How Abundant Should the Caution be?

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hdwhit

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We used to say "better safe than sorry" but somewhere along the line, the phrase "abundance of caution" entered common use. So, my question is how abundant should that caution be for reloaders?

Since I don't have a range nearby where I can scarf up endless quantities of common caliber brass, I rely on third party sellers. As a result, I see headstamps from all over the world in all kinds of condition. I sort through them and discard the corroded ones, the ones that are severely bent, the ones with bulges near the case head, etc. But I also see a fair number with primers extruded well into the firing pin hole and prominent extractor/ejector marks suggestive of excessive pressures.

I prime my brass by hand as a separate operation so I can immediately identify a loose primer pocket and these, too, are culled from the reloading stream. Normally, any case that is not corroded, bent, bulged, is dimensionally within specification and does not have a loose primer pocket stays in the reloading stream.

But, I started to wonder whether - particularly on cheap brass like 223 and 9mm - I should be a little more picky and just cull cases with deformed primers or extractor/ejector marks without measuring or inspecting them "out of an abundance of caution". After all, it only takes one case failure to potentially ruin the rest of your life. What does everyone else out there do?
 
3rd party brass is a crap shoot at best. Unless the seller can tell you, you have no idea how many times it's been fired. Crimped military brass would be an exception to this.

For a low pressure round, such as .38 Special (17,000 psi), the case usually just splits when it's had enough with no harm done. A 9mm is a 35,000 psi round. I don't think I want one of them splitting.

I've bought 3rd party brass in the past but don't think I'm going to again. Starline brass is cheap enough.
 
I use to shoot at a indoor range and would ask the guys/gals if I could have their brass it they did not want it. A lot of times they would even pick it up for me. If I was shooting next to someone that hand loaded I always asked to what head stamp so I could keep his separate from mine. Then I have friends that collect their brass for me. This is how I ended up 10k+ 9mm, and close to that in 45acp now. I also swapped brass too.

As for 223 brass I buy LC once fired from BrassBombers. They normally through in extra to cover any bad ones. If ordered 7.62/308 brass make sure you get the ones from the sniper range. I sent a link to which ones to get and he did not follow it. He ended up with some fired in a MG. He found those rather quickly since the brass was 0.040" over trim length. The first one he loaded of those he had a case head separation. Now all of those are set a side for shoot and loose if it does not separates during firing.

I do buy some Starline and Lapua brass as needed.
 
If the primers don't fall out and they aren't all bent up, cracked, or corroded I load them. The only thing I've ever had case head separation on was 30-30 brass so I check those now.
 
Only reload new brass and my own used brass or once fired factory brass that I bought new and I haven't done that in a long time since I have lots of brass. Brass is the only component that reloaders reload so you shouldn't run low on that unless its been reloaded many times.
 
Toss any brass that looks like it could cause problems. Usually you can tell by extractor marks on the rim or a headstamp that is worn flat is a piece of brass is past its useful life. You can buy "once fired" .9mm for like $.02. If you have to toss a couple pieces it's no big loss. However very rarely, if ever, is a faulty piece of brass going to ruin a handgun, much less cause harm to the shooter or anything catastrophic. If the neck splits you probably won't notice until you're inspecting the brass after cleaning. Most Kabooms are the result of double charges or using the wrong powder, not faulty brass.

With big bore rifles and large powder charges it makes more sense to do a more detailed review of the brass. With .223 brass is plentiful and easy to replace if you have concerns. I don't reload much .223 so I have no idea how many reloads it can take.
 
For 9mm I use range pickup. It gets inspected after cleaning and lubing, just prior to loading. If it looks good, it gets loaded. All my loads are midrange. If the primer goes in too easy the round is set aside and marked. Those rounds get fired in one session and the cases discarded. I have recovered a few cases that split when fired. No damage to gun and didn't even notice anything odd when shooting..

.223 is range pickup also. PMC that looks once fired will be loaded maybe twice before discarding. It may have been reloaded once before, but twice more should be safe. I prefer FC or LC with apparent intact primer crimps. Very likely to be once fired. They will get more loadings. Any case where the primer goes in too easy will be marked for disposal. All other headstamps are discarded.

300BLK is more critical. I now use only LC (with dots) with intact primer crimps and visible primer sealer. Sometimes it's hard to tell if a crimped case has been swaged and reloaded. But having both a crimp and sealer pretty much nails it as once fired. If I'm going to put in the work to make BLK brass from 5.56, I want once fired. As above, if the primer goes in too easy the brass gets marked.
 
It should be as abundant as any activity that could cause permanent impairment.

