Blazer is by far my favorite brass. I’m convinced it’s the same as FC and Speer. All made by ATK. Extruded instead of traditionally drawn. I think it’s stronger than other headstamps, despite being easier to work. I sort the three ATK headstamps together and everything else is a mix.

CBC goes into the garbage usually. It’s notably stiffer than the other headstamps and you will get more case gauge failure due to hourglass buckling at the base.

 

I didn't realize there was CBC with crimped primers, but I agree, CBC sucks for reloading. Technically, it is reloadable brass, but I currently toss CBC and Aguila into a discards bin as I'm loading.

Nickel plated is nice for loading carry ammo since it won't tarnish.

 

Blazer brass in safe to reload. I have reloaded tons of Blazer brass, works just fine, as a matter of face I have 1,500 pieces of Blazer brass on the shelf waiting to be reloadeed.

Ditch the "crimped primer brass", I have found that type of brass is just a "Pain In The A.." to deal with. Too much other brass to waist you time with that.

 

Agree with crimped 9mm brass. I'll do it for rifle, but 9mm would have to be indestructible to make it worthwhile.

FWIW: I've reloaded Blazer brass and it works fine.

 

If we're talking pistol brass, I'll load anything I pick up. I'll toss those new 2 piece cases (finding more and more of them), anything with that shoulder half way down and crimped primers. It's just not worth dealing with those crimps for 9mm brass when I pick it up by the hundreds. Lake city 5.56 is another story.

 

For crimped primers, unless you have a 1050 or a 1100 now, The next best thing is the Dillon primer pocket swager.

 

Edited the OP because I forgot to ask about the nickle plated stuff I picked up. Reload the same as regular brass?

 

I don’t care for nickel brass. You can reload it like the rest, but in my experience I’ve found it to be brittle. It’ll start cracking before the regular stuff. YMMV.

 

Nickel can be reloaded the same as brass.
Blazer brass is just as good as FC, Speer or WW.
CBC is not crimped, but rather just very tight, like S&B.
No, a handful of MilCrimp brass is not worth getting a swaging tool. In the time it takes to deprime and swage even one round you can make 10 more good rounds. Save them for your buddies who run 1050's (built in swagers).


Brass not to use, stepped brass, IMT, Freedom Munitions, AmmoLoad and MaxxTech. You can't use book loads because the pressure will go way up. And they commonly have separation at the step, leaving you with a brass sleeve stuck in the chamber, and a dead gun.


This is mil crimp brass. Usually FC or WW. With the NATO stamp on it.

This is stepped brass.

 

No, a handful of MilCrimp brass is not worth getting a swaging tool. In the time it takes to deprime and swage even one round you can make 10 more good rounds. Save them for your buddies who run 1050's (built in swagers).

That all depends on how many mil crimped pieces of brass you have. At one time I had 3 20mm cans of 9mm brass and one 5.56 that I deprimed and swaged.using the Dillon primer pocket swager. Then we had a house fire. And 4 20mm cans of deprimed sized and crimp removed brass disappeared.

 

Before I started loading 9mm, I had a ton of my own Winchester NATO crimped brass that I ran through the 650 to decap and reamed by hand. It took awhile, but something I'd only have to do once, and I only did it because I had so much of it. Now, if I'm picking up brass and I see a once fired NATO case, I throw it away along with the other known "bad" headstamps. Not worth my time to ream cases now.

 

Nickel is fine, aluminum is not. Any headstamp is OK for minor. I would lose any stepped stuff for match of full-power.

My approach to crimped brass is to run it through the 1050 with everything else. If it decaps, fine. If not, I catch it at the swager and throw it out.

I have about 35 gallons of clean pick-up 9 and 1 dirty bucket where it starts out. I basically sort on the press. I sort out maybe 60% of splits during pickup, 30% during cleaning, and the rest at casing.

Anything that doesn't case goes in the pull bin, which is not much. I probably pull bullets every 6 months or so. Approaching 400k rounds of 9 loaded, and no real problems with brass. All my match ammo has always been loaded with random pick-up.

 

EDITED TO ADD:
3) What about nickle plated? Can they be reloaded the same?

They load fine. As others have said, they might split earlier. But then might not.

1) Blazer brass, not the aluminum stuff. Safe to reload?

Good stuff. Might be the same as Speer.

2) CBC with crimped primers. Worth it to buy the tool to remove crimp or just toss?
2a) If worth it, which tool to get?

Magtech cases are fine. A bit harder brass, not unlike PMC. I haven't noticed crimped primers in 9mm, but the CBC 10mm has stsked primers. I have swaged some 9mm primer pockets and now consider it a waste of time.

The cases I would avoid altogether are ones left over from matches where 9mm major shooters drop them.

Blazer is by far my favorite brass. I’m convinced it’s the same as FC and Speer. All made by ATK. Extruded instead of traditionally drawn. I think it’s stronger than other headstamps, despite being easier to work. I sort the three ATK headstamps together and everything else is a mix.

Agree, it's good brass. I'm fairly certain that Speer and CCI (Blazer) brass is not the same as FC. The FC cases are thinner at the case mouth, and I reserve FC cases for loading .358" cast for a couple guns that have large groove diameters and fairly tight chambers. Blazer and Speer won't fit in those guns, whereas FC does.

 

Agree, it's good brass. I'm fairly certain that Speer and CCI (Blazer) brass is not the same as FC. The FC cases are thinner at the case mouth, and I reserve FC cases for loading .358" cast for a couple guns that have large groove diameters and fairly tight chambers. Blazer and Speer won't fit in those guns, whereas FC does.

