Best brass to keep?

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30plinker
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Best brass to keep?

Post by 30plinker »

Cool, I can make cases from 223. So after a $50 saw, $100 powered trimmer, some time etc I still need more tools and then annealing. Not to mention time. Argh, I just wanna shoot!

I'm feeding a bolt gun. This is ridiculous. Could've spent $80 on enough factory brass to last a lifetime.

Start looking, fall into a deal I couldn't turn down for 600+ cases, all once fired factory but mixed headstamp. Then two weeks later a buddy hits an estate sale and drops 150 never even been loaded Starline cases on me (along with some powder he can't use... he's a good buddy)

So I may just keep the 150 starlines and call it good... but I grabbed 50 random cases out of the batch I bought and I'm seeing several different headstamps. Do I want to go thru and cherry pick some of these to keep? I've seen Starline, JAG (dunno? SIG?), LC, Federal, Hornady, Ammo Inc, S&B, Remington, GFL?, PNW Arms, and Winchester....

When I got to sell off what I don't need, is it better to separate or just sell as mixed? I have child labor available to do the actual sorting ... they don't need magnifying glasses to see what they are doing
oneshort
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by oneshort »

I settled on LC and PMC (large font).
dpete
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by dpete »

I use WCC for supers (because I could get a ton of them for cheap/nothing), and LC for subs(because I wanted good brass but not WCC for subs)
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wildfowler
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by wildfowler »

Here’s what I would do.

If you’re loading for a bolt action I would look to LC converted brass for hot supersonic loadings.

If your primary interest is heavy subsonic then you may not have to be quite as picky on your brass selection.

Ive never used starline in 300BLK so I have no comment on it.

Maybe pull out all the lake city brass for super. Use the starline for sub, and use the “mixed” for general plinking.

Just a thought.
driven every kind of rig that's ever been made, driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed. - Lowell George
havoc_squad
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by havoc_squad »

30plinker wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 11:34 am Cool, I can make cases from 223. So after a $50 saw, $100 powered trimmer, some time etc I still need more tools and then annealing. Not to mention time. Argh, I just wanna shoot!

I'm feeding a bolt gun. This is ridiculous. Could've spent $80 on enough factory brass to last a llifetime
$80 won't go very far for brass now. Going rate now for cheapest converted brass is $0.20 in bulk amounts of 500 or more cases.

Maybe that was the case in 2019 but not now.

Doing conversion of 1K of free brass that is blackout friendly headstamps would pay off most of your triming and converting gear.

Annealing is not necessary for converting the brass but it does make the case necks last longer and minimize the chance for split necks.
30plinker
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by 30plinker »

havoc_squad wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 12:44 pm
30plinker wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 11:34 am Cool, I can make cases from 223. So after a $50 saw, $100 powered trimmer, some time etc I still need more tools and then annealing. Not to mention time. Argh, I just wanna shoot!

I'm feeding a bolt gun. This is ridiculous. Could've spent $80 on enough factory brass to last a llifetime
$80 won't go very far for brass now. Going rate now for cheapest converted brass is $0.20 in bulk amounts of 500 or more cases.

Maybe that was the case in 2019 but not now.

Doing conversion of 1K of free brass that is blackout friendly headstamps would pay off most of your triming and converting gear.

Annealing is not necessary for converting the brass but it does make the case necks last longer and minimize the chance for split necks.
Except I now I have a rather large surplus of brass... and I'd rather get some money back, so I want to sell off what I don't need. Hence the question of what to keep....
havoc_squad
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by havoc_squad »

30plinker wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 9:14 pm
Except I now I have a rather large surplus of brass... and I'd rather get some money back, so I want to sell off what I don't need. Hence the question of what to keep....
Lake City, Federal (FC) 223 Rem and 5.56 stamped, and WCC are the main ones to keep. Regarding the others it greatly depends on what you have on hand for each headstamp.

If you had counts/percentages of each headstamp of the total amount, that probably would help you better. (Yeah, lots of work but that's case sorting for you).
30plinker
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by 30plinker »

havoc_squad wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 7:42 am
30plinker wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 9:14 pm
Except I now I have a rather large surplus of brass... and I'd rather get some money back, so I want to sell off what I don't need. Hence the question of what to keep....
Lake City, Federal (FC) 223 Rem and 5.56 stamped, and WCC are the main ones to keep. Regarding the others it greatly depends on what you have on hand for each headstamp.

If you had counts/percentages of each headstamp of the total amount, that probably would help you better. (Yeah, lots of work but that's case sorting for you).
I've sorted thru a few hundred, looking for only LC and any 223/556 converted stuff (this is all supposed to be 1x fired factory headstamped as 300bo), seeing a lot of S&B. Need to be better about sorting multiple headstamps per pass but I get confused as to what goes where and it ends up mixed again. Easier to segregate out one brand or maybe two at once, and then repeat.
columrick
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Re: Best brass to keep?

Post by columrick »

Wall thickness varies among surplus and commercial brass, so I settled on the brass with the most consistently thick walls, which was LC. PMC is right there, too. I used to check the fired pick ups from the range, but even the purpose-made brass wall thickness and capacity was all over the place. Since the BLK has such a short neck, and case wall thickness rather thin, I've tried to find brass that has the thickest walls at the converted neck area. That reduced bullet pull-out in a semi with bullet weights over 140. Even trying to use a stiff crimp to keep the bullets from moving would just dent the bullet, unless there was a cannelure. I also noticed sometimes a crimp actually weakened the neck's grip on the bullet (tested thru pull tests, and using a gauge on the press). My guess is that without a cannelure for the case neck to "roll" in to, perhaps the crimp is lifting part of the case neck off the bullet, but that's just conjecture.
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