Unfortunately that means to some, listen to the radio, while putting on makeup in the rear view mirror and carrying on a conversation via text on a cell phone, while driving or having a “few” beers with the guys then heading home.
 
I have been loading the "same old" brass for years. I have a lot of it and try to rotate as much as I can but do not keep any records of it. (handgun)

I mark my brass and only pick my old stuff up. It has never been hot roded and I have yet to have a split or any major issue.

Little more careful with my rifle brass, but still never overload it.

I am not complacent, but not overly OCD about it either.
 
Most of my brass is once fired from indoor ranges purchased over 4 decades of reloading. At one time I paid $.05 for most common cases. I was able to pick out the best cases and leave the cases with defects. I usually bought way more than I needed so I could toss any bad cases that I found later. My discards probably ran between 1% and 2%. This is way less expensive than buying new brass. In some ways once fired is better than new since it has been proof fired so to speak.
 
When I wonder out of my comfort zone with reloading.
Check,check and recheck measurements with extreme caution.
I learned this from my back ground in automotive diagnostic field.
At the very lease double check any possible problem areas.
Old saying "you don't know that you don't know".
 
How do we quantify something like 'safety'? Over the years, the cumulative practices of thousands of reloaders have given us a pretty clear list of safety practices. Our safety practices are 'enough' as long as there is no accident. If, God forbid, there is an accident, we should examine what happened and whether we somehow managed to violate a safety rule we already know, or whether it was because of a safety procedure we were unaware of and need to learn, or perhaps even a new circumstance which requires a new safety check.

I feel we should use all the caution we have at our disposal, that is, as long as we still enjoy the hobby. If the checks and cross checks themselves cause stress or angst, it is time to reexamine what we're doing.
 
cp1969 wrote:
Crimped military brass would be an exception to this.
Click to expand...

And where it is available, I will intentionally buy crimped brass. First, it is often less expensive because people don't want to deal with the crimp. Second, as you say, if the primer is crimped in, then it definitely is "once fired".
 
reddog81 wrote:
I don't reload much .223 so I have no idea how many reloads it can take.
Click to expand...

Neither do I, really.

Most of my shooting is not done from a bench, but offhand in the field. As a result, I only recover a fraction of my fired brass. As those losses are cumulative, I can say that statistically speaking all of my cases are "lost to the weeds" by their sixth loading.

The nice thing about that is that I know from long experience that if I trim brass to 1.753 then it will not have reached the 1.760 trim length by the time it is lost to the weeds, so I only have to trim my 223 brass once.
 
I was loading range pickup 223. Measuring. Trimming. Pocket cleaning. The whole 9 yards. Then I had what seems to have been a setback kaboom. I am more careful now with brass I don’t know history of. Wondering if a neck had been hardened and caused my loss of neck tension

I am still re-evaluating my 223 loading process. Not convinced that just a tight cannelure crimp will fix what ails me (I was not heavy crimping. But that is the easy and probably not best solution to my problem)
 
reddog81 said:
I don't reload much .223 so I have no idea how many reloads it can take.
Click to expand...

I'm on my 6th reload of FC brass, been watching for the impending ring indicating case head seperation and checking the inside of the case for a rut, with a paper clip. So far so good, but I also dont max my loads so thinking about 8 before I I find find anything but always looking until then.
 
As with any task due diligence requires you learn then put into use that knowledge. I started long before the internet and only listened to the old guys and read reloading manuals then. I was OK for years. Now the info on the net is much more available and more info gets into a new reloaders hands ---IF one chooses to avail themselves of it. YMMV
 
We used to say "better safe than sorry" but somewhere along the line, the phrase "abundance of caution" entered common use. So, my question is how abundant should that caution be for reloaders?





be-very-very-careful.jpg
 
Perhaps I'm just lucky (blessed) but in all the "once fired" brass, aka used brass, I've purchased I've had no problems. No ruptures, no oversize primer pockets and no splits (9mm, 44 Magnum, 45 ACP, 30-06, 7.62x51). When I buy I often get a "plus a few" count. Naturally I sort the cases as I inspect them, usually after cleaning, but most come already tumbled. I have purchased new brass for specific applications, like my heavy 44 Magnum loads for my Contender, but have seen no increse in safe reloads over purchased once fired brass...

This is the first time I've heard the term "abundance of caution". I guess the folks I hang around with must be a bit "behind the times" :rofl:
 
OP-

You answered your own question.

"...After all, it only takes one case failure to potentially ruin the rest of your life...."

Personally, I would always prefer to leave the range with the same number of holes in my body with which I walked in. I understand the risk as balanced against the reward, i.e saving a quarter on a particular piece of brass. Same thing goes for the people who post on forums asking about mixing powders or how far over the maximum load can they "safely" load.
 
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