• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

Fellow Scrounges Gather 'Round

oli700

oli700

12g
Supporter
"Philanthropist"
yep, I'm a scrounge

when I started reloading I wanted to save money. I quickly learned that this was not the case. I did however shoot a bunch more .
Still I cut cost where I can.
I use all hand me down equipment , mid 70's . I have bought a nice digital scale , that is it.....oh and a used MEC 650 JR

Following suit I have become a master scrounge of components.....only have casting bullets left to master , I have scrounged a couple hundred pounds of lead though....only cost was lifting it

Today's scrounging tip is inspired by a member who made a comment about not being able to tell a once fired from a twice fired if a crimp on the primer is absent.....Instead of salting his thread with a big explanation I thought I would put this out there for other reloaders who like to save a buck buying brass

SCROUNGING RIFLE BRASS 101

This method is 95% accurate , for me its been 100% but there are exceptions to this method so I say its 95% because I haven't seen all the components under the sun .

So I'm cruising the logging roads and come into a rock pit and eureka I see the glimmer of brass in the gravel.....

The first thing I do is look at the primer because this is really as far as I have to go to tell if it is a factory once fired case.

in the RIFLE world factory primers are brass or gold colored 99.9999% of the time all my life, in all my time .....I am 44, shooting so early in life I dont remember learning it just always was, grandpa, dad, all shot and reloaded......never have I seen a factory rifle round with a silver primer .....but I bet they are out there.....somewhere in the world, some nickel case or something
But in the USA, factory brass case RIFLE ammo is loaded at the factory with a gold colored primer.

Most all reload competent primers are silver, rifle and pistol alike......


However I have ran into one exception in my time......


Hence 95% reliable

Here are some once fired I scrounged from the woods or range of all kinds, forgive the pic, these brass are all washed and different ages so the primers have different sheen but when they are dirty its totally obvious.


Here are some 37th fired mixed in, silver primers


Here are some reloads and some factory never fired


I am helping a friend with an AR10 that has headspace issues, here are the pics I took to send him

my 308 Win reload


a factory 308 Win




Part Two

If I run into cases that I have any reservations on I flip it over and inspect the case mouth.
Any reloader who gives the slightest damn about repetitive accuracy is going to trim the case to the manuals spec....most of the time a good bit shorter than the factory loads with.......and they font use the same method as the factory

the factory uses high speed methods with machines to get with in THEIR spec for loading....millions of brass.

The result is a much differing appearance in the case mouth than a realoders trimmed brass

Here is a good example, however the "cut" can be a lot less exaggerated
Factory length tooling marks


Less exaggerated and dirty, 30-06 and 270 Win


Some of my once trimmed 7th loaded brass



So, I have empowered you with scrounging knowledge, go forth and save 5 bucks

I have bought factory ammo and reloaded it before........and I have bought most of all my 10mm auto brass that wasn't given to me by Nitesite but that is it.....never bought rifle brass alone of any kind, ever.

I would safely say I have scrounged a few 1000 brass and cant say I have ever been sorry
 
that was the other kinda common primer thanks, and I think #35's but don't have any on hand to check.......I wouldn't be surprised if those primers were never intended to be reloading components but just picked from the lots used to load military ammo
 
Winchester SRP (Small Rifle Primers) are gold colored.

Remington 7-1/2 small rifle primers are also gold colored.

Cheap, 100 round bulk Factory Federal Game Shok primers are silver. Or at least they were. Haven't bought any in a while, but I have a whole box sitting in front of me that are certainly factory loads, and they're silver.
 
I think all Winchester rifle/pistol is

had no idea on the 71/2

what is the cal on the Feds ?......I have a bit of 270 and 300 Win Mag showing gold..


Getting close to the 95% mark......
 
Great post! A couple of friends collect brass from the shooting places in the area and donate all of the 10 MM brass to me. Not much, but every case helps. A while back, I bought a thousand new cases from Starline so I would have plenty of brass on hand.
 
John A. said:
12 gauge.
Click to expand...
ok this thread is about rifle cartridges only, as stated in the original post.....because this doesn't apply to pistol or shotgun

This pics of pistol primers are an example pointing to the fact that most all component primers are silver

Exception being Winchester , I only have pistol primers as an example

But

a lot of factory shotgun primers are gold, the outer ring , around the cup, is silver

the reloading components the outer ring is gold, but not very reliable.....shotgunshells are all over the place and pistol are mostly silver but not as reliable as rifle
 
nitesite said:
Great thread. Thanks for starting it oli700!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
thanks Dave hope all is well
between the primer and the neck/mouth its fool proof for me
Most the time I also can see the striations on the neck from resizing on reloads
depends on where in the process the reloader deprimed and sized, if they tumble after they resize then I cant tell
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top