How many times can 50bmg brass be reloaded?

#1 answer: depends, my answer: I do not know, I do not know what you know about a/the chamber, before pulling the trigger I know the length of the chamber from the bolt face to the shoulder of the chamber, I make gages, after determining the length of the chamber I measure the length of the case from the head of the case to its shoulder. I am the fan of cutting down on all that case travel, I off set the length of the chamber with the length of the case.

A friend called and explained he had a problem with his new to him 50cal, he went to a private range with 2 other smiths/master machinist/reloaders, I would think with 140++ years of accumulative experience there would not be enough room for all three in and around his rifle, did not happen, they loaded/packed up the 50 and went about testing other creations. Before going to the range he replace the barrel with a heavier barrel and installed an air brake, he did not like the ideal of blowing hats off of spectators.

He pulled the trigger, big click, and nothing, the wrong question as to the trigger word that would set him off “HEADSPACE” he understands the concept of chamber length and case lengths it applies to the difference in the length of the chamber and the length of the case from the bolt fact to the shoulder of the chamber and the length of the case from the head of the case to its shoulder. Anyhow, I explained to him the designer of his rifle was a genius, all he had to do was fire a case then apply the ‘leaver policy, once the case is fired and the shoulder of the case forms to shoulder of the chamber ‘leaver there'.

He has the complete package with the press, dies, case trimmer etc.. all that was necessary for him to do is measure the length of the case from the head of the case to its shoulder before firing and again after firing, then measure the length of the case after sizing.

Back to your question, limiting the amount of sizing of fired cases should be held to the limited window of measurements between fired cases and cases sized after firing.

I explained to him his rifle had a life time warranty, he returned the bolt only, after a few weeks the bolt was returned, he went back to the range, the difference in length between full length/minimum length unfired cases and fired cases was .002 thousandths. I am aware of the firing pin strike, I am aware of the primer’s effect, the design eliminated case travel. All my friend is required to do to get multiple firings lies with how he adjust his die.

Then there is the ‘generous’ chamber, my friend had no control over the diameter of the chamber, he had no control over the diameter of the neck, all he had control over was the distance from the bolt face to the shoulder of the chamber. Because I am the fan of ‘time being a factor’ I want nothing between my chamber and the case but air, clean air, same for the running start/bullet jump, I want the running start, I do not want my bullet setting still at the rifling, I want my bullet to get the jump start before hitting the lands, again, I am the fan of ‘time is a factor’ it takes time for the air between the case and chamber to escape, it takes time for the bullet to go from a dead stop to running before it hits the lands.

F. Guffey

It depends upon your rifle chamber and the die you use. My LAR has a wide chamber at the neck so the brass expands alot when fired. The RCBS sizer die necks it down a bit more than it needs to be then the expander opens it back up. This works the brass a lot and makes it work harden. The brass tends to crack at the neck after more than 5 reloads unless it is annealed.

If your rifle has a tight chamber and you use a sizer with bushings that only size it enough to hold the bullet without any need to expand then the brass should last longer.

Ranb