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alamo5000
28 December 2016, 20:15
I am starting to stock up on pistol brass... particularly 9mm and .45.

Does anyone have any particular preference for brand of brass they run in pistols? Does anyone have any particular place they get brass from? I have some mixed .45 brass and when I am decapping and resizing it I can tell some of it is much harder and others are much softer metal.

I have a few thousand 9mm already but I was thinking about buying a bunch of military 9mm brass (because it's cheap and I can decrimp it really easily with my new decrimper tool), but for .45 brass... does anyone have any brands or sources that they prefer?

FYI I purchased 5000 9mm bullets and 2000 230gr .45's. The end goal is to load em all up and maybe have some brass left over for when I lose some etc. Once I get stocked up every now and then I will want to top off and basically just keep things in stock. Ideally I will keep 5,000 147 subs, 5000 124gr supers, and 5000 230gr .45's. That's my 'goal' to build up to that.

Right now I just used mixed brass and have had no issues but I am wondering if it's worth it to go ahead and get 'good' brass for pistol calibers? Rifles, yes. No question... but pistol? Is it worth it?

alamo5000
28 December 2016, 20:18
Also although I don't shoot it a lot I could probably use some .380 brass too. I would probably say a good goal is 2000 rounds of that, maybe more. I shoot .380 mainly when my sister or some other guests come out.

Former11B
29 December 2016, 08:01
What kind of decrimping Tool do you have? Decrimping even a couple hundred cases with an electric prep station is gonna suck lol

I collect Blazer brass, Federal (FC), Fiocchi (GFL), Win, and R-P.

I only use 45ACP small primer brass so I can bulk stock small pistol primers and have them work in all my pistol reloads

cjd3
29 December 2016, 08:46
I have really good luck with RP and PMC. I thought I was having press issues, but for me, it was with federal brass. I would get a lot of crunched cases in my AP press. When it comes to brass, I sort everything by headstamp. And if I didn't do that, I would be still scratching my head about the Federal brass. I still have bags of Fiocchi, Star line, etc., but I won't load them up until i have at least 100 of them.

alamo5000
29 December 2016, 17:49
What kind of decrimping Tool do you have? Decrimping even a couple hundred cases with an electric prep station is gonna suck lol

I collect Blazer brass, Federal (FC), Fiocchi (GFL), Win, and R-P.

I only use 45ACP small primer brass so I can bulk stock small pistol primers and have them work in all my pistol reloads

I have a Dillon super swage tool. It's not bad at all. I have it mounted on a big board that I clamp to a bench so I can do it while I watch football. When I have mundane tasks like that I tend to do it over time. I will rarely do it for hours on end but more like an hour here or an hour there. It might take me a month to get through a bucket of brass, but once you're done, you're done.

In an hour you can easily do a few hundred cases.

I've thought about that too... the whole primer thing... but I am as part of my master plan, going to buy bits and pieces of things like primers every so many months even if I don't need them until I have a decent stash. That said it would be extremely nice to have all the same stamp and all the same primer size. Odds are though I will definitely sort them out (if I don't buy same stamped brass) so that my bucket full of brass is all one primer size.


I have really good luck with RP and PMC. I thought I was having press issues, but for me, it was with federal brass. I would get a lot of crunched cases in my AP press. When it comes to brass, I sort everything by headstamp. And if I didn't do that, I would be still scratching my head about the Federal brass. I still have bags of Fiocchi, Star line, etc., but I won't load them up until i have at least 100 of them.

Yes. It is very prevalent with .45 brass I guess because of the overall diameter of the case. Federal brass is pretty thin. The PMC or other stuff I can tell is a lot more 'robust'. Having good stout brass alleviates a lot of headaches like you mention (crunched cases) and it will last longer over time.

If I can find a place that sells same head stamped 9mm and same head stamped .45 that is more 'robust' then I might just buy a few lots of that (each) and call it a day. It would last me honestly for years if I get 5000++ cases of each. I would probably not have to worry about it again for 5 years or more and that would be from me just not picking it up which I am pretty good about doing.

I can for sure tell a big difference in the mixed brass though. With that hand press and resizing the cases. YUP. I can tell that the hardness and thickness and all that is totally different brand to brand.

alamo5000
2 January 2017, 20:00
Update: I also belong to a photography forum and low and behold I accidentally ran across another guy there that is a reloader and shooter. He's retired from the sounds of it but he still helps around a shooting range every now and then. He collects brass after everything is shut down and he cleans it up and sells it when he can.

The guy is a pretty nice guy so I figured why not give it a go. For $60 bucks including shipping I am getting around 2000 brass .45 ACP cases.

I checked on Brassman and for mixed headstamped .45 brass which should be similar in nature and they want $99 bucks for a thousand pieces. I saw that and figured $60 bucks shipped for almost twice that ain't too bad. He said it's all lightly tumbled, sorted, and inspected and all the bad cases have been tossed.

I will keep you guys updated but it could be a pretty good source for some stuff.

Totally random find. He just mentioned that he reloads and we started to chat so I figured it was worth a try. If it comes back good I will let ya'll know. I also might get some more .45 and some more 9mm too if what he sends me is good.

dgod
9 January 2017, 05:46
Update: I also belong to a photography forum and low and behold I accidentally ran across another guy there that is a reloader and shooter. He's retired from the sounds of it but he still helps around a shooting range every now and then. He collects brass after everything is shut down and he cleans it up and sells it when he can.

The guy is a pretty nice guy so I figured why not give it a go. For $60 bucks including shipping I am getting around 2000 brass .45 ACP cases.

I checked on Brassman and for mixed headstamped .45 brass which should be similar in nature and they want $99 bucks for a thousand pieces. I saw that and figured $60 bucks shipped for almost twice that ain't too bad. He said it's all lightly tumbled, sorted, and inspected and all the bad cases have been tossed.

I will keep you guys updated but it could be a pretty good source for some stuff.

Totally random find. He just mentioned that he reloads and we started to chat so I figured it was worth a try. If it comes back good I will let ya'll know. I also might get some more .45 and some more 9mm too if what he sends me is good.

I am retired as well, Have Kids and Grandkids that LOVE to shoot, I get to do the reloading part...

I would be interested in Rifle Brass (Many Calibers), 45 Long Colt, 357 as well. I am ok on the other Pistol Brass choices.

If you could, shoot me the contact info... Thx

dgod1950@gmail.com
Dan

alamo5000
12 January 2017, 17:22
I got a big box of .45 ACP brass today. Not bad. I'm not trying to promote any business or anything but the guy's price is definitely right.