Reloading Brass Substitute Safe?

[proudpirate]

Howdy Everyone. I'm considering getting into reloading and have been doing quite a bit of research on the topic. One thing I can't seem to find an answer to is substituting brass. For example if a 9mm reloading recipe calls for Winchester 9mm brass but all I have is Starline 9mm brass is it safe to use the Starline brass? Does using the right brass called for in recipe really matter? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[kayt00]

The short answer is no, it doesn't matter all that much. The long answer is that different manufacturers vary on actual case capacity. This is important because if you run the same powder charge in cases with slightly different capacities you can run into pressure spikes. Having done the research I'm sure you have run into people saying to start on the low end of a recipe and work up. This is partially why.

[powerboatr]

i use many different brands, biggest thing is safety and condition of the brass. If it passes inspection for size and holds a primer firm , i will clean it and use it.

pistol brass only. i dont load my range cartridges to the max or high side.
i have found pistol brass will last a long time

[flechero]

As long as it's not a stepped case, you can interchange pistol brass... with a possible exception of the very upper limit or +P but if you are using starline, that is the better brass. If you work up as you are supposed to, there is absolutely no danger.

[jason812]

Recipes and max loads should be worked up even when following all the components in a published load. Long ago I wanted to see if there was a difference in brands of .223 brass. One brand the powder was literally pouring out the case while in another brand of brass the powder was at the neck/ shoulder junction. Different manufacturers have different wall thicknesses thus different internal capacity.

Minimum loads should be safe to substitute brass, primers, different brand of bullets, etc.

[rotor]

As long as the brass is in good condition I don't think it matters for pistol brass. I never load maximum loads though. For rifle brass that may be a different story. .223 brass is not the same as 5.56. I like Starline brass. I also load shotgun and for that one needs to load exactly what the recipe calls for.
Welcome to reloading. You are going to have a lot of fun. Right now with pistol (mainly 9mm) so inexpensive you will not save a lot of money but you will enjoy.

[Beiruty]

For straight wall cases, it is a does not matter
For rifle cases and more so for precision, it does matter greatly

[MaduroBU]

If you're reloading a caliber that requires you to trim a parent case to length and then size a new neck into it, case wall thickness variation can matter. Otherwise you're very unlikely to run into issues.

For shotgun hulls, manufacturer absolutely matters, but I'm just repeating what I've heard wet to shotguns.

[LTUME1978]

For pistol (straight wall) brass, you will see most IDPA and USPSA shooters using mixed brass (other than maybe a handful that are trying make major power factor in a caliber that was not intended for that in USPSA). Like others said, if you are going to load hot, you should stick with the same brand of brass.

I use mixed 223 brass for our AR carbine matches. I load to 223 levels and have had no issues. I use bulk components (powder, primers, bullets) to save costs and still get very acceptable accuracy results. When I load to 5.56 levels, I only use the same brand of brass and only brass that has a head stamp for 5.56. I resize the 223/5.56 brass then trim to minimum case length.

For long range precision shooting, I use the same brand and am moving to Lapua brass (for precision shooting) as it produces better results and the primer pocket does not open up as quickly.