Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Mixed head stamps

A “friend” gifted me with a bag of .38/.357 brass with mixed head stamps. Range scrap. OK I think, I can use it. Annealed, cleaned and the prep begins. Common brands such as WW, RP, Federal and Hornady were reasonably consistent with case length, but the rest was, for the most, all over Hell’s half acre. .005-.015” less than recommended trim length in 3 different load books. Where do these 8-balls come from?

I note the Hornady brass cleaned up to look ‘as new’. Not so much for the rest. I had never heard of some brands. Zero brass? Who da fug????

Another day, another couple hundred rounds of ammo.

I had an old batch of S&B 38spl factory ammo. It had soft primers that regularly pierced at ignition. As part of my analysis to pin down the cause as well as eliminate mechanical gun malfunction, I compared rim thickness. That was really all over the place. The primer pockets in the case heads can be a hodge podge as well. Some real tight, some loose. I had no way to check the pocket depths.

Im fairness to the makers. Most all of it works. I can't shoot good enough for any of it to matter.

Well, some days I can't shoot for chitt either, but prepping a batch of brass for ease of loading gets confounded in a hurry when manufacturers don't comply with SAAMI standards. Too bad those are voluntary...violation ought to be a capital offense. I say that in spades with a growl when it comes to primer pockets. There be a bunch of maroons out there, no?

BTW, I really, really like Starline brass.....

Why do you care?

I have a habit of making my brass dimensionally uniform. Whacky brass is a good way to promote shotgun style patterns with handgun or rifle. Even though I don’t have much use for pistols I do know how to use them.

I recently bought 1000 'once fired' brass. I separate them by head stamp, then process. So far I am having good results.

That will work Sam, every time. Small batch I picked up was a total of a little less that 200 cases. 50 were nickel plated which I could not use. 5 different headstamps for the remaining ~50 ct. .357 and 8/9 headstamps for ~95 .38 Spcl cases. Well, it gave me something to do in AC comfort.

I separate and keep it sorted by head stamp, for all chambering. May be anal, but how I do it.

I have seen a similar effect in range or "once used" brass,
I makes mouth headspacing cases a PIA...
but as I used to pick up brass after IDPA matches, I can see getting the odd case thrown in...
perhaps from a guy (to use a phrase from JB or was it the guy who did the big game rifle reloading series) "knew a guy who religiously mowed every piece of brass he got his hands on back to SAAMI minimum length."

Uh huh..

Look, you can work your ocd on range brass all you want. Personally, I would've tumbled and reloaded them and gone shooting.

I put up steel plates and have fun.

First batch of range brass I ever fooled with. It ain’t OCD fella, just common sense.

That's rich! Double down on your stupid!

I don't trim, sort, or mess with brass I don't want to take the time with. I do get a bit fussy with certain batches, depending on intended use.

Cases that are consistent give more consistent results. Anyone that's in pursuit of that is someone that's more than likely making very good ammunition. Nothing wrong with that. Its highly prized in 'small groups everywhere.'
:-)

Well to each his own..... one time a shooting buddy was looking at 38 spcl reloads I made and had packed in a small 14 oz. Coffee can. Some with cold mold wrinkled bullets all in different head stamps. He questioned all that being a fugging nit picker he was. I told him it was practice ammo and still he shook his head and I said well it ain't in the gun for more than 2.5 seconds so it don't make a good god damn anyway. When I can run 5-6 shots out in 2.5 seconds and my groups approach 2 inches then maybe I'll worry about it but till then fug it and you load and shoot whatever you fugging like.. no more was said. Mb

I have 3 each three pound coffee cans of .357 brass mixed head stamp.Run them thru the tumbler,then through the Dillion Square Deal B.

These are 38 special loads in .357 cases 4-4.5 gr of W231 or Universal..358 diameter cast PC.Used in a Smith 686. I shoot about 300 rounds when I go to the range, paper, steel and sometimes I throw tennis balls up against the back the berm and bounce them around.

I used the same rounds in Action pistol and the Cowboy matches I fed them thru Ruger Black Hawks and a Rossi 92. I never won any big money with them but held my own

That’s kinda harsh 😊
Have you read Dan’s efforts on reloading 22 rimfires? He may be a bit crazy but he’s nowhere near stupid!

I have had that dipschit dla on ignore for years. The quote above just validates me doing that. 😜

Way to twist words. You could be a 13 yr old girl.

Your stuck being a 13 year old boy, so of course you know things you dont.

Twist words? I simply quoted you with the quote function.

That’s mighty “Christian” of you Ed.

BTW Dood, I’m just a bit older than 13.. Oh, and the Navy doesn’t allow 13 year old girls to land 50,000 lb, 150 knot a/c on a pitching carrier deck at night in bad weather. I have over 700 carrier landings, almost 300 at night. When you get a chance do a search for “pitching deck operations”. If you watch “Carrier”, I know/taught most of them how to survive around the carrier.

Dan, OTOH has a just a bit more time getting shot at.