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Posted: 2/18/2017 6:25:23 PM EDT
Maxxtech has been making ammo and is not known for great quality but was steel cased so for reloaders it isn't much of a big deal as we just toss them normally. Well I managed to grab a bucket from my local range today and started sorting my calibers.......these 2 cases seemed heavy so I took a second look and seen what looks like a shelf on the inside of the case. Well the brand that has been known for steel ammo now has brass that is different to most others. The walls are thicker and it has a shelf for the projectile to sit on. The primer flash hole is longer and just out of curiousity I tried sizing one and it did not want to play nice. Anyways I figured I'd put this out there for you all to see ....
sorry about the poor Ipotatoe pics

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Link Posted: 2/18/2017 7:01:38 PM EDT
[#1]
This is the second thread this week about finding shells like this, where are you guys shooting?
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 7:34:36 PM EDT
[#2]
I have been seeing those also the last 6 months or so.  I loaded up a few and they worked fine.
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 7:44:14 PM EDT
[#3]
Interesting!!! This is a first for me!
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 7:48:57 PM EDT
[#4]
it is heads up time for us professional brass "reclaimers".  In the last few years we have seen the asinine small primer use in 45 ACP and now this mystery brass and the most dreaded of all the "American steel" plated brass color so you don't know its steel.  I pick up everything at the range so I see it all.  I now test all my pickup brass with a magnet.  Never had to do that before.


american steel
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 8:20:40 PM EDT
[#5]
Dillon posted a warning about this brass on their Facebook page. Same exact brass (Maxxtech) and wrote: "If you run into this 9mm brass it probably won't allow your decapping assembly through, well it didn't on a Dillon size die, but you might want to sort it out anyway. Our powder check will also catch most stepped cases because they measure the volume of powder in the case."

Must be fairly recent, as I have some Maxxtech brass that is normal.
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 8:51:26 PM EDT
[#6]
Ha, you beat me to it. I was actually going to make a thread like this later on tonight.

I've been running 9mm all day on my 650 with mixed brass, and had it come to a halt twice because of these things in the resizing station.
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 9:36:02 PM EDT
[#7]
It is definitely a good heads up for those of us who range source for our brass!
I also noticed when I miked them that the wall thickness is uneven..... could be a potential issue if loading them.
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 9:41:52 PM EDT
[#8]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I have been seeing those also the last 6 months or so.  I loaded up a few and they worked fine.
View Quote


It's never a problem... until it is.

This is a common issue with that brass:

Link Posted: 2/18/2017 9:45:27 PM EDT
[#9]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


It's never a problem... until it is.

This is a common issue with that brass:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/GarrettJ/Reloading/40359074-2F2A-4E41-AE99-687303726FEC_zpsu5aohrgw.jpg
View Quote


Well that solves it for me....... I dont need issues, I am still new to reloading and do not need issues
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 9:51:10 PM EDT
[#10]
believe me I only loaded 2 or 3 for the hell of it with a 124 grain lead bullet.  I have no intention of loading any more.  I will be throwing out any I see from now on.  I have reached my goals of hoarding 9mm brass (5 five gallon buckets) so I can be more selective now.
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 9:59:43 PM EDT
[#11]
Yeah with all the brass available I don't need to be keeping stuff that could make loading suck
Link Posted: 2/18/2017 11:16:26 PM EDT
[#12]
Can one of you post a picture of the head stamp? I've not run across any of these but anything I can use to cull them ahead of time would be appreciated.
Link Posted: 2/19/2017 1:06:06 AM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Can one of you post a picture of the head stamp? I've not run across any of these but anything I can use to cull them ahead of time would be appreciated.
View Quote


Here is a pic. I noticed I have Maxxtech brass that doesn't have the large shelf in it, so they must have started this recently. I still cull out Maxxtech regardless.

Link Posted: 2/19/2017 9:30:57 AM EDT
[#14]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Can one of you post a picture of the head stamp? I've not run across any of these but anything I can use to cull them ahead of time would be appreciated.
View Quote

In addition to Maxxtech, you can find the shelf in brass marked FM (Freedom Munitions), AMMOLOAD, and IMT.

Be careful not to confuse FM with FC, or IMT with IMI.

Any more, after separating and cleaning brass, I'll shake the 9mm brass into an ammo tray, as they will pretty much all fall in mouth up. Then I can look through all of them pretty quickly and see if there are any with the shelf. They all get tossed in the scrap bucket.
Link Posted: 2/19/2017 9:43:46 AM EDT
[#15]
Great tip on the shake out. If you haven't you might want to post that in the tip and tricks thread.
Link Posted: 2/19/2017 11:27:38 AM EDT
[#16]
Good info, thanks.
Link Posted: 2/19/2017 12:04:42 PM EDT
[#17]
I ran a magnet across some of range pick ups and found about 40 of these.

Brass colored steel, no shelf on inside.