Have you tried new production FC like is used on Fed Champion? I find older FC brass sometimes that is absolutely different. The lettering font looks different, weight is different, and it is thinner. I believe this stuff to be produced before extruded brass was a thing. Those relatively rare FC headstamps end up in my mixed brass.

Definitely possible I’m mistaken. As you know, there are several variations of FC headstamps with dots in different locations.

ETA:
I believe these are identical to Blazer/Speer

And I believe these are thinner, older pieces which are different

 

While I don’t reload 9mm, I’ve successfully used lots of Blazer brass in .45ACP over the years.

 

I really liked the 45 Blazer brass until they started making half of it small primer pockets!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

Blazer brass is my preferred 9mm case I typically can get less than 1 out of 1,000 that does not pass a case gauge when loading .358 coated cast.

 

The WCC or WW military 9mm with the NATO stamps on it are my favorite. I can get em dirt cheap because lots of people dont want to deal with the crimps. The 1050 makes quick work of them. I can only reload about 3 times not because of brass quality, but because the subguns are incredibly tough on brass and tend to throw it a long way.

 

The nickel stuff is fine. I used to load it like normal, but a buddy of mine likes to use it on his subsonic loads so he can tell the difference between them and standard loads really quickly.

 

...and the subsonic doesn't stress that brittle nickel.
I was ROing a GSSF match once and the shooter had a... malfunction. A case head separated on his nickel reload and sent the extractor flying by my nose.

 

Blazer is by far my favorite brass. I’m convinced it’s the same as FC and Speer. All made by ATK. Extruded instead of traditionally drawn. I think it’s stronger than other headstamps, despite being easier to work. I sort the three ATK headstamps together and everything else is a mix.

CBC goes into the garbage usually. It’s notably stiffer than the other headstamps and you will get more case gauge failure due to hourglass buckling at the base.

The bolded part definitely mirrors my experience. I load on a turret press, and I glance at each headstamp on the way into the shell holder. I cannot tell a difference between FC and Blazer, and also, I never feel excess pressure during seating of primers, sizing, or seating of bullets with those two, so they're definitely my favorites. I can't say the same about most other headstamps. Just my experience.

 

...and the subsonic doesn't stress that brittle nickel.
I was ROing a GSSF match once and the shooter had a... malfunction. A case head separated on his nickel reload and sent the extractor flying by my nose.

My assumption would be an overcharge if it caused rapid disassembly of the gun. I recently had a 9mm case "unzip" and there was nothing notable about the shot. I was at the range practicing, and while loading the mag, I noticed one that had what looked like a tiny crack just below the mouth. I considered taking it home for disassembly, but decided to just shoot it and see what would happen. Well, that brass opened up from mouth to within a few mm of the case head, but was contained by the chamber.

 

My assumption would be an overcharge if it caused rapid disassembly of the gun...

Probably... but the Armorer happily put Humpty Dumpty together again.

I personally won't reload nickel. It's right up there with steel cases IMHO. Too much brass that is just generally available.to pick up. I won't even pick up brass if I don't know its origin. I think I'm a case snob!

 

9mm CBC (Mag Tech) isn't crimped.
CBC is pretty much all I've been reloading in 9mm. Works great for me.

 

It's Magtech 124gr. NATO with a CBC head stamp. Crimped and sealed primers. I looked at them through a lighted magnifying glass.

 

My Dillon Super-Swager has swaged the primer pockets of many thousands of military cases.

IME, military brass is superior to commercial, and very well worth the small extra effort to swage the pockets.

 

njl,
I have seen my share of these split cases. Most of the time it is just a weak spot exposed in the case that was loaded one too many times. I know I have said this a million times but it is for this very reason you need to closely inspect your brass. I know it takes extra time but IMHO it is worth it.

 

For minor, splits are just the normal end of a case's life. NBD.

 

Edited the OP because I forgot to ask about the nickle plated stuff I picked up. Reload the same as regular brass?

100% gtg. Nickle is a bit more brittle & will neck split sooner but fine. I reload only US made brass in 9mm, but just about anything works in lower pressure 45acp.

 

...and the subsonic doesn't stress that brittle nickel.
I was ROing a GSSF match once and the shooter had a... malfunction. A case head separated on his nickel reload and sent the extractor flying by my nose.

Nothing to do with the brass. Most likely a double charge of TG. I have seen several go Kaboom as a match CSO.

 

Nothing to do with the brass. Most likely a double cgarge of TG. I have seen several go Kaboom as a match CSO.

Several what go kaboom, Fred? Several nickel cases?

Don't remember if it was your fav... TG. I can usually tell though, by TG's distinct bouquet.

 

When I first started reloading pistol cartridges I would look at every case, But then found I would still have splits after the round was loaded. I then learned to put the brass in a mesh bag and shake, you can hear if you have a split case or not, by the different sound they would make. I then got to the point where case gauging practice was taking up to much time for the amount I was shooting. Shooting a pistol round with a split case is no big deal. So now I only case gauge competition ammo.I just don’t see why people are worried about having a malfunction on practice.shooting. It’s not like the paper target is shooting back. I don’t remember ever having a malfuntion shooting ammo because of a split case.

 

When I was shooting a lot of 38/357 I would load the .38 with brass cases and nickel with .357. For 9mm I made up nickel dummy rounds. So it would be easier to find among all of the rest of the brass 9mm cases.

 

TG is the very first powder I ever used when I began reloading - about 1/2 of a 1lb jug. Then I 'found' N320 and never looked back.