Difference in Brass Quality?

[Dredly]

I'm looking to start reloading and I'm seeing a lot of brass for sale with mixed head stamps, Are certain brands better for reloading? are there any that I should avoid?

[SteveWag]

Mixed headstamps usually means public range pick-ups. Police, factory and many club ranges use only one manufacture and so the brass can be pretty well called once fried. Public range pick-ups may include some many-times loaded cases that the firer left behind. I personally won't reload cases reloaded first by someone else. That being said, I have not found a manufacturer, including Chinese and Serbia production, that won't produce good reloads. Frank White warns about reloading .223 cases made by Federal CC. Make sure that your not paying for Berdan primed brass.

Steve Wagner

[JoeWilliams]

If you are striving for max accuracy, you want to avoid mixed brass because brass from different manufacturers is built to slightly different tolerances. You can see this by measuring OAL of brass from different manufacturers.

For most of us, it's not going to make that much difference for practice, training, and even carrying ammo if you choose to carry your reloads. I can still build ammo that is almost as accurate as the "premium" home defense ammo and more so than the budget priced ammo. One thing I won't do is load near max when using mixed brass.

I'm using mixed brass for the 9mm. It can be a real PIA at the range to figure out which is mine and which is someone elses when picking up the brass. That said, I did buy new Remington brass for my .357s, I'm going to buy new brass for my .38s instead of continuing to use mixed brass, and I may just buy new brass for the 9mm and just pick up brass with the same headstamp. I do like the consistency of having the same kind of brass when I'm reloading.

[Dredly]

all my reloads will be for plinking... Thanks for the info guys.

Can anyone tell me the difference between "Washed" and "polished"? Does it make a difference other then one being shiny and the other not?

[Posit]

Washing generally references a process which cleans the case interior as well as the exterior; mostly used by bendh rest or very particular shooters. Polished, in my mind, can have several interpretations, but most likely it is tumbled with a polishing compoung in the media, which makes it shiny.

For most purposes, clean brass is all that's necessary. (New term!) Most handloaders don't wash, or worry much about the interior of the brass, except to run a brush thru the neck to remove any soft or loose residue so the bullet will seat properly. Powder residue build up can decrease the amount of powder the case will hold, but unless you're firing full or compressed loads, the residue doesn't affect anything. For the exterior of the case, many will quickly say a clean case does not shoot any better than a dirty one, and that's certainly true to a large extent. If it has corrosion on the exterior, don't shoot it. Powder marks can be removed by tumbling, or with a fiber scrubbing pad, or probably any number of other ways. Mild tarnish is not harmful.

[QuakertownRich]

For 38spl brass, I avoid S&B (Sellier & Bellot..I think) as these are very difficult to get primers to seat. I also avoid the military surplus stuff as the primers have an extra ring on them giving me fits repriming. For 45acp, I've heard the A-Merc brass is junk, as well as the S&B brass. I just got done sorting my brass that I had bought reloaded ammo from a commercial seller and shot the ammo. Luckily, I only had about 150 of those two brands in there out of 1500.
I like Winchester and Remington brass for 38spl, with the latter being best, I believe. Same for 45acp, but CCI, Speer and a few others don't seem to be a problem reloading either.

[papabear47]

For 38spl brass, I avoid S&B (Sellier & Bellot..I think) as these are very difficult to get primers to seat. I also avoid the military surplus stuff as the primers have an extra ring on them giving me fits repriming. For 45acp, I've heard the A-Merc brass is junk, as well as the S&B brass. I just got done sorting my brass that I had bought reloaded ammo from a commercial seller and shot the ammo. Luckily, I only had about 150 of those two brands in there out of 1500.
I like Winchester and Remington brass for 38spl, with the latter being best, I believe. Same for 45acp, but CCI, Speer and a few others don't seem to be a problem reloading either.

I tried reloading .45 ACP A-Merk Just to prove your point to someone,only 7 out of fifty had correct neck tension to hold the bullet tightly crimp or no.But I do have over 100 A-Merk in .38 spl that I have loaded at least 6 times with no problem. There quality control is very bad.
S&B is fine for me as far as reloading is concerned in .40 S&W,I have not loaded more than 50 S&B in .45 ACP so I will not comment.
I always load 10% below max for everything but my SS Redhawk .44 Mag,
and then I use only new brass and proven loads.If i change components I slowly build up my loads 6 at a time.

[papabear47]

all my reloads will be for plinking... Thanks for the info guys.

Can anyone tell me the difference between "Washed" and "polished"? Does it make a difference other then one being shiny and the other not?

Yes the ones I am sending you are washed,inside and out,then rinsed,dried and shiped.They will have light water marks that usually brush off during sizing.

[280shooter]

I washed brass before,I stuck my cases in a net bag, pulled the strings tight,and tossed it in the wash machine along with dirty clothes,came out clean,,then toss them on a towle to dry them,no biggie,And the wife never knew it,yeahoo....

[JoeWilliams]

I washed brass before,I stuck my cases in a net bag, pulled the strings tight,and tossed it in the wash machine along with dirty clothes,came out clean,,then toss them on a towle to dry them,no biggie,And the wife never knew it,yeahoo....

Can't believe I haven't thought of that before!!