Military Brass

[LtDan]

I have been purchasing .45 brass on gunbroker.com. First of all, if any of you purchase from gunbroker.com vendors, has your experiences been good? Also, I see that sellers seem to always mention whether or not it is military brass. Is military brass better/worse than commercial brass? What is the advantage/disadvantage to mixed headstamps? As you can tell I am a noob reloader so any help is appreciated.

[agalindo]

Military brass has a crimped primer pocket so you'll have to ream the pockets on each case after you've decaped them. Some people like to sort the brass by headstamp before reloading so mixed headstamp would mean you would have to sort it yourself.

[Bidah]

Agalindo has it correct. I am one of those that does not sort it out, I just shoot it till I lose it. Most of my brass is military though.

Yes, I have had good luck with gunbroker.

[agalindo]

Originally Posted by Bidah

I am one of those that does not sort it out, I just shoot it till I lose it. Most of my brass is military though.

I'm the same way, I just grab a coffee can full of brass and start reloading, nickel, brass what ever comes my way.

[scalce]

I toss military pistol brass if I see it because I have jammed up my Dillon 650 primer assembly a few times with Nato marked 9mm cases. Like the guys said the primer pocket can be crimped which makes it tighter. You can force a primer in there sometimes but not worth the hassle.

The only brass worth reaming is 223 or 308.

I was big on shooting just random brass for punching paper but then I started sorting for matches.

Now I sort my 9mm for my XD because I figure I can use any accuracy benefit there is.

I know some people say that it doesn't matter and I agree on brass like 45 which is a low pressure round but I have found that 9mm is more sensitive to different brass tolerances.

[xdmikey]

I'm with Bidah. I shoot it until I lose it or the neck splits. But I don't load at max either.