Reloading Brass Life

[Madjack181]

I read in my Lymans reloading book that you should consider 8 reloadings the maximum number of times to reload a case. I reload British .303 and some of my cases are head stamped from the 1940s and never bothered to keep track how many times I reloaded them. Up to this point I haven't seen any problems with the cases. ie splitting, head space bulging, etc. I load the cases on the light side and they rarely need any trimming.
Just wondering if others are limiting the number of reloads.

 

[kludge]

Well like most things, "it depends."

It depends on how big your chamber is, how small your die is, how hot you load it, whether or not you neck size, anneal, and so on.

Benchrest shooters with custom (very tight) chambers and only neck sizing can reload a piece of brass 30 or 40 times.

Inspect each piece of brass carefully each time before and after you load it. Watch out for a line near the head to warn you of incipient head separation, keep track of the number of trimmings (which can help tell you how thin the brass is getting). Usually brass will split at the neck or shoulder.

"8" is probably a good number for high powered rifle brass, but with care, good brass, and a good chamber, you could easily get twice that many.

 

[parson]

Annealing is fairly simple procedure and will extend the life of your brass. Lot of good info online.

 

[Broom_jm]

If you load cases on the light side, it's entirely reasonable to expect twice as many firings from each case. I think the rather arbitrary number Lyman throws out is based on full-throttle rifle loads.

For example, it's not at all unusual to get 3 or 4 times that many firings from a lightly-loaded piece of pistol brass. One of our members did an exhaustive study a year or two ago, where he found that neck-sizing can dramatically increase case life, whereas annealing seems to help very little. The two most noteworthy findings were that full-length resizing can result in short case life and neck-sizing often results in much longer case life. Annealing didn't seem to make a difference in either circumstance.

 

[Leadeye]

Shibumi made a pretty extensive study on brass life that's posted here somewhere. My experience has been straight wall stuff lasts a long time, I have 44 mag cases from the 70s no idea how many times they have been through the mill.

 

[red_zr24x4]

I've got some '06 brass that I've loaded about 15 times, I shoot it out of a M1 Garand. Low to mid charge weight.
I've checked for case head separation, nothing.
I've figured out 3 ways brass goes bad-
1) The M1 spits it into the nether world never to be seen again.
2) the extractor rips off the rim trashing the brass.
3) the necks split

 

[Madjack181]

Thanks for all the very good input. I feel better about what I'm doing. I've been pretty meticulous about inspecting and measuring my brass. I don't have a desire to see what the outer limits of reloading rounds looks like. I like my guns and body parts too much just to see how far you can go. Besides, with the cost of gun powder, I can load more light rounds per pound and still have fun going bang.

 

[shibumiseeker]

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ing/140337-new-brass-life-test-annealing.html

Annealing is fairly simple procedure and will extend the life of your brass. Lot of good info online.

Everyone says this but no one can point to data that supports this. CountryBoy19 and I did a test that suggests otherwise.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ing/140337-new-brass-life-test-annealing.html

 

[shibumiseeker]

My brass life tests which have been posted here show anywhere from a few loadings to as many as 150 depending on a lot of factors.

 

[parson]

That is an interesting read. I had not seen your results until this thread. Although I have reloaded sins the 80s, I just recently started annealing, based upon the prevailing "wisdom" found on shooting sites.

Most of my centerfire shooting over the years has been .243 loaded hot. I did learn long ago that neck sizing only extended brass life considerably.

 

[rxer]

If you load on the mild side, should have no problem getting at least twice that, but for some hot loads, they might be correct. I'd never get rid of brass just by number of loads, you need to check each one and then get rid of the bad ones. I did notice the nickel plated ones are much more brittle and will split in the neck quicker so don't expect too much with them.

 

[Seancass]

For you consideration: Brass Elasticity & Cartridge Case Life

I'm not experienced in rifle rounds, but straight walled handgun rounds will last a long time. I remember an author reloaded 38 special brass HUNDREDS of times using light loads and working the brass as little as possible. No annealing and no tricks, just some guy reloading at the range all day! I've personally loaded 44mag brass over a dozen times without a single problem.

 

[LarryC]

Son and I have reloaded straight wall handgun ammo innumerable times. I'm sure some has had over 40 or 50 cycles without any problems. Most of our brass loss is from damage occurring from ejection (dented or mouth damaged) or just plain not finding it.

With rifle brass one issue is if you are firing the ammo out of multiple guns with different chamber sizes. Another is the type of loads you are using ~ If you are into max loads ( seems like just about every newby has to do this for a while) I am sure you will decrease the life as the cases expand. Using in multiple chambers require the brass be full sized vs neck sizing only to chamber properly in all guns.

We are scavengers so usually return from a range with more brass than we shoot! We have had a few brass split, but since we do pick up a lot of brass, there is no way we can tell how many times it has been reloaded.

So far (last 25 years or so) we have had no damage to any firearm or person, nor any real issue even if the brass deforms or splits. Never had any stick in the chamber etc. We are fairly diligent about inspecting all brass after cleaning prior to reloading and toss any questionable cases.

 

[Vamptepes]

The Art and Science of Annealing
basically you do it to make the brass soft to work it. Repeated resizing and firing hardens it. You never anneal the base. Read the article above it has good information on the purpose and procedures.

 

[dyerwatcher]

I do not think I have ever worn out my handgun brass. I don't track how many loadings I have had. I pick up brass at the range so there is no way for me to tell

 

[Leo]

I can quantify my experience. When I was an active competitor in bullseye pistol, all of my .38 spl reloads were keep in 50 round boxes and the brass returned to the same box after firing. I had a card on every box with how many loads and the load data for every time. These were light loads with light crimp. After 15-16 firings I might find a small split on the neck or two. By 18 or 20 there would be so many split that the cases were taken out of use for any serious use. .45acp brass goes longer since you are not roll crimping it in every time.

For semi auto rifle use I do not get near that many. I keep these in 100 round boxes, and return them to the box after each stage of the match. Even with gentle loads, so many in the box will show splits or erosion by 8 reloadings, I re assign the rest of the box to practice only. When I was a serious competitor, my 7.62 brass was scraped at 5 uses, before anything in the batch split. Pretty bad priority to chance an accuracy or functional problem on the line in a sanctioned match, especially if you drove 8 hours to participate in that championship.

For neck sized only bolt action use, I think brass will go a lot longer than stout loads in a semi auto, as shibummiseeker has proven and documented.