preliminary to beginning reloading

[thunderbyrd]

i know nothing at all about reloading, but i can easily imagine it in my future, all things considered. not in the next week or two, but maybe a few months from now. so what i want to know right now is about brass. basic question: at the range when you are firing and then gather up brass, do you divide it up between different brands of ammo?

last week, i fired 18 rounds of 38 special, they were all hollow points and about the same grades of ammo, but there are 2 different brands there. i don't know what brands they were, i've had them loose in a plastic bag in a cabinet for 10-15 years. so whatever those brands were, they are mixed. does this make any difference to reloading?

my SiL and i are going to do some shooting this week, he has a glock 19. i know he has some ball ammo and some hollow points. should i keep those types of 9mm brass separate?

and then - i bought a box of fiocchi. i told the guy i wanted the cheapest 38 he had to sell. is this fiocchi worth saving? is it decent to reload?

then one last question: are there other rounds beside 38 special, 38 + p, and 357 that can be safely fired in a 357 revolver?

i thank everyone for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Docendo Discimus]

basic question: at the range when you are firing and then gather up brass, do you divide it up between different brands of ammo?

Short answer: No, for general handloading it doesn't matter.
Long answer: In some cases people sort brass by headstamp for very specific reasons. Entire threads of information have been created discussing this topic.

 

[Docendo Discimus]

is this fiocchi worth saving? is it decent to reload?

Yes, it will work fine.

 

[fxvr5]

If you're loading general blasting ammo, there is no need to separate by headstamp (brand). If you're loading super-duper accurate match ammo, yes.

Fiocchi makes excellent brass.

You can also shoot 38 Long Colt and 38 Short Colt in a 38/357 revolver.

 

[thunderbyrd]

Short answer: No, for general handloading it doesn't matter.
Long answer: In some cases people sort brass by headstamp for very specific reasons. Entire threads of information have been created discussing this topic.

thanks for your input! yes, i do understand this is a deep rabbit hole i'm approaching. i'm just trying to get off on a reasonably good foot in how to handle brass.

 

[ericuda]

Do what you want. I usually sort coffee cans at a time by common headstamp. If not much common they go in same pile and honestly I think I am wasting my time doing that.

No 357 is for 38 spec and 357.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

i know nothing at all about reloading, but i can easily imagine it in my future, all things considered. not in the next week or two, but maybe a few months from now. so what i want to know right now is about brass. basic question: at the range when you are firing and then gather up brass, do you divide it up between different brands of ammo?

last week, i fired 18 rounds of 38 special, they were all hollow points and about the same grades of ammo, but there are 2 different brands there. i don't know what brands they were, i've had them loose in a plastic bag in a cabinet for 10-15 years. so whatever those brands were, they are mixed. does this make any difference to reloading?

my SiL and i are going to do some shooting this week, he has a glock 19. i know he has some ball ammo and some hollow points. should i keep those types of 9mm brass separate?

and then - i bought a box of fiocchi. i told the guy i wanted the cheapest 38 he had to sell. is this fiocchi worth saving? is it decent to reload?

then one last question: are there other rounds beside 38 special, 38 + p, and 357 that can be safely fired in a 357 revolver?

i thank everyone for sharing your knowledge!

Well it’s like this, I sort brass for revolvers the same way normal people work crossword puzzles. For entertainment cause it doesn’t make a real difference otherwise. Same for autoloader brass for pistol. Rifle is a whole other ball game.
You can use .38 Long Colt in a .38Spl or.357Magnum - NOT the other way round! - but I can’t think of a good reason outside some kinds of competition shooting for why you would.
Whether brass is good or bad depends on how it’s treated after shooting more than who made it. Some brass is a little more brittle and some is a little softer but they all have to meet some standard and that’s the great equalizer.
Good thing checking on these things early. Too many folks wait until too late.

