scrounging brass at USPSA matches

[newageroman]

OK, well, I've loaded all the 9mm  PD 124 gn HP over N320 that I have brass for in preparation for this weekend's USPSA match. A couple months ago I made a comment at the match to one of the more experienced shooters about sticking around and picking up brass. His reply was something like, "you can have it, I sure don't want that brass". At first I though, more for me, but second thoughts had me wondering why. That match I had to get home quick after the match so I didn't stick and pick, but this weekend I need to refill the coffers.

I'm guessing because some shoot major and the brass would be really worked/stressed, but if so, is that really the case? Other thoughts would be glock bulge. I only shoot 9 and 45 right now, so 40 isn't my concern.

I would like to hear your guys opinions on the matter.

[IDescribe]

Other thoughts would be glock bulge.

The internet never forgets.    Glocked brass hasn't be a thing for a few generations of Glocks.  Glock corrected the issue.  That's not to say you don't still come across them from time to time, but this is no longer a serious concern, and if you inspect your pickup brass, as you should, you can find them and cull them from the herd. 

The guy who poo-pooed the range brass is a knucklehead.   

You have two worries -- picking up the occasional .380, which looks a lot like 9mm, but those are easily sorted out. 

The second issue is people shooting 9mm major in Open division of USPSA, which puts a beating on brass.  Some people who shoot 9mm major won't reload their own brass after it's been shot at that level even once.  Some will load it a few times.  Some will load it until the brass splits or the primer pockets stretch.  But if you're loading 9mm minor responsibly, and you pick up someone's 9mm major brass, it will reload just fine. 

Sometimes brass wears out.  Sometimes brass splits.  You might split a case when firing it from your pistol.  It's not the same as an over-pressured catastrophic failure that tears apart a gun.  The steel breech-face and chamber steel are what contain the pressure when a round goes off, not the case.   If a case cracks in an auto-loading pistol, you're going to lose some gas, pressure, and powder, but it's not a big deal.  You might not even notice.  And if you pick up a case that's already cracked, you throw it away. 

I pick up brass at action pistol events and reload them.  I even bought this "nut wizard" to make it faster:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007QVUGGO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You just roll it over empty cases, and it picks them up. 

[jameslovesjammie]

The trouble with picking up brass at a USPSA range is the possibility of getting brass that was used with 9mm Major loads.  There is no way to tell visually, and the brass has been put under considerably more stress than it was designed for.

I have come to the point where I treat our local matches like a "Lost Brass" match.  There are a couple of brass rats that have made off with quite a bit of my brass.  No matter how hard I try to get it back, I get about 1/4-1/2 back per stage.

[IDescribe]

There are a couple of brass rats that have made off with quite a bit of my brass.  No matter how hard I try to get it back, I get about 1/4-1/2 back per stage.

James, if you invest in one of the nutpickers I linked to above, you might be able to roll up your brass quick before the next shooter goes, depending on how your club runs things.  Food for thought. 

[dave33]

Ive been shooting 9 major for a while and have reloaded plenty of brass that has had 9 major rounds shot through it, no problems at all.  The only brass I shy away from is stepped case brass.  Looked into it and talked to plenty of guys that have shot 9 major for years and thousands of rounds that don't have a problem with reloading 9 major brass. 

If I needed brass, especially for minor, I would not hesitate to pick after a match.

[Wobbly]

I would like to hear your guys opinions on the matter.

Unknown to me at the time, I picked up some 9 Major brass one time that was expanded at the rim by 0.002". When these cartridges entered the 9mm tapered chamber, they jammed in hard about 1/8" from allowing the gun to go into battery. It jammed so hard I couldn't clear the gun, and I'm no wuss. Finally, becasue I'm standing there (timer running) with a loaded weapon, the RO, who was really muscular, gripped the slide and hammered the pistol grip until the gun cleared. But it took him 3 bangs to clear it.

On the next mag I found another one. I had to bow out of the entire shoot becasue I was holding up the whole show and didn't know how many more "time bombs" were hidden in the 300 rounds I brought to the match.

From then on I always dropped each round into a cartridge gauge before taking it to a match. Any round that was questionable I simply used for practice. So yes, it's OK to pick up brass for 9 Minor, but you'll need to institute a check system to ferret out those cases that are ballooned out. And trust me, they are out there.

 

[1SOW]

  Pick up the brass,  clean and tumble it.  Develop a method to store it that suits you.
I've never purchased a new brass case case,  and have enough for several years of shooting including two matches and four practice sessions a month.
During the handling, cleaning (I also sort by headstamp) and reloading,  damaged/ugly brass will get tossed. 
Try to find a practice range that lets you pick up brass.  It's worth travelling a little farther for this benefit.

Like jameslovesjammie,  I seldom got all my match brass back,   so I "mark" my match 9mm cases.  The 14\15? for each case is worth the effort. Other shooters help pick up "My" brass as I do "Their" brass.
 If you help tear down and store after a match,  you can often pick up brass....sometimes a LOT of brass. 

Or not.

[newageroman]

hmm. I'll probably pick it up, as I usually stay after and help tear down, but I really don't want to plunk test every single round. But I also don't want that expanded thing to happen either. Would that expanded issue be resolved by the lee FCD? I will probably pick up mostly where there is no movement, or minimal movement on the stages. Last time I was chasing the routes and left the stationary stages piled up (duh)...

