Reloading range pick up?

[RamRoddoc]

View attachment 298663my one of over 10K uh o's from range brass, happened last week during a competition, luckily no damage other then to prisde and added time on the timer. I always load 45's soft to just under 800 fps too to allow quicker sight re-alignment, of course in a Glock 41 with that unsupported chanmer area.

Ouch! Glock's generous chamber area aid reliability but leave a bit more of the brass exposed. Glock had to add some chamber support area to the early .40 S&W models. I like this picture below to reflect that change.

What type of bullet/powder combination were you using?

 

[Beerman]

Yup I will, after inspecting it. I rarely see other reloaders, its coming out of the factory box .

Yep..

 

[robcho]

I do as well. As was posted earlier use common sense if it looks questionable toss it.

 

[jglenn]

"As you gain experience you will begin to see the folly of all reloading manuals. Have yet to meet a book max that was gun max. Also, online load data. "

really.. so you have pressure gauges and can tell the PSI you reloads are at..... I've been loading a looooong time and have certainly seen old load data from the 60-70s manuals that is too hot today. even seen it on current data in manuals. keep in mind every gun is a bit unique. what's hot in one rifle may not be in another. lot's of variables in chambers.


hopefully you at least have a Chronograph which is the best reloader tool we have for determining max loads...

honestly the general stuff we look at for pressure ( primers, case expansion and the like) are not 100 % reliable


just my long term experience

 

[Flashover16]

Very much true!
no 2 weapons have the exact same chamber dimensions, actually even the strength of the steel may be somewhat not identical, same for the quality of the assembled weapon( bolt , lockup, etc.)
thats why reloading manuals are loaded on the safe side, to add safety to all weapons of that caliber,.
and honestly the SAAMI standards are not for use by reloaders but for manufactures so they can produce a safe ammunition and weapons manufactures can produce a weapon of the required strength to operate safely at those pressures. different weapons, different safe operating pressures, that's why they established the Plus P, plus P plus designations by firearm manufactures.

 

[rosewood]

We either buy new brass, or once fired brass only.. We do not use .223/5.56, converted or transformed. Have witnessed some upper blow-ups not very pretty..

Only our way of reloading, you must be the one to make that final decision....

If an upper blew up, it wasn't the brass' fault. It was an overload condition. There had to be enough powder in that case to blow up with new brass. Brass is a merely a gas seal for the chamber. The chamber and bolt is what holds the pressure in. Think about a black powder rifle, it has no brass. If you fire just about any round outside a chamber, it will split as the brass cannot hold in the pressure.

If a cartridge blows out the side, it is a problem with the chamber not covering the brass. I had a 10mm do just that and after inspection, I realized the cartridge was not fully supported in the chamber. It blew out exactly where the barrel was throated and no support. I no longer shoot hot reloads in that weapon. I have fired thousands of rounds in my fully supported chamber gun with some seriously hot loads in reloaded brass with nary an issue.

Yes, you should inspect any piece of brass for abnormal wear, corrosion and the like and throw away if it is not in good condition. A brass case failure can cause problems with extraction, broken shells etc that can cause a whole host of other problems. I pick up every piece of brass I find at the range and treat them just like I treat my brass. I inspect and throw away defective ones, clean, resize and load the others. I reload everything from 9mm to .454 casull, .223 rem to 300 win mag. Never had a case failure with reloads save the unsupported chamber and one case separation which didn't hurt anything (old piece of .308 brass I overlooked).

 

[Twitch2120]

"As you gain experience you will begin to see the folly of all reloading manuals. Have yet to meet a book max that was gun max. Also, online load data. "

really.. so you have pressure gauges and can tell the PSI you reloads are at..... I've been loading a looooong time and have certainly seen old load data from the 60-70s manuals that is too hot today. even seen it on current data in manuals. keep in mind every gun is a bit unique. what's hot in one rifle may not be in another. lot's of variables in chambers.


hopefully you at least have a Chronograph which is the best reloader tool we have for determining max loads...

honestly the general stuff we look at for pressure ( primers, case expansion and the like) are not 100 % reliable


just my long term experience

This may be true for something older like a k98 or mosin from the 19th century or certain styles of gun. World militaries migrated to bolt action firearms for their strength in the event of an overcharge or blockage elsewhere. I came close to a kaboom once following the old military m2 load. Stuck the case in the chamber, flattened the primer and had some wicked gas leakage. never again. I use 2 or 3 manuals if possible. Start in the middle and work up. This method has yielded safe results with many accurate loadings far outside the book max. 44.1 of imr4064 in a 308 under a 178 amax for example.

The signs we look for do tend to show up for other reasons as well. Cratering due to an oversized firing pin hole, flattening due to sloppy primer pockets, piercing due to oversized firing pin and case head separation due to spec but large chamber while way oversizing the brass.

The point I was trying to make is that book max should be a cautionary but passable point. When done properly the case will tell you when its not safe.

Lastly I lied, my buddies scar 17 got scary quick with Cfe223. .2 under the hodgdon max flattened and cratered the primer and the gun felt funny. No harm done but doing my usual work up to book max yielded a surprising result. Still haven't pulled the remaining rounds down yet...

 

[Shooter970]

Never ever load range pic up!! Just box them up and send them to me and I will dispose of them properly.

 

[SKEET25]

I usually look at what others at the range are shooting. If it is factory out of the box, I will ask them if I can pick up their brass. If not then I leave it alone. I have never had anyone say no.

 

[Gun Nut]

Just look at the brass no splits and it looks fine there is no problem with it. I have been reloading for over 30yrs and never had to buy brass until the past few years. The price of scrape brass is over $2 a pound and you just don't find it anymore. As long as the grass looks good there is nothing wrong with using it. Check your manual and check the length of the brass you may have to trim it. But I have shoot hundred of thousands of range brass. That one of the keys to reloading your brass is reusable many times over.