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Once Fired Brass
Copyright 2019, Stephen Redgwell

Most people know that once fired brass can be a bargain, but there are shooters who won’t consider using it.

“It’s alright for people who can’t afford good brass.”
“It’s poorly made.”
“It’s prone to cracking because it isn’t annealed.”
“The cases are too much work to get ready to use. The primer pockets have to be swaged to remove the crimps..”
"It’s only good for guys who shoot ARs.”
“I don’t think it’s legal to use...”

Wow, the stories and misinformation I’ve heard at gun shows and some ranges surprised me. I hope that I can clear up some of the bad press. Once fired brass has been around for a long time, but despite that, bad information is still circulating.

This discussion concerns Canadian IVI (Valcartier Industries) once fired, surplus brass. Pick your poison. 5.56, 7.62x51mm, 9mm, etc.

The brass is made in Canada by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems – Canada Inc. (GD-OTS Canada) in Quebec. I have always found it funny that a US multinational aerospace company owns and manufactures ammunition for the Canadian Armed Forces. To be fair, they bought the company long after it was established. Canadian small arms ammunition has been made under several names – Dominion Arsenal, Canadian Industries Ltd, the Dominion Cartridge Co, and others. It’s been in production continuously for over 100 years.

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The brass is made to a specified standard. Informally, it is referred to as mil-spec or military specification. That simply means the ammunition must conform to a set of rules laid out by the military. In most cases, ammunition must be specially made so that other NATO countries can use it, if required. All cartridges must meet velocity, pressure and accuracy standards, and long term storage criteria.

All ammunition is tested and its performance monitored after manufacture. All ammunition lots are tested to ensure conformity to the MIL-STD, and random samples of issued ammunition are tested to ensure quality. Suspect lots of ammunition are quarantined, inspected, and if necessary, destroyed.

In short, there is nothing wrong with military brass. It is very well made. During manufacture, all brass is annealed and must pass a number of quality control inspections.

How do I know this? I was an armourer in the service, and have seen and been involved with testing, quarantining and destruction of many types of ammunition and explosives.

It should be obvious that if I can buy once fired brass from a Canadian store, it cannot be illegal to own or use. So let’s look at these businesses.

First off, where do they get the brass? All brass is picked up by military range users after firing. Keeping the range clean is expected, and all members must tidy up the mess they made.



Bottom left of the tri-wall is the white contents label and a red "Certified Free From Explosives" label.

The brass is collected and packaged at individual bases in tri-walls (heavy duty cardboard boxes on pallets). Full skids are given over for sale to CAD – Crown Assets Disposal. Crown Assets Disposal is tasked by the Cdn government to sell off the brass via auction.

Here’s a link to a successful sale of 36,000 kg, (79,200 lb) of assorted, once fired brass. The winning bid was $187,301. That’s $2.36 a pound, of various expended small arms ammunition casings, up to .50cal.

Brass Auction

This is mixed brass. That is, several calibres constitute the lot. But for fun, let’s assume that it was all 5.56 brass. At 94 grains each, that would be approximately 5.9 million cases with a value of 3 cents each.

A large quantity of spent cases like this is not purchased by individual gun shops. It is resold to shops and businesses who must clean it up and repackage it for sale. There will be losses due to damaged cases, and there is a cost involved in transport and cleaning it up. Still, buying once fired brass this way truly is a bargain.

Depending on the re-seller, the public can buy once fired brass in one of three ways:

a. As is;
b. Cleaned, but not resized or trimmed: and
c. Completely reworked – cleaned, trimmed and the primer pockets swaged.

Completely reworked is the way to go if you do not have the equipment to clean, trim and swage the primer pockets.

A few months ago, I bought 500 5.56 cases for $80. Forgetting the tax and shipping, that works out to 16 cents a piece. To my mind, that is excellent value! If dirty range brass is sold by the government for 3 cents a piece and gets to you for 16 cents a piece all cleaned and prepped, how can you go wrong? Compare this to new cases at your local gun shop.

I checked the prices for new 223 brass at a number of shops. The best I could find was $43 per hundred or 43 cents each. The savings per case is 27 cents each!

So, if you’re worried about quality, don’t be. If you’re concerned about maximizing the number of shots you’ll get from each case, relax. Once fired brass is a bargain!

