Bad brass

[Wachsmann]

So I have some "Top Brass" that I pulled out last night and started processing. I got it during when it was about the only thing I could find. After just putting it through the works and seeing the small somewhat hard dings in a lot of it I have to ask myself is it even worth the initial fire forming. I'm really on the fence about this stuff. Cause it may take 2 firings to really get some of the dings out. Some are really close at the shoulder or on the shoulder. It's all 308 win brass. I thought about finishing processing it all and just put it on the shelf for a really rainy day if needed. I kind of think in todays times with powder, primers, and bullets, being not as available and time and cost, when especially trying to make items as consistent as possible for longer ranges my gut is telling its not worth the trouble. You can put your best suit on a turd but it still stinks. What are some of y'all's thoughts? I can get some better brass pretty easy now it seem like Scheels carries a few good brands. I think Hornady would even be much better.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I think if it will chamber, any dents/dings will definitely come out in the first firing. Try it !

 

[Wachsmann]

I was also going to test out some neck mandrels on it and see if I could get some more consistent velocity's out of the stuff. I think I did about 150 cases last night. Annealing, sizing, trimming, deburring, debutring the primer pockets, cleaning the primer pockets, and a corn cob tumble I have a few hours in it now. Maybe I'll load up some of the worse ones and see if it straightens them out. I think the first 50 I did were ok but the next 150 had a mix of some decent dings in them. Probably just need to get me a deburring station instead of doing this all by hand. Hands get to cramping after a while.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

So I have some "Top Brass" that I pulled out last night and started processing. I got it during when it was about the only thing I could find. After just putting it through the works and seeing the small somewhat hard dings in a lot of it I have to ask myself is it even worth the initial fire forming. I'm really on the fence about this stuff. Cause it may take 2 firings to really get some of the dings out. Some are really close at the shoulder or on the shoulder. It's all 308 win brass. I thought about finishing processing it all and just put it on the shelf for a really rainy day if needed. I kind of think in todays times with powder, primers, and bullets, being not as available and time and cost, when especially trying to make items as consistent as possible for longer ranges my gut is telling its not worth the trouble. You can put your best suit on a turd but it still stinks. What are some of y'all's thoughts? I can get some better brass pretty easy now it seem like Scheels carries a few good brands. I think Hornady would even be much better.

I bought some Srarline (308 Match) with small primer pockets. I am very pleased with the price & condition. Although I did have a small wait. A even longer wait for 6.5 CM small primer pocket. But I surely won't complain about the quality or pricing. It's nice to have when not available to purchase also.

 

[MagnumManiac]

The dents will disappear with a start load, let alone a 'normal' hunting load.
It don't take much to remove those dents, if a pistol powder at a low charge weight can form an AI chamber without a bullet………

 

[Critter Picker]

In my early days of Prarie dogs shooting I bought some .223 military brass at a garage sale. These were brass that somebody picked up at the range,put in a 50 cal ammo box and brought home probably from basic. Some had been stepped on before they were picked up. Ran them through the tumbler, deprived them,resized ,and loaded. They worked fine and the next go around,I couldn't tell which ones were dented.

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

You will be very surprised at what will come out after you fire them

 

[ncwg2boatguy]

Send it. Its not the best but not the worst. But its actually pretty resilient brass.

 

[EddieG]

So I have some "Top Brass" that I pulled out last night and started processing. I got it during when it was about the only thing I could find. After just putting it through the works and seeing the small somewhat hard dings in a lot of it I have to ask myself is it even worth the initial fire forming. I'm really on the fence about this stuff. Cause it may take 2 firings to really get some of the dings out. Some are really close at the shoulder or on the shoulder. It's all 308 win brass. I thought about finishing processing it all and just put it on the shelf for a really rainy day if needed. I kind of think in todays times with powder, primers, and bullets, being not as available and time and cost, when especially trying to make items as consistent as possible for longer ranges my gut is telling its not worth the trouble. You can put your best suit on a turd but it still stinks. What are some of y'all's thoughts? I can get some better brass pretty easy now it seem like Scheels carries a few good brands. I think Hornady would even be much better.

