Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
I came across this brass while reloading the other day. Headstamp reads “IMT 9mm Luger”. You’ll notice on the cut out piece of brass that there’s a ridge on the inside of the case where the brass gets thicker, as opposed to normal brass that thickens gradually down the length of the case. The trouble I ran into with this stuff was when running it into the crimp die, sometimes they would stick. They would stick so hard that I was using both hands on the lever to get them back out. They did seem to be fine after getting them out of the crimp die, but I was afraid that I was going to tear the case apart I had to use so much force on them.
After looking a little online, I found this thread on Arfcom that says this brass is being used by Freedom Munitions. I see a lot of people use this stuff at matches, so I’m surprised that this is the first time I’ve come across this brass. Maybe I just got a few pieces that were way out of spec or something. Dunno.
That is why I try to use only sorted once fired brass, I’m will to pay extra for the process. I use new brass for my match ammo.
Everything I load is just range fodder, so I don’t worry about it too much. Definitely going to have to keep an eye out for more of this stuff though, I don’t want to get it stuck in a die.
Do you use case lube? Even for pistol I used a light spray of Hornady One-Shot.
Never have.
Haven’t seen any of that evil, brass-of-doom out here in California. Probably a byproduct of my clean, organic lifestyle.
It’s the S&B brass that clogs up the works for me — the primer pockets are miserly, and bring even my Classic Turret to a halt.
And try some Hornady case lube. Not only does it smooth the whole process (a lot), but I also get a more consistent OAL.