired and never had a problem. I've generally only bought it unsized and/or in the original factory ammo box.
Consider yourself lucky it was a small lot. I once ordered 1000 pcs of 45 ACP brass. I ended up tumbling it, putting it in a bucket, and used it as ballast so my truck would get better traction in the winter!
whelennut
Thanks guys. I had no idea it was trimmed or resized when I bought it. I guess I learned my lesson. I've bought once fired brass here on the fire for my new 300 wsm and was very pleased with the brass I got from 4 different individuals here. This time I think I took it in the shorts. Live and learn. Another guy bought from the same guy and he lives about 120 miles from me and I dont' think he'll be a happy camper either. Here's the original post listing the brass for sale. I don't see where it says trimmed or full length sized, but it does say the primer pockets were cleaned and the brass is "polished like new":
1. 375 H&H Mag. 100 pieces new Winchester. Shipped $80
No. 1 -- SOLD PENDING FUNDS
2. 375 H&H Mag. once fired. 16 pieces Winchester, 25 pieces of Federal nickel. Shipped $22
No. 2-- SOLD PENDING FUNDS
3. 300 H&H Mag. 80 pieces once fired. Shipped $55
4. 300 Win. Mag. 100 pieces once fired, mixed headstamps. Shipped $30
5. 30-06 Rem. 140 pieces of Rem. once fired. Shipped $25
6. 358 Winchester. 125 pieces new. Shipped $80
No. 6 SOLD PENDING FUNDS
7. 308 Winchester. 47 new Win., 32 once fired. Shipped $30
8. 7MM Rem. Mag. 24 new Rem. 32 pieces once fired Winchester. Shipped $25
All this once fired brass is polished like new, primer pockets cleaned. Ready to full length size and load. Prefer a Postal Money Order. Upon receipt of your funds, the brass will go out the same day by Priority Mail.
I won't buy used brass any longer
The only place that I would buy used brass from is one of the companies that is in the business, like GIBrass for example. Sometimes though, it's hard to resist a deal.
It's too bad that your experience wasn't better.
I expect it to be fairly clean, not corroded. and not re sized, if indeed truly once fired
I just bought some once fired 7mm WSM brass, Im hopeing it is good. I havent been able to find any new brass instock anywhere.
Starting the 7WSM parts collection, are you?
Are you sending the Montucky in to PN for a rebarrel?
I don't know about you guys, but there are times when it's easier and cheaper in the long run to buy loaded factory cartridges.
Mind you, that doesn't always work either. Last year I thought about buying a 17 Fireball for groundhogs. The rifles were plentiful and relatively inexpensive. So I started asking about 17 FB cases. Nope. Then I asked about loaded ammunition. Nope.
Scratch that idea!
What do you guys expect when buying "once fired" brass
Trouble.
Even Lapua brass is very affordable when you consider it will last 20-40 or more reloads....
Some guy ran several test once and published his results. One test tried to determine which brass lasted the longest on average. To accomplish this, he obtained several different brands of new brass and would shoot and load until near failure or failure. Not a test I would do, but kudos to him.
IIRC, Lapua lasted the longest. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20+ loadings. Most of my brass looks fine when I toss it in the recycle bin, but I only use brass for 5 loads. On occasion I've tossed it sooner just because I didn't like the way it looked.
YMMV
I would only use once fired brass where I knew the source of the brass. If I see a guy at the range shooting brand new ammo and he doesn't want his brass, and I can use it...I'll take it. Otherwise I chuck it. I won't use brass where I don't know the source because I don't know why they threw it out to begin with.
I refuse to place 60 KPSI next to my face with an unknown gasket, (brass), Holding that pressure back. I buy new and once fired is what I get when I open the action.
Bear
Nope just ain't taking the risk.
Another greedy seller [bleep] his fellow sportsman out of a few bucks. Sorry you got a raw deal bsa1917.
I buy once fired range brass from a local re-seller, it's all separated by brand. I buy Remington with yellow looking primers, so it's pretty obvious once fired based on the primer, crimp, and case condition.
At $20 a hundred I'm ok if I end up with a few bad ones. My component cost is about 33 cents a round for 30-06 if use the brass 4x more times (5 total loads), and Nosler second bullets :P
The problem I have seen is most of the time it isn't once fired brass. It has been pick ups at a range and a mix of use in the batch. Buckfever1
Another greedy seller [bleep] his fellow sportsman out of a few bucks. Sorry you got a raw deal bsa1917.
+1
And BSA isn't the only one to complain about this loser either.
It may be unreasonable but I have a problem with people who have nearly every one of their posts in the classifieds.
A cousin of mine just bought supposedly once fired Lake City brass in .308/7.62 that was already primed. He gave them to me to reload. The brass looked old with what looked like rust from many fingers touching them. Several pieces were throw-aways as the mouths looked like someone had used a hacksaw on them, but they were primed. He won't be doing that again.
I get my 308 brass from the rifle range after the police have finished there rifle shooting. Once fires Winchester brass 100 - 300 depending on how much they shoot. All boxed and nice and shinny.