I used to wonder why people would pay $$$ for a 100 ct case gauge like the shock bottles or whatever, one of those might be on my get list.

Thanks for the insight.

[Earl Keese]

I plunk all of my match reloads. It doesn't take that long and settles me down before a match.

[jwc007]

There have been two schools of thought on Brass used for USPSA Matches.  One says that you should use fairly new Brass for good feed reliability.  The other is that you can use Brass headed for the last loading, so you've gotten your use from it.

Typically, whenever I shot a "Lost Brass" USPSA Match, I would use a particular load lot that had been reloaded about Nine times or more.  While that Brass would probably still be good enough to load on, it was time for me to move on from it.  In some events, I shot loads with Brass loaded in the middle of it's life, and those tended to be in .45 ACP.

Now I do understand that some Safety Range Officers consider used Brass their pay, but I'm not sure that all of them view Match Range Brass that way, particularly for 9x19mm.
When I served as an SRO, I would collect some of the .45 ACP, but not the 9x19mm.

[Practical Shooter]

Sometimes brass wears out.  Sometimes brass splits.  You might split a case when firing it from your pistol.  It's not the same as an over-pressured catastrophic failure that tears apart a gun.  The steel breech-face and chamber steel are what contain the pressure when a round goes off, not the case.   If a case cracks in an auto-loading pistol, you're going to lose some gas, pressure, and powder, but it's not a big deal.  You might not even notice.  And if you pick up a case that's already cracked, you throw it away. 

Exactly what IDescribe says.
If there is one thing that really grows on trees, this is 9mm brass. Those are there for the picking, and it's part of my range ritual exercise picking up as many of them as I can.
I started reloading a year and a half ago with a 1000 brass I bought, now I have a bit over 17000 cases, and all the one I reloaded have worked in all my handguns.

[Earl Keese]

Sometimes brass wears out.  Sometimes brass splits.  You might split a case when firing it from your pistol.  It's not the same as an over-pressured catastrophic failure that tears apart a gun.  The steel breech-face and chamber steel are what contain the pressure when a round goes off, not the case.   If a case cracks in an auto-loading pistol, you're going to lose some gas, pressure, and powder, but it's not a big deal.  You might not even notice.  And if you pick up a case that's already cracked, you throw it away. 

Exactly what IDescribe says.
If there is one thing that really grows on trees, this is 9mm brass. Those are there for the picking, and it's part of my range ritual exercise picking up as many of them as I can.
I started reloading a year and a half ago with a 1000 brass I bought, now I have a bit over 17000 cases, and all the one I reloaded have worked in all my handguns.

You're not from East Tennessee are you? 
 I've noticed a new guy guy picking up brass at my club this year. Twice, he's tried picking up mine while I'm still shooting. Since he's been around, pickings are awful slim.

[Wobbly]

I'll probably pick it up, as I usually stay after and help tear down, but I really don't want to plunk test every single round. But I also don't want that expanded thing to happen either.

99% of the brass you pick up will be good, usable brass. But be sure and go through it with a magnet. And look for Berdan primers too. Competitors use the widest array of ammo you ever saw.

Would that expanded issue be resolved by the Lee FCD?

No. Nothing will fix it, the expanded area is right down in the shell holder area.

I used to wonder why people would pay $$$ for a 100 ct case gauge like the Shock Bottles or whatever. One of those might be on my get list.

I'd sooner have a traditional LE Wilson steel cartridge gauge. We've had people on here complaining that all the cavities of a Shock Bottle were not the same. That sort of defeats the purpose in my book.

Besides there's really no good way to transfer 50 cartridges from a Shock Bottle to a plastic ammo bin, and have all the cartridges end up in the bullet-down position so you can do your high primer check. So you're probably going to end up handling each individual cartridge anyway. At least for me it's a lot easier and faster to use a single-throat gauge and plop them directly into the ammo bin box.

 

[Dan_69GTX]

I use the shock bottle 100 round checker.  I love it!  I only use it for brass I'm taking to a match.  I normally find 1 or 2 per 100 that don't gauge great and save them for practice.  When in the checker I can check for high primers.

I have found a few of what Wobbly described - they just get taken apart.  The rest I shoot in practice.

I have found more issues with reloading older Aguilla brass - that line in the middle seems to bulge out some - not all the times.  This is when reloaded several times.

I pick up a lot of brass after a match.  Sometimes during, between shooters.  I always make sure to find out who collects their brass and try to give them theirs when I pick up stuff, or just give them some of what I picked up.

I discard any NATO (crimped primer) brass, anything with a bulge, major dent, flat primer, "junk brand brass" etc.  Except for last time I normally don't get much NATO stuff, but do get a lot of Freedom Munitions brass (and now steel).  For me, it is quicker to pick up anything that is shiny brass colored and sort later.

I do pick up 40 and have yet gotten a "glocked" brass case.

Dan

[1SOW]

Many bad range pick-up "9mm" brass issues can be prevented by sorting  by headstamp.  Win, R&P, Fed, FC  and Speer  are very reliable brass cases.  I prefer them in the order listed.   They are common at ranges, all are brass ,  all seat primers easily and can be reloaded many times for minor power factor loads.  No magnets needed. No internal ledges. No berdan primers.  No crimped primers.