I was also going to test out some neck mandrels on it and see if I could get some more consistent velocity's out of the stuff. I think I did about 150 cases last night. Annealing, sizing, trimming, deburring, debutring the primer pockets, cleaning the primer pockets, and a corn cob tumble I have a few hours in it now. Maybe I'll load up some of the worse ones and see if it straightens them out. I think the first 50 I did were ok but the next 150 had a mix of some decent dings in them. Probably just need to get me a deburring station instead of doing this all by hand. Hands get to cramping after a while.

hey, not to ruin your mood, but Top Brass is military machine gun ammo. It's all jacked up, dented, dinged and not perfect brass. I actually do rather well with the .308 (7.62x51mm) brass. Of course I was in the military and a lot of the brass most likely came from DRMO. You can't take it home from basic, you aren't allowed to take brass off the range. It's decent brass and will work for hunting and even long range. Just sort it by head stamp. Process it and fire form it. If you wanted better match brass, you pay more. I still use the same brass to shoot 1,000 yards with. I only shoot 175's through my M40A5. The new sniper ammo that took over Lake City is now Federal, called AB39 / Mk-319 ammo. Federal won the contract. No more M-118 brass. Just my 2 cents….i retired from the military 15 Apr 2015.

 

[HeyWho]

I say either use it or keep it put away when the is all you have to use period type of a thing. Back up is a very good thing.

 

[Dmagna]

You get what you pay for in this game. "Top Brass" is good for plinking but that's about it. Any bulk package brass will have dents and dings, just shoot it. Won't hurt anything

 

[emp1953]

A number of years ago I bought two 500 count bags of de-milled Federal primed cases for what I'd call cheap. Some were dinged. I deprimed about 150 of them. Tumbled them clean Full length sized. Measured them and all were spot on OAL. Loaded them up and am totally satisfied. I hunted with some of the dented cases, killed deer and ended up with perfect cases. I had saved the primers I removed. When the primer shortage manifested its self I decided to try using those removed primers. They seated fine, looked fine and went bang every time. My POI changed but each round went into an acceptable 1MOA at 150yds.. I am on the 6th loading on some of those cases with no problems.

 

[Rosebud]

I've not used Top Brass, but Everglades Ammo has new .223 brass with a VLC head stamp that is made in Lithuania. It comes annealed and is in very good shape. Also the loads I've worked up using it is as accurate as the ones using Lapua Match. Most of it is on the third firing and still great. By the way it's cheap.

 

[Gregg C]

So I have some "Top Brass" that I pulled out last night and started processing. I got it during when it was about the only thing I could find. After just putting it through the works and seeing the small somewhat hard dings in a lot of it I have to ask myself is it even worth the initial fire forming. I'm really on the fence about this stuff. Cause it may take 2 firings to really get some of the dings out. Some are really close at the shoulder or on the shoulder. It's all 308 win brass. I thought about finishing processing it all and just put it on the shelf for a really rainy day if needed. I kind of think in todays times with powder, primers, and bullets, being not as available and time and cost, when especially trying to make items as consistent as possible for longer ranges my gut is telling its not worth the trouble. You can put your best suit on a turd but it still stinks. What are some of y'all's thoughts? I can get some better brass pretty easy now it seem like Scheels carries a few good brands. I think Hornady would even be much better.

I got a bucket of Top Brass to load. It says 308 Win on the label, but it is all 7.62 NATO, and once fired. Is that what you have?
The brass I have, has been ( a lot of it, anyways ) Hammered! I believe it was run through a machine gun, and it's quite rough. I culled alot out, from mutilated rims, and sharp, small, dents in the shoulder area. For the most of it tho, it's ok.

No insult intended, but if the cartridges you have are marked LC ( Lake City Arsenal ), it is thicker than brass stamped 308 Win (sporter brass), and will generate higher chamber pressures.

Hopefully, you knew this already.
Gregg