 

[thunderbyrd]

Well it’s like this, I sort brass for revolvers the same way normal people work crossword puzzles. For entertainment cause it doesn’t make a real difference otherwise. Same for autoloader brass for pistol. Rifle is a whole other ball game.
You can use .38 Long Colt in a .38Spl or.357Magnum - NOT the other way round! - but I can’t think of a good reason outside some kinds of competition shooting for why you would.
Whether brass is good or bad depends on how it’s treated after shooting more than who made it. Some brass is a little more brittle and some is a little softer but they all have to meet some standard and that’s the great equalizer.
Good thing checking on these things early. Too many folks wait until too late.

i'm interested in alternative bullets simply cause you never know what you might stumble into. i heard (too late) that there was a flea market booth near here selling ammo. something like that could have an obscure box of whatever. you never know.

 

[JJFitch]

1) What cartridges will you be loading for? (Notice I said cartridge and not caliber!)
2) What kind of shooting, general range use, combat style, precision pistol?
3) Distance?
I general inside 20 yards the case is way down the list for improving accuracy.
Straight wall cases will make the least difference.
Tapered cases (9mm) can make a difference, shooters do have their preference. Bottle neck is is a completely different topic.
At the higher levels of competition the difference becomes apparent and individual choice.
In the reloading process some brands of cases run through some dies easier than others due to brass thickness/hardness.

Smiles,

 

[Mark_Mark]

Welcome to the madness and peace of mind called Handloading, You will never look at ammo the same.

Quick Tip, Don’t throw away anything, shove it in a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket, You will need it one day.

 

[AJC1]

Welcome to the club. There is as much or as little as you desire here...

 

[BigBoreBubba]

i'm interested in alternative bullets simply cause you never know what you might stumble into. i heard (too late) that there was a flea market booth near here selling ammo. something like that could have an obscure box of whatever. you never know.

That’s the beauty of it, you can find any style or weight bullet you want and decide how fast you want it to go.

 

[bullseye308]

The way I do it:
I pick up every piece of brass that I can get and throw them in an ammo can. When the can gets full, I sort it by caliber into other cans. Once a can is full, I deprime it, tumble it, resize then prime it, and put it in another can and label it how it is. When it is time to load some, I set the can of primed brass on the bench and start grabbing it and loading it. For pistol brass I usually sort out the nickel and load it separately(why, I don’t know), and I don’t even look at headstamps anymore.

For rifle, I deprime, tumble, resize, trim, chamfer in/out, swage(223), and prime. Load same as pistol after sorting out 2 years of LC that I use in my bolt gun, the rest is for an AR and it works acceptably well for my needs.

IF I was to shoot matches where precision was imperative, I’d sort by headstamp for both pistol and rifle, but I don’t. I have fired respectable groups with random range pickup brass frequently and could do better probably if I sorted them, but for me it isn’t worth the effort, and sorting 20k pieces of 9mm brass just ain’t gonna happen here. The only headstamp brass I used to worry about was AMERC and it got crushed on site. Haven’t seen any in a while and any 9mm with the internal shelf gets trashed as well. Everything else gets lumped together, loaded the same, and makes life simpler.

If you are just getting started calibers like 380, 9mm, 40, 10mm, 45, 38, and 357 are super easy and don’t require much on your part. 45 and 10 now has small and large primers, 38/357 could be trimmed to get a more even crimp(I never have), but that’s really about it. Rifle needs to be trimmed every few loadings(usually), and if military needs the primer crimp dealt with, the shoulder bumped back ~.002”, and the cases lubed, but none of that is terribly difficult starting out. When you do batches of 1000 or more you will want to automate the process unless your hands are trying out for American Ninja Warrior.

