How long does your brass stay accurate? My reason for asking is that the brass for my 260 has been shot 7 or 8 times at least. When does the accuracy start to drop off?

I have 223 brass that seems to keep going and going I get rid of it and about 10 rounds that because it is so cheap. The hotter the cal the less life wouldn;t surprise me if the 260 isn't good for ten or so. At 25 cents aprice thats only 2.5 per shot. why take the chance on blowing out the case. With light lead loads it most likely go on forever. On my hotter stuff I get rid of it after the 3rd triming .

Prime Time.

Useally the accuracy don�t drop off when cases are fired many times. Problems that occur are split necks, loose primer pockets and separating cases.

In a standard chamber split necks is probably the first thing that ruin your cases if your loads are mild or moderate.

Loose primer pockets is another easy thing to notise. If the cases is coming apart could be harder to detect. If you use a thin flashligth like a really small Mag Lite you can actually se if the case are about to separate.

There is a shadow inside tha case just above the bottom if it�s about to separate. The crack can be a bit hard to see but with a little practise it�s easy to tell if the case is about to separate or not. If it�s a close call there is a fine line at the outside of the case above the rim. The area close to the fine line are useally kind of dull. If this line are visible on the outside the next fiering will probably separate the case.

I have fired Lapua .220 Russian cases in my 6 PPC (tigth neck) well over 50 times with HOT loads and not lost a single case.

Good shooting.

Stefan.

The necks begin to work harden after several firings and re-sizings. When this happpens the brass looses some of it's "spring back" which will decrease the uniformity of neck tension from case to case and thus affect accuracy.

I usually anneal the necks every five or six firings if the brass is used in a standard chambered rifle. Not only will this improve accuracy it will extend case life.

Hello
My experience with cases and their life is that a large factory camebr allows the brass to flex mere and cause stretching and wear on the cases. I have cases for 257 wby that has been loaded high and has been reloaded for 15 times and they are still good.

The camber on this gun is tight and I only necksize cases as long as they enter the camber. Then they get larger i trim them with a body or full lengt die to fit.

The key to long case life seems to be tight fit between camber and cases to minimize stretch.

Thanks for the feedback. I am getting a little frustrated. The gun is a remington VLS in 260 and up until this point has had superb accuracy. It usually shoots groups .5 inch at the biggest and I have shot groups under quarter inch. lately though, accuracy has suffered considerably, groups right out to well over an inch and I think it might be the brass. I am also getting a lot of black around the case necks which generally means loose throat. I'll probably buy a 100 new brass and see if the groups come back.