While bullet cases are usually referred to as "brass", they are
actually a copper alloy. As one poster recently suggested, they
may be cut into small pieces, rolled, and used for soldering
copper.
Not so, good sir! That which is referred to as “brass” is the
CARTRIDGE (not the bullet case. The cartridge case is brass, the
bullet JACKET is a copper alloy. Correct terminology goes a long way
toward eliminating misunderstanding methinks, eh?
Jerry in Kodiak,
thirty years a goldsmith but twice as long a shooter
The Funky Fossil string didn’t really get me going until tonight -
It seemed like some people talking past each other about a fairly
trivial dilemma. Funny how things trigger us into our favourite
well-worn ruts and out come our old chestnuts and rants. It
happens to me all the time. I don’t know how I keep my mind on
anything when I’m always being reminded of other things from long
ago.
Like, for example, the time I was a kid and the house painters had
just finished working in our NY apartment and left for the day. This
must have been around 1944. To my delight they left what looked
like a dollop of one of my favourite foods behind - right in the
middle of the floor - a great big blob of sour cream! I knew I
wasn’t supposed to eat off the floor but who can resist temptation?
Nobody was watching me. I dipped up a handful and slurped up a big
mouthful of white lead in oil - what real painters used in those
days instead of the ready-mix they get today. They used to arrive
with big cans of white lead in oil and add in whatever pastel tint
was wanted for the day, stir up the whole mess by hand and paint
everything. Well, the moment I put the stuff in my mouth I could
tell right away that it wasn’t sour cream. What a disappointment!
It took a while to get clear of the taste and the mess and here I am
today - wondering why my brain has these odd quirks like remembering
old stories. Where was I?
Oh yeah - There was another post from Pam Chott about how daddy
wouldn’t let the kiddies outside while the DDT spray truck was
poisoning the neighbourhood. I remember those trucks too - from the
late 1940’s I think.
It so happens that an elderly relative of mine - now long deceased -
had a great deal to do with bringing DDT into the world and into
widespread use. His front lawn may, in fact, have been the site of
the very first private use of the stuff in North America. Somebody
ought to put up a plaque on the site. His role in this business was
a matter of some confusion and conflict in the family. Some were
proud of his achievements and glad of the fortune it made him -
while others were dismayed by the effects of the stuff on birds and
everything else that lives. His role in this Crime Against Nature
was an embarrasment to say the least. More confusion resulted ( in my
mind) when his wife gave me a copy of Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring"
for my birthday about 30 years ago. I never figured out whether she
was slyly undermining her hubby’s proudest moment with this anti-DDT
bible, or whether she just wanted to get the subversive tract out of
her house and she figured her hippy in-law (me) would accept it with
gratitude. I never solved that question. But - years later the old
man was talking about DDT and he said something that utterly twisted
my understanding of his point of view. He said “That damned stuff!
If we knew all the trouble that stuff would create in the the world
we never would have put it out there!” He paused for a moment
while my poor lead-poisoned brain scrambled to figure out if he had
made a radical conversion to environmentalism. Was he finally
regretting what he had done to eagles and fish and falcons and the
mother’s milk of a generation? “Because of that @#$ stuff,” he
continued, “there are now 2 billion more people alive in the world
than there would have been!”
Not so, good sir! That which is referred to as "brass" is the
CARTRIDGE (not the bullet case. The cartridge case is brass, the
bullet JACKET is a copper alloy. Correct terminology goes a long
way toward eliminating misunderstanding methinks, eh?
It certainly does, my friend. And I must still beg to differ. I
agree that the jacket is a copper alloy, but I may have misstated
myself slightly. It is the CARTRIDGE CASE (some also call it a
bullet case - a jacket is entirely different) that I was speaking
of, and I still believe they are also made of a copper alloy. In
fact, most are made of CDA 260, which is 70%Cu and 30% Zn (the zinc
is for strength). At least most of them are. Some are made of
aluminum, but I can’t reload those. Even aluminum cartridge cases
are called “brass.” Well, at least I’ve never heard anyone call it
“aluminum.” I’ve never used a cartridge case made of actual brass,
nor have I ever seen one. But anything’s possible.
James in SoFl who has done his own reloading for a long time, but
nowhere near as long as 60 years!
All the concern about lead, mercury, bogeymen, etc. on this thread
is reminding me of an experience I had that was a great example of
an overdeveloped safety sense. I had been working for a couple years
as a temporary lab technician after graduating from college, and one
of my tasks while working in a microbiology lab was to wipe down the
countertops each morning with 70% isopropyl alcohol. My supervisor,
who caught me performing this task without gloves one day, shouted,
“You need to wear gloves when you use that stuff! It’ll defat your
skin!”
Okay, so maybe repeated exposure to rubbing alcohol can cause a
little dryness, but come on! To this day, whenever I spill alcohol
while refilling my lamp or whatever, I think, “Oh no! The horror!
It’s defatting my skin!”
…On a totally different note, is there a good place to get hold of
cartridge casings in good quantity (she asks naively)?
...On a totally different note, is there a good place to get
hold of cartridge casings in good quantity (she asks naively)?
If there are shooting ranges, sportsman’s clubs etc. in your area
they would have spent cases left by those who don’t reload. Some
large gun stores have their own ranges as well.
...On a totally different note, is there a good place to get
hold of cartridge casings in good quantity (she asks naively)?
Jessee, if you don’t have gun & knife shows in your area, a good
place to order unprimed reloading brass (cartridge cases) is from a
company named Cheaper Than Dirt. They’ve been around a long time and
are reputable, despite the weird name. Here’s a link straight to
their unprimed brass listing on-line:
From there, you can click at the bottom under “unprimed brass” on
Weatherby, Winchester or the one that appeals to my sense of humor,
PMC.
If the above link doesn’t show completely, just go to www.cheaperthandirt.com and click on “reloading”, then the
appropriate link at the bottom.
A good place to get used brass for free is at indoor shooting
ranges. A lot of people who shoot but don’t reload will leave their
spent brass lying around. Some ranges will let you pick it up off
the floor or the trash. You’ll have to clean and polish it, though.
Just ask the range attendant what they have to clean burnt gunpowder
residue from spent brass. One down side is that the spent primer
will be in the case. That may or may not be a problem for you.
