Recovering spent cartridges

[ex3313]

the brass you police up may not be usable for reloaded as soviet ammo used steel cases

[Mahatatain]

Thanks for all the comments.

Originally Posted by ex3313

the brass you police up may not be usable for reloaded as soviet ammo used steel cases

This is very interesting. Please can you explain why that is the case? (sorry for my ignorance)

[HorseSoldier]

You have to resize brass to bring it precisely back into spec. Steel is much harder to manipulate, though my understanding is that it can be done on an industrial level even if it is problematic for a small time handloader. I'd guess steel cases are traded to places like Krakow rather than reused locally.