 

[pairof44sp]

i know nothing at all about reloading, but i can easily imagine it in my future, all things considered. not in the next week or two, but maybe a few months from now. so what i want to know right now is about brass. basic question: at the range when you are firing and then gather up brass, do you divide it up between different brands of ammo?

last week, i fired 18 rounds of 38 special, they were all hollow points and about the same grades of ammo, but there are 2 different brands there. i don't know what brands they were, i've had them loose in a plastic bag in a cabinet for 10-15 years. so whatever those brands were, they are mixed. does this make any difference to reloading?

my SiL and i are going to do some shooting this week, he has a glock 19. i know he has some ball ammo and some hollow points. should i keep those types of 9mm brass separate?

and then - i bought a box of fiocchi. i told the guy i wanted the cheapest 38 he had to sell. is this fiocchi worth saving? is it decent to reload?

then one last question: are there other rounds beside 38 special, 38 + p, and 357 that can be safely fired in a 357 revolver?

i thank everyone for sharing your knowledge!

You might want to start with a Lee Classic Loader. For $30-40, they have everything you need to bang out a few rounds, and you will have a better concept of reloading when it comes time to buy a press and everything else.

Plus, you can hammer out a few rounds at your table on the firing line, acting like it’s no big deal, but making sure the young guys see you do it. Their eyes pop out with what I’m going to call wonder.

 

[BigBoreBubba]

My suggestion would be to read and watch as much information as possible before you start. Things will go much smoother. Buy reloading manuals from several different companies, I suggest Lyman and Lee to start. They are full of useful information. As far as YouTube goes, check out gunblue490, the ultimate reloader/gavintube, fortunecookie45LC, and RCBS’s intro to reloading videos. Watch and read as much as you can, learn what is valid and valuable information for what you plan to do, and learn how to weed out the gimmicks and time consuming things that really don’t benefit your process. Learn to stay away from money pits and start simple. A good single stage press from any of the big makers, a good beam scale, a good stand mounted powder throw, a sturdy bench, a good priming tool (I prefer the Lee bench primer), a good case trimmer, and a vibratory tumbler with corn cob or walnut media and a bottle of nufinish car polish, and a case lube pad with some Lee sizing lube.

 

[Targa]

Good info in this thread. When it comes to straight walled brass, to include 45-70, I get pretty lazy. If it is useable brass I don’t care about head-stamp. I clean it in my tumbler, resize/decap, flare the case mouth and prime. The brass is ready for reloading, this has worked for me.

 

[Edcnh]

As mentioned in post #15 get a good reloading manual to start. I have both the Lee and Lyman manuals and either would be good for a beginner.

 

[WeekendReloader]

Keep every piece of brass from your range sessions and sort by cartridge. I collected mine in an old cardboard box for a few years before I started reloading.
When you decide to begin reloading, pick one to start with and buy your tools/dies for that one.

I recommend that you sort your brass by headstamp when you start. Take the ones you have the most of and use those.
Here's why I say to sort the brass... When working the press, you will get a consistent 'feel' from stroke to stroke when using brass with all the same headstamp. You can learn how it feels when everything is working right. You will feel if something is wrong because the pull of the lever will be different.

I started with 9mm and all Remington R-P brass (I had a bunch of it). After a while, I could tell if the case wasn't sized right or if the neck split during expanding or if the bullet was seating crooked. After I got the hang of it, I started using mixed headstamp brass. With mixed headstamp brass, every pull of the press lever is slightly different, but I can still detect some of the subtle clues that I learned while using a sorted lot.

 

[.308 Norma]

1) What cartridges will you be loading for? (Notice I said cartridge and not caliber!)

I noticed!
I load for 22, 28, 30, 32, 33, 35, 38, 44 and 45 calibers, and I load for several different cartridges in each of those calibers.

 

[MFInc]

I try to separate by head stamp only due to I seem to have a prob with consistency when seating due to varying lengths, and helps to keep my loaded times for that brass more recordable. I havent had a chance to go through the thousands of range brass I've accumulated just in the last year. I will probably just do a visual inspection on those though

 

[JJFitch]

When you begin establish your intended purpose before purchasing components. In our current market this will be difficult but it can be done as thigs are becoming available.

