Preferred 9mm brass?

I went through all of my 9mm brass today, what an undertaking, and separated it all by head stamp. Most of my brass is range pick ups and I have a metric butt ton. What I am asking is, does anyone prefer one brand of brass for reloading over other brands? Why?
My pick ups include:
Winchester
Remington
Sig
CBC
Blazer
GFL
Federal
FN
Speer
Perfecta
PMC
Herters
Aguilla
IMI
PPU
and finally......Star Line.
I want to reload into lots by head stamps. I am curious to know if one brand is preferred over others.

For basic 9mm range stuff I don’t look at head stamps other than to throw out the obvious stuff that I wouldn’t want to load. I load too much 9mm to sort and haven’t seen any difference in performance. Now if I’m working up a special load for something like a carbine 100 yard steel load then I prefer Winchester or found Starline to be very good too.

I’ved like every Star Line case I’ve seen. Speer seems to be good as well.

Thing is, I’m not sure I’m good enough with a pistol to notice much difference between one or another, and not sure how much difference it makes. I do plan to experiment some to see if I can detect an increase in consistency by sticking with a single head stamp.

Let me know if you test it out to see for yourself. It will be good to hear others opinions.

I think I've loaded every 9mm head stamp on your list with the exception of two. No real issues or preferences with any of them.

Aside from the usual concerns and inspections with range pickup brass generally, there are 2 things I do look closely to cull specific to 9mm though. One is Luger brass repurposed into Makarov. The other is Maxxtech brass made by Tula, that has the internal ridge that would appear to significantly decreases case capacity, with corresponding pressure concerns.

If you haven't seen this brass, you'll find a picture of it (consistent with forum copyright rules) in post #18 in the link below.

http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/reloads/234658-maxxtech-brass.html#/topics/234658?page=1

What I plan on doing is taking what I have the most of, Winchester, Remington, Sig, and Star Line, and loading 50 of each. I am culling anything that looks like it could be a problem. Whatever is left over, I may just load up and stash in my SHTF box. I do appreciate the info!!!

I prefer Starline and Lapua

On February 26, 2018 Lester Wm. Horn beloved husband of the late Ruth E. (nee Amrein)

ANYTHING that wasn't shot in a GLOCK...

Glocks are famous for unsupported chambers which produce the Glock BULDGE...

You can spot Glock Fired brass at an arms length...

Throw them away...

I try to sort through and throw away anything that has a crimped primer pocket. My Dillon 650 will force a new primer in most of the time, but sometimes it gets deformed.

sgt23preston said:

ANYTHING that wasn't shot in a GLOCK...

Glocks are famous for unsupported chambers which produce the Glock BULDGE...

You can spot Glock Fired brass at an arms length...

Throw them away...

Click to expand...

Glocks are almost the only pistol I shoot and have never had a problem reloading my own cases or range pickups either.

I have found some cases that look bulged a bit. Got the Lee bulge buster kit, but found that once the cases were resized, the bulge buster did nothing.

My personal belief is that the bulge, at least the ones I’ve seen, is cosmetic at best. Maybe it works the brass a little extra, but we’re nit firing at very high pressures, and I just don’t see it as a problem.

Besides all that, my understanding is that the unsupported chamber was only as issue in some of the early glocks mostly .40 Cal.

Anyway, it’s never been an issue for me.

Not 9mm, but for .45, I sort by headstamps.

If I have enough of one, I will load it as a batch.

The small lots and off brands, I toss in a bin and load as a bunch for lost brass events.

I really have never noticed a difference in how they shoot.

