Buck D. Law, SASS #62183 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 In a recent match I had a case fail to eject leaving some rounds in my rifle. Naturally I kept the case to inspect and determine the problem. When I took a look I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The first thing that caught my attention was the beveled head, but then I saw the real problem. Perhaps someone familiar with the manufacturing process for brass can enlighten me as to what happened at the factory. Since then I've done some reading regarding A-Merc brass and found that apparently poor quality is common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Looks an lot like the last drawing/forming die did not cycle fully. I am surprised that case went through your reloading press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barleycorn, SASS #76982 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Amerc will not even fit in my shell plate they go in the scrap brass bucket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kajun Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I have real problems with Amerc in 45acp....all of them in the scrap bucket. I've also had some .38sp to not fit the Dillon 650 shell plate well and discard them as they come up. Kajun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August West, SASS #45079 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I do not wish to borrow trouble. Hopefully, your notion that the case looked like that before firing is correct. However, it must be said that's exactly how a case looks after detonation. It would be wise to check the chamber of your rifle for ringing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody, SASS #26190 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I won't knowingly keep them. The case head is a slightly smaller diameter, so if there is the least bit of dirt or resistance in the chamber it will pull free of the extractor, staying in the chamber. Ain't worth it for the 2 cents or so 38sp brass value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullett Sass 19707 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I have inspected several rounds of this type of brass and saw this before in 45 colt. I now stay away from that stuff. Bullett 19707 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger #3720LR Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 With years of commercial reloading experience cas ammunition, A-MERC brass was tossed in the scrape bucket. It did not fit shell plates most of the time. Instead of taking time to try and make it work, scrape bucket is where it went. Same with aluminum cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widder, SASS #59054 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I ONLY use AMERC in my practice loads. And I only use them because I have so many given to me and already have them reloaded. I won't use them in matches.....period. ..........Widder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck D. Law, SASS #62183 Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 I ONLY use AMERC in my practice loads. And I only use them because I have so many given to me and already have them reloaded. I won't use them in matches.....period. ..........Widder I assume yours have a groove for the extractor. It'd be a great case for people who worry about dry firing their rifle. It WILL NOT come out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 A-Merc brass has long been excoriated here on the wire, and I've been a member of that posse. It is less than worthless - it is a pest upon the shooting world. (Excoriated => to criticize (someone or something) very harshly) It has seemed like their idea of quality control on the brass they "restamp" from other scrap cases runs as deep as snow falls in He-double-hockey-sticks. Now, would you like to know how I really feel? I feel ashamed to even toss that stuff in the scrap bucket to take to the recycler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Possum Skinner, SASS#60697 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Any Amerc brass I find goes in trash, where it belongs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 After having several jams in my loading machines and in my rifles I finally narrowed it down to AMERC brass. Sat in front of the TV looking at headstamps on thousands of .38 brass and tossed all the AMERC brass in the trash. Problem solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoss Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Never had any AMERC brass, but have the same problem with Blazer brass. Gradually thinning it out, I only use it in revolvers. Anybody else have trouble with Blazer brass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titus A. Gnatsass, SASS #71705 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I have real problems with Amerc in 45acp....all of them in the scrap bucket. I've also had some .38sp to not fit the Dillon 650 shell plate well and discard them as they come up. Kajun My experience as well. Not worth taking the chance or the headache. Scrap all A-MERC brass I find. Or give it to my 'friends' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Brules Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Is is not just AMERC brass, either. Anything from the Philippines, CBC brass from Brazil(?), PMC brass from Korea, and many more, are not suitable for what we do. Crap like that gets in our brass stream from our buying "range brass" that the seller has pretty much sorted all the good brass out of and sold the rest. Those people who talk about whipping out, on their 650, some 500 rounds per hour (or whatever the number) KNOW what they have. They may have 2-3 thousand empty cases (or more), and only 4-5 head stamps. Starline DOES make and stamp their brass for others, such as Precision and several others. I pretty much only use 4 head stamps. That's one way to address these kind of malfunctions...just not using unknown head stamps. Takes a bit of looking to sort it out, but it's not hard to determine which ones to pass on. I started by looking online for a reference. These references are not real easy to navigate, but start with a collector's website like this one: http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes which will NOT give all the answers, but will help a lot. Another way is, when you run into a rough spot in the process, STOP and pull that piece of brass and put it in a small can. Pretty soon you'll see that it's the same head stamps all the time that give you reloading headaches. ALSO, inspect your reloaded ammo....you'll find a lot of problems right there. Thre are probably better ways to do it (buy all new Starline and don't worry about it at all), but I had a lot of .38 brass to start with. Cat Brules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Odd, I have been reloading about 1700 rounds of CBC brass for almost 2 years. (Started out with 2 cases of Magtec factory ammo till I could reload.) Other than the primers needing a little more force to seat the first time I reloaded them they have not given me any issues. Most have been reloaded at least 10 times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 No problems when I load CBC, PMC (love it - it's good brass), PPU. I can even load S&B if I watch for tight primer pockets and ream them first time I find them. Been finding A-USA - which is Armscorp - brass that loads well. Even seeing some brass Tula (Russian) now, and it loads well for me. Amazing that foreign producers can turn out good brass and a Florida company can't (A-Merc)... Good luck, GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amarillo Rattler Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I once had 70+ AMERC 38 Sp brass with no extractor groove. Hammering 'em flat solved that problem. AR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheyenne Culpepper 32827 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I have had ONLY ONE failure to eject from my Marlins,,,, yup yu guessed it,,,,amerc...... pure junk!!!! I even pulled a case apart once that had split along the cannelure,,, it still pulled out the bottom half... but not a-merc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snakebite Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I don't care for the Amerc brass, and try to discard it when I find it. My biggest problem comes from seating primers in Winchester 38 Brass.... they seem to be much tighter than all the others. When I blew up a full tube of primers on my 650 it was when I was trying to seat a primer into a 38 Winchester case. Hummm? Snakebite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBFields Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I don't care for the Amerc brass, and try to discard it when I find it. My biggest problem comes from seating primers in Winchester 38 Brass.... they seem to be much tighter than all the others. When I blew up a full tube of primers on my 650 it was when I was trying to seat a primer into a 38 Winchester case. Hummm? Snakebite Have same problem with Winchester brass. Not as bad with Winchester primers but federal will at times squash sideways. Really do not need experience of igniting primer in m 650. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 If you do not distinguish between your rifle and pistol brass, I can understand putting it in the "sell for scrap" bin, but... it's good pistol brass. If it fits your shell holder, what's the problem? I also have found CBC brass in 45Colt to be easy to load, never encountering a problem. And to whoever is using small primer 45Auto brass... STOP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idaho Coyote' Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I only load and shoot Starline cases. Avoids all the problems. Cheap brass is like cheap tequila .....More head ache than pleasure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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