Some guys just can't keep a secret. (Very good info anyway)

You are talking once fired military brass. Here in the states, when you say "once fired", it usually pertains to once fired factory commercial brass. With this brass, you don't have to worry about swaging primer pockets. Generally its good stuff and I pick it up and reload it. When I find once fired military brass laying on the ground at the range or rock quarries, I leave it lay. It's garbage as far as I'm concerned and I won't put my time into it. It's not worth it. Also, around here, you don't have to buy .223 or 556 brass. Our local ranges and rock quarries are littered with the stuff.... I remember picking up 1,200 pieces of good usable brass last year for my 223/556 ar's and bolt guns. That was FC and PMC brass that I picked up on one range trip. I've been using the chit out of that brass in my AR's and my predator bolt action. It cleans up nice:



It loads up well and shoots great. But the best thing about it, is, it's free!! I wouldn't waste my hard earned money on 223 brass... Funny how things are different between the states and good ol Canada..... aye...

I scored 600 once fired 444 Marlin RP brass for $99 on ebay several years ago.

I guess that's why I posted this in the Cdn section, talking about what other Cdns have said to me at the range about IVI brass. I also stated, "This discussion concerns Canadian IVI (Valcartier Industries) once fired, surplus brass. Pick your poison. 5.56, 7.62x51mm, 9mm, etc."

steve people don't read the hole post . they have to post what they think they know

Sadly, that's very true.

steve I have 5 or 6 friends that shoot at a range every week they have a bucket for people to put there brass in to be scraped for gas money to keep grass cut .they bring me a lot of brass for what I reload for. one time I got 200 rem 30/30 brass in the boxes I don't know if I can ship brass to you but I get more than I need some times pm me

Lol and BSA no one here says Ehh either by the way

If a 223 ever ends up in the house I'll need to find some of that IVI brass, thanks for the info.

I noticed Tradeex has once fired brass in rounds like 30-06, 270 6.5x55 etc, I wonder if they import the stuff from Europe? I thought it was Norma brass.

That's a good idea. Recycling the brass helps keep the range running. I wish we could ship brass and bullets back and forth across the border like we used to. I appreciate the offer though.

Gerry,

I don't know about Tradeex specifically, but some shops have agreements with ranges to buy their brass. I had an arrangement with one club of which I was a member to buy spent 22 LR cases. I use them to make bullets. I like this stuff because it is very clean and most of it is undamaged. I have 7 or 8 metal cans of range brass in my workshop. There are approx. 45,000 to 50,000 usable cases in each can. I paid $20 per can. The money went to the junior shooting program.



Using IVI cases reworked into 6mm bullets, and shooting homemade bullets, I regularly shoot groups like this. 10 shots of homemade under an inch.



These are 66 gr. bullets made from rimfire cases. 10 shots in an inch. I haven't found the powder for this load yet. I haven't been working on them frankly. Other things come first.

MacArthur came home to a ticker-tape parade.

Yes, he did. Could he get a 30-06 to group like this?

I can deprime several hundred cases and swage primer pockets with no problem, maybe an hour. I use my Dillon 650, I bought the attachment to swage primer pockets. All I use is lc, but I do find ivi and the other stuff made in Canada like cil. Will have to start looking for it as well and give it a shot.

Steve that is excellent accuracy to get groups at or under 1" for 10 shots. Even better that you made the bullets yourself.

About 30 yrs ago, I bought an RCBS primer swager combo. I haven't used it in five or six years. When I get these 1000 pces of IVI brass, I'll have to deprime them and swage the primer pockets. It's slower than the Dillon machine, but thankfully, I'm not feeding an AR.



The last time the USD exchange rate was high was in the early 2000s. The exchange was about 1.50. That's when I decided to stop the madness and make my own bullets. Sierra and J4 jackets weren't regulated at the time. I bought them and got the kits to make 224 and 6mm jackets from 22 LR cases. Even though I paid through the nose for the dollar exchange and shipping the presses, dies and accessories, the expense was worth it.

With modern devices like sonic cleaners and case trimmers, you can make bullets made from 22LR cases shoot very well. The trick is to get the jackets clean. Get rid of the primer crud that sticks to the inside of the RF jackets. Sonic cleaners are just the ticket. Not BR quality jackets, but they shoot as good as commercial varmint bullets.

I bought 500 .308s a few years ago, mostly LC. Actually got over 500, and sorted them by year. Nice stuff, but there were a few oddities including a loaded round and one with a rock inside bigger than the neck.

Got these during the crunch for $75, just in case, as they say. I did decap and decrimp 100, and they're in rotation with my other .308 brass. Doubt if I'll get more as my time is worth something, to me anyway. No way I'd go to that trouble for .223 with new Fed LC so cheap now, $40 for 250 last time I bought any.

This is what I use on my 650.. I can swage brass all day long..

For those without the Dillon press, this is a little slower, but works fine. It is the RCBS Primer Pocket Swager. The box comes with both the large and small primer pocket swagers.

That thing is ok but rcbs also make a swager very similar to the Dillon 600 swager. I have the rcbs and it works very well and you can do couple hundred pieces of brass in a hour or so..