Haven't tried to reload, and I won't because I don't want to clean them in my wet tumbler.

Headstamp says "X-Treme ST 9mm"

Bastards!



Link Posted: 2/19/2017 12:42:45 PM EDT
[#18]
Link Posted: 2/19/2017 2:27:20 PM EDT
[#19]
I'm going to have to run a magnet through my range brass next time I snag a bunch of it.  Most steel pistol cases are clearly that (unless they're Browning's black nickel stuff, which confused me for a while), and I hadn't been aware of brass plated, Boxer primed cases until now.

With that said, unless it's goofy like the Maxxtech cases, I'll load it.  I will simply keep steel stuff separated from all-brass stuff.
Link Posted: 2/19/2017 10:50:47 PM EDT
[#20]
I learn every time I sort range brass. On the plus side I do enjoy the relaxation of sorting a 5 gal bucket so this will just be another step. Run a magnet over all that I sort just in case.
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 4:24:04 AM EDT
[#21]
I learned a long time ago to magnet my brass before cleaning. The brass plated golden bear 223 burned me before.
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 10:19:40 AM EDT
[#22]
I made an earlier thread .  It will reload but adds serious wear on your loader. It is like resizing a solid brass slug.

I throw them in the recycling bucket
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 7:21:30 PM EDT
[#23]
I guess I have some "early" Maxx brass from a couple years ago.  As far as I can guess, I think I've reloaded it once and it was fine, but it doesn't have that step you see in these examples.  

I've been tossing all the other ammoland brass in the scrap bucket.
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 9:02:09 PM EDT
[#24]
I just went through my sorted pile again and found 2 more I missed. Ran a magnet and didn't get any steel transvestite cases masquerading as brass thankfully
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 9:15:33 PM EDT
[#25]
Just got a new batch of once fired.. didnt catch it during sorting:



I found it because I watch every case go through powder charge. This is 5.8gr of CFE Pistol... Left is that offending brass. Right is standard. Easily caught by eye of a good powder cop:


Here is the loaded round (left) compared to standard. Both seated to 1.11 with Hornady 115 FMJ. Definitely a difference in case (bulge) and ring in nose from seating:


Edit: I loaded it for this thread and have since removed.. before anyone asks.
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 9:20:04 PM EDT
[#26]
Not really a big deal generally - at least, I haven't had any problems with the Freedom Munitions version of this.  If you just reload it once and fire it in a normal pistol, you likely won't get any of those separations.  I haven't at least.  I use Hornady dies, and have no problems processing this brass.  

At first I thought it was some kind of spiff new quality super high pressure brass with a shelf to prevent over-seating bullets.  But no, it's just a cheaper manufacturing method (apparently they punch-draw faster/easier meaning you can form more cases with cheaper/faster equipment this way - I guess).  

Whenever I see it, I've usually gone to the trouble of picking it up and tumbling it by now, so I thrown them in a fire and forget pile.  Shot bunches of them, never had a problem.  I don't use them more than once though.
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 9:23:56 PM EDT
[#27]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Not really a big deal generally - at least, I haven't had any problems with the Freedom Munitions version of this.  If you just reload it once and fire it in a normal pistol, you likely won't get any of those separations.  I haven't at least.  I use Hornady dies, and have no problems processing this brass.  

At first I thought it was some kind of spiff new quality super high pressure brass with a shelf to prevent over-seating bullets.  But no, it's just a cheaper manufacturing method (apparently they punch-draw faster/easier meaning you can form more cases with cheaper/faster equipment this way - I guess).  

Whenever I see it, I've usually gone to the trouble of picking it up and tumbling it by now, so I thrown them in a fire and forget pile.  Shot bunches of them, never had a problem.  I don't use them more than once though.
View Quote


Good point!
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 9:24:40 PM EDT
[#28]
This thread might make a good sticky for a bit! What do y'all think? Mods?
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 9:31:57 PM EDT
[#29]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Not really a big deal generally - at least, I haven't had any problems with the Freedom Munitions version of this.  If you just reload it once and fire it in a normal pistol, you likely won't get any of those separations.  I haven't at least.  I use Hornady dies, and have no problems processing this brass.  

At first I thought it was some kind of spiff new quality super high pressure brass with a shelf to prevent over-seating bullets.  But no, it's just a cheaper manufacturing method (apparently they punch-draw faster/easier meaning you can form more cases with cheaper/faster equipment this way - I guess).  

Whenever I see it, I've usually gone to the trouble of picking it up and tumbling it by now, so I thrown them in a fire and forget pile.  Shot bunches of them, never had a problem.  I don't use them more than once though.
View Quote


Thats a significant decrease in case volume which will increase pressure. If you run a hot charge of a fast burning powder like titegroup with heavy bullet, you may have problems...
Link Posted: 2/20/2017 11:00:49 PM EDT
[#30]
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