Over the last year, I’ve noticed a trend when shooting — especially with 9mm ammunition, but also other calibers: after shooting even a relatively small amount (100 rounds, say), I’m finding heavy brass residue in the weapon. Slide rails, on the firing block, in the firing pin channels, all over the bolt — little brass flakes…everywhere. Now, seeing some flaking is normal on some of the crappier ammo, like Skorpion or Patriot (both SVT products), but I’m seeing this in all the bigger names as well.

Now, one thing I’ve noted in everything from electronics, to automobiles and motorcycles, to clothing or entertainment products, to firearms — quality control tanked after the kung flu crisis. This isn’t a surprise when you shut down the whole planet, but the problems of awful QC haven’t gone away.

This seems doubly likely with the serious pressures on the metals and chemicals caused by heightened demand from various military (and particularly the US military), but also regulatory roadblocks like the “Ammunition Supply Chain Act”, tariffs, and other political factors. (Target Sports was reporting on this.) With demand up, manufacturing is responding…but running the production as fast as you can often means cutting corners. Maybe they’re turning out cheap, quick brass shells that aren’t up to snuff. That said, ne of my suspicions is that manufacturers are doing brass plating of steel cases like Wolf and Brown Bear do, and not telling the customer. It would explan the seeming increase in brass residue I’m seeing across multiple types of pistols and carbines, and calibers.

So is anyone else seeing more brass shavings in your weapons after use of late?