Often times people will buy random bullets, powders and primers and try to match these and find that there is no way to meet their intended purpose. Example: Heavier bullets and faster powders and inability to meet intended velocity without exceeding max pressure.

If you have a mismatch often times you can find someone willing to trade components.
On another forum I reached out to a shooter looking for S/P primers. I was looking for a certain rifle powder. We met at a gun store and both of us left happy about the trade.

Smiles,

 

[rfwobbly]

Welcome Aboard !

I know nothing at all about reloading...

What a coincidence !! You'll be starting at the exact same place that we all did !

So what i want to know right now is about brass. Basic question: at the range when you are firing and then gather up brass, do you divide it up between different brands of ammo? Last week, i fired 18 rounds of 38 special, they were all hollow points and about the same grades of ammo, but there are 2 different brands there. i don't know what brands they were, i've had them loose in a plastic bag in a cabinet for 10-15 years. so whatever those brands were, they are mixed. does this make any difference to reloading?

- For general target practice, plinking, "fun-shoots", even basic competition... the answer is 'No'. We call this "mixed brass".
- I only sort brass by brand for detailed load testing; when I'm going to make precise measurements of load results. In those tests, I'm purposely trying to control all the variables I can.
- BUT, there are genuinely good reasons to carefully examine all the "range brass" you pick up. It could be split or physically damaged. It could also be brass-plated steel or lacquered steel which cannot be loaded. It may have a Berdan primer, which American reloading gear cannot reload.


"Brass" hanging from a magnet ?

My SiL and i are going to do some shooting this week, he has a glock 19.

'Your Sister-in-Law, He" has bigger issues than simply owning a Glock 19 !

I know he has some ball ammo and some hollow points. Should i keep those types of 9mm brass separate?

No. It's not the bullet that makes the difference, it's the chamber pressure the brass is having to contain. So if you load at the lower end of the powder range, you might get 25 reloadings from each case. Whereas, if you load at the higher end of the powder range, then you may only get 3-5 reloadings. Chamber pressure is the devil we watch and try to control. The brass is simply a pawn in that game.

...and then - i bought a box of Fiocchi. I told the guy i wanted the cheapest 38 he had to sell. Is this Fiocchi worth saving? Is it decent to reload?

Stick a magnet on it. If it's not steel, then it's worth saving and reloading... OR trading to someone else for brass that you can reload. All brass is worth picking up and saving. It's worth something to someone. Now that you're a member of THR, you can trade it on the Reloading Buy & Sell Forum for free.

Fiocchi 38Spcl brass at target loads is probably good for 50+ loadings. Get you some coated 148gr DEWC from Missouri Bullet Co (where you as a THR member now get a discount) and start shooting. MBC 148gr DEWC

Hope this helps.

 

[.38 Special]

A lot of good advice so far. Hats off to @rfwobbly in particular.

I will only add that mixed brass is mostly fine, at least as far as revolvers are concerned. There are two exceptions, in my book: competition/accuracy, and maximum loads. Different makes can have different internal capacity, which in turn affects pressure. This can cause velocity variations which can show up as vertical stringing on the target - especially at longer distances. It also means that a "maximum" load put into a relatively voluminous case can become a "beyond maximum" load in a tight case. These days I almost never play with maximum loads, but when I do, I stick with a single brand of component and don't change a thing as I work up.

 

[thunderbyrd]

i thought "SiL" meant son in law. maybe i'm not smart enough for this.

 

[.308 Norma]

'Your Sister-in-Law, He" has bigger issues than simply owning a Glock 19 !

My SiL (Son-in-Law) has a couple of ARs. I'm not nearly as into "black rifles" as HE is, and don't have any ARs.
BTW, my SiL's wife (my daughter) kind of laid claim to her mom's (my wife's) Winchester 70 "Featherweight" 7mm-08 a long time ago.