Heh, the stuff we loaders find interesting
I just received 1000 pcs of 45 ACP+P brass from Starline. My favorite (and most expensive) way to acquire brass. It's zero-fired
I'm repeating, but the only brass I consider "once fired" is if I fired factory ammo and collected the brass.
I do have a big exception: A fellow range shooter I know well gave me a 5gal bucket full of his once-fired 38 Special brass. This was about 2 years ago (I posted about it; under "Bonanza!.") Anyway, I know for a fact that he buys all factory ammo, doesn't load, and collected his brass. I've known this guy from the range for years and have watched him shoot a good amount of this factory ammo. It was once-fired. I talked to him about loading his own and he said he doesn't mind just buying it (looking out in the parking lot, I see his new high-end Mercedes - I'm thinking he's done quite well in life.) About 80% of it was "GECO" stamped. So now I have thousands of these; so it follows that's all I use for my 38's now. It's good brass; so it seems anyway.
Everything else, is "range pick up." And yes, most would certainly appear to be once fired, but I do not consider it so - they go into the regular rotation of their mixed headstamp kind. Side note: I don't go out of my way to collect range pick up. Stuff just happens.
This is where revolvers have a distinct advantage IMO. For starters, these days, revolver brass is almost never available as range pick up (not that I would). Therefore, these days, my only source for revolver brass is from factory ammo or purchased new brass (usually Starline, but sometimes Winchester or R-P). I think this is a good thing. Because of this, my revolver brass is only a few different headstamps. So for 38, and often 357, I sort/load like headstamps.
I just received 1000 pcs of 45 ACP+P brass from Starline. My favorite (and most expensive) way to acquire brass. It's zero-fired
I'm repeating, but the only brass I consider "once fired" is if I fired factory ammo and collected the brass.
I do have a big exception: A fellow range shooter I know well gave me a 5gal bucket full of his once-fired 38 Special brass. This was about 2 years ago (I posted about it; under "Bonanza!.") Anyway, I know for a fact that he buys all factory ammo, doesn't load, and collected his brass. I've known this guy from the range for years and have watched him shoot a good amount of this factory ammo. It was once-fired. I talked to him about loading his own and he said he doesn't mind just buying it (looking out in the parking lot, I see his new high-end Mercedes - I'm thinking he's done quite well in life.) About 80% of it was "GECO" stamped. So now I have thousands of these; so it follows that's all I use for my 38's now. It's good brass; so it seems anyway.
Everything else, is "range pick up." And yes, most would certainly appear to be once fired, but I do not consider it so - they go into the regular rotation of their mixed headstamp kind. Side note: I don't go out of my way to collect range pick up. Stuff just happens.
This is where revolvers have a distinct advantage IMO. For starters, these days, revolver brass is almost never available as range pick up (not that I would). Therefore, these days, my only source for revolver brass is from factory ammo or purchased new brass (usually Starline, but sometimes Winchester or R-P). I think this is a good thing. Because of this, my revolver brass is only a few different headstamps. So for 38, and often 357, I sort/load like headstamps.