Great idea

Over a decade ago, I decided on Remington 9mm brass. At that time they'd used the same headstamp for the previous 10 years and the average case weight had remained the same for 60 years. I haven't regretted that decision and have put away more cases than I'll ever use.
Now, however, there are many more varieties to choose from. Two up-and-coming 9mm cases are made by FORMAX and Jagemann. FORMAX makes machines that extrude hamburger patties. What has that got to do with brass 9mm cases? The same principles are applied to taking brass wire and extruding it into cases. SPEER/CCI has been using the FORMAX process for decades. SPEER produces standard drawn cases -- using brass cups, heat, and pressure to draw out cases in a multi-step process -- and the FORMAX process which takes room temperature brass wire and extrudes it into cases. One way to tell the difference between the two was SPEER/CCI/BLAZER/*I* -headstamped cases without dots before and after the SPEER/CCI/BLAZER/*I* were the drawn type and those with dots before and after the SPEER/CCI/BLAZER/*I* (.SPEER./.CCI./.BLAZER./.*I*.) were produced by the FORMAX process. Also the drawn cases weighed 56 grains plus/minus 1 grain and the FORMAX cases weighed 60 grains plus/minus 1 grain. At the same time SPEER/CCI was supplying Federal with FORMAX process cases headstamped dot FC dot (.FC.). Since then Federal has acquired its own FORMAX machines and is producing both drawn and FORMAX cases in-house. The majority of Federal FORMAX cases use dots in the headstamp to identify that it is a FORMAX case. The SPEER/CCI and Federal FORMAX cases are interchangeable and weigh about 60 grains. When I weighed some SPEER and BLAZER (suspected they were FORMAX but no dots) cases just now they were all about 60 grains so it appears that SPEER/CCI has dropped the dots before and after SPEER and BLAZER to identify their FORMAX product.
Remington also got its own FORMAX machines a couple years back and also still makes drawn 9mm cases. Remington's FORMAX cases are easily identified as they are primed with not-nickel-plated Remington primers. They also have a dot in the headstamp at about the 2:30 position. The difference between SPEER/CCI, Federal and Remington FORMAX cases is that the Remington cases are the same weight as their drawn product. FORMAX got a patent for that improvement.
SIG started off using Starline cases with the proprietary SIG headstamp. These cases had deburred flash holes -- a Starline exclusive -- and the I's had serifs. Then SIG used Jagemann cases which differ from Starline in that they don't deburr the flash hole and the I in SIG is like a pipe -- no serifs ex. S|G. Recently SIG began buying their cases from another company -- whose name I can't remember -- who has also bought a FORMAX machine. In January I saw a bag of SIG 9mm cases (presumably FORMAX process) at the Shot Show in Las Vegas, with a lot number equating to December 2017. They were in a glass display case and I wasn't able to get a good look at them.

Wow, that is a lot to digest all at once. Also, correct me if I am wrong, Starline only makes brass? Not loaded ammo? Maybe they do, I don't know. I only just started reloading 9mm.

JAGEMANN (YAY-geh-mahn) is another up-and-coming case manufacturing firm in Wisconsin. Most of their cases -- 99% according to their rep -- are made with proprietary headstamps such as S|G, HPR, GBW, TNQ, and a bunch of others, but also with their own JAG. I identify the manufacturer of a case by the internal characteristics. JAGEMANN doesn't have any. They're perfect. I suppose being perfect is a characteristic. Anyway, were I now to choose a single 9mm case for reloading I'd choose JAGEMANN, whatever proprietary headstamp I could get, even a mix of their proprietary headstamps. Good brass.
STARLINE -- When I weighed Starline cases some years ago I found that they, as cases made by S&B (Sellier & Bellot of the Czech Republic), varied wildly in weight. Same with other calibers made by Starline. Some people swear by it. I'm not one of them.
Having said all that, I ran a test between Winchester and WCC brass a decade ago. The WCC brass averaged like 10% higher weight. With the same primers, powder charge, bullet, and overall length, the WCC cased loads averaged only 4fps higher velocity than the Winchester cased rounds. And all the WCC cased velocities were within the range of the Winchester cased rounds. So there is a good argument to be made FOR using mixed headstamps.

Sorry CombatAK, I was typing when you replied. Yes, currently Starline only makes cases. The current manufacturer/supplier of SIG cases is Blackstone Ammunition Company. FORMAX was also saying their machinery can now make 7.62 Nato and 6.5 Creedmore cases, something I hadn't even suspected.

Anything without a crimped primer pocket.

I prefer Remington 9mm brass, as it lacks a crimp, and the manufacturer isn't hotrodding the cartidge.

it don't matter as long as it ain't
got that inside shelf to it...


-Rock

Rockzilla said:

it don't matter as long as it ain't
got that inside shelf to it...


-Rock

Click to expand...

^^^This with one exception. I had some trouble with PPU brass, so it always gets tossed.

d’Artagnan, awesome posts!

I have only reloaded 200 rounds of 9mm in mixed cases. Nothing significant relative to pressure signs or accuracy. In 45 ACP I segregated cases only when building true match quality loads and use the headstamp to identify the load. Whether shooting midrange SWC loads or 230 ball loads the 1911 pistols will still shoot well into 3” at 50 yards using mixed headstamp brass. In 44 Magnum I use the case headstamp to identify the load. I’ll do the same in 9 once I start building serious loads.
For blasting grade or steel shooting action games you won’t notice any difference using mixed brass.