Range pick up brass...

what's wrong with range brass? It's about all I ever use!

rifle I get a bit picky but pistol I will scrounge everything. probably 99% of my brass came off the floor of an indoor range.

been loading and shooting it for over 15 years with only a handful of cracked cases.

 

I have no problems picking up range brass, clean and inspect thoroughly no problems. There are some exceptions that require special attention such as .40 which require debulging.

 

As long as you inspect the brass, and you're not doing olympic quality shooting, there's absolutely no reason why you can't use range brass. The majority of my pistol brass is mixed range brass. Just be sure there are no really bad bulges and splits, then load it up.

 

Range brass is fine as long as you inspect it, hell "once fired" brass sold for big $$ on-line is still nothing but range brass.

Some of the older generation Glocks were unsupported and hard on brass. If Glock brass is a concern to you it can be easily identified by the firing pin strike.

http://www.google.com/url?source=im...AsQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNFSQbjaMDNPT_6GwRY26yqZPsLWyg

 

I pickup mostly RP once fired brass in .308, 9mm, .38special, .30-06'. Since the ammo buyout, range brass out in Oregon is getting mighty scarce. I too have heard the warning of using this brass and inspect all cases for any problems. In 36yrs I have found some really good stuff.

 

I guess I'm another one you disagree with, since almost all my .223 brass is range brass. Works good for me and the price is right.

 

IMO you had better get what you can while you can.........clean it up and look it over.

 

If you buy new brass, load it up and shoot it, do you throw it away because it's been used? If I can reload it, I'll shoot it! It doesn't matter how many times it's been loaded so long as there are no cracks, splits, bulges, or dings that the resizing die can't work out.

 

I use it! Works just fine. Clean and inspect! If you run a 45 acp sort the small and large primed cases.

 

With pistol range brass a simple inspection will show you whether it is heavily used or just once fired. If you see a guy or gal come to the range with new ammo and leaves the brass on the ground or bench then scoop it up. But.....

Be aware that there are steel and aluminum cased ammo out there that you can not reload. Also some ammo uses Berdan primers that are hard to remove (need special tools to pry them out of the cases) and are hard to find as new primers. Also don't reuse any bulged brass from semi-auto's with insufficient support over the feed ramp. Blown out brass may be unsafe.

With rifle brass it may be the unseen that makes the brass unsafe. It is possible that the primer pockets are enlarged from excessive reloading and/or excessive pressures. The brass could be out of a gun with excessive head space and badly stretched. I would use range rifle brass if it looks to be once fired or I observed it as being new, fired, and left on the range. But I would inspect every case. My son-in-law buys surplus loaded ammo (new ex-military). If it is not Berdan primed and not too beat up I salvage it and reload it. The Greek ammo as sold by CMP is excellent for reloading. But in general, rifle range brass is more risky to reload. Some guns like the Hakim literally rip at the the rim making it entirely unusable for reloading. H&K rifles can also be hard on brass. Guns with gas adjustment adjusted wrong can be very hard on brass (extractor attempts to pull the case out of the chamber when the gas pressure is too high and the case grabs at the chamber walls too hard, stretching and distorting the case and rim).

LDBennett

 

I've reloaded some of my brass several times for the pistols and never had any problems. Of course I inspect each case when I deprime them. Any cracks or anythign that looks wrong or different, I toss into the recycle buckets. As far as rifle rounds go, we pick up whatever we can (after we shoot) and load the cases that have no defects. Any doubts, they go to the recycle bucket.