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HI, I have been reloading mid speed, accuracy loads for 22-250 Remington and 300 Win Magnum. My focus has always been on accuracy when punching paper holes at 100-200 yards. I spent alot on initial brass buying 1000 of each and got real anal about case necks, lengths and case weight batching. I bet I easily have over an hour invested in each of my 100 best, and most closely matched cases. I also was a real stickler about tolerances using a RCBS Precision Mic for appropriate cartridge dimensions for each of my bullet/cartridge combinations. All brass was also only shot out of one rifle for its current lifetime. Oh yes, I only neck size with carbide dies and a redding precision bullet seater. I have a set of 40-50 cartridges in each caliper that I have reloaded over 10 times and the accuracy is just GREAT. My factory Ruger Model 77 (53 grain match boat tail) in 22-250 punches .215" groups at 100 yards. My Ruger Model #1 in 300WM keeps to a respectable 1.12" group at 100 yards (150gr flat bootm match bullet) consistently..... I would hate to dump these cases prematurely to just have a whole new set of virgin brass and I really don't know when to stop. Sounds like a drinking problem......doesn't it! Just how many reloads might I expect....any experienced reloaders out there having similar experiences? Everything I read says retire brass when they show tell tale visual signs of pressure or visible cracking/separation stresses. Not to mention primer flatening etc. Any help from the experienced would be wonderful!!!!! thanks | ||
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In my varmint rifles, I reload them until they fail or until so many of them are failing that I dump the lot and buy new. By fail I mean split necks or other obvious sign of failure such as bad primer pockets. On hunting rifles I do the same except that I only hunt with virgin or KNOWN once fired brass. You're doing very good to get that many reloads so you're doing a lot right! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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I only get 3-4 loadings out of my 300win, the primer pockets loosen up. My 22-250 I get a lot out of neck size only, trim as needed. | |||
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Just as I suspected. I often see shooters state they use cases X number of times and then trash them. This can be between two loads to unknown amounts. Well I think the facts are that even new cases can fail first shot, and tired old cases can get just one more go.  | |||
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In my opinion, you should be doing two things. One is anneal your cases to help prevent neck splits. I have found it a necessity with the Norma brass I use for several calibers. Next is checking the inside of the case just ahead of the solid case head for imminent casehead separation. A bent, sharpened paper clip works well for this. You can feel if the case walls are getting thin. This is necessary for both belted and rimless cases. Otherwise, for just paper punching, there's no need to trash them until you start to see the cases failing (loose primer pockets, split necks or imminent casehead separation) | |||
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I got lucky and picked up 100 LC .223 brass once-fired and resized and primed for a song before the prices went through the roof. I've go around 8-9 reloadings from them on some full house loads and it looks likethey are going to be good for around 3-4 more before I start chucking them. On the varmint rounds I would think around 10-12 reloads would be reasonable. However like everything else in the reloading area the components really can vary a lot from lot to lot. I'm keeping my 300 Win Mag reloads on Win brass down to 6 times. Usually I just don't shoot this caliber as much and I usuallyy want to have the shiny newer stuff for hunting to avoid any potential problems on that huge buck or bull. Just one guy's experience. | |||
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I don't ever even keep track...between losing a case while hunting or damaging it in some way...I have never loaded a single case so many times that it has failed. Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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I find that most of my brass has a lifetime of about 8 to 10 reloads before they neck split or develope cracks at the web... Separating them into batches of 20 or so, and keeping a running record of them on a 3 x 5 card, helps out... Right now tho, I am running an experiment on two different rifles, both chambered in 223... one an ADL Rem and the other a Model 70 FW... I found with most bullet weights between 30 and 55 grains, and a charge of 10 grains of Blue Dot, the necks expand on firing enough to spring back to their prefired dimensions... translated, they do not even have to be neck sized! I just deprime them and reprime and load them again... This experiment is using 3 batches of 20 cartridges for each rifle...for the Winchester I am using Win Brass and for the ADL I am using Remington brass... I check each case when depriming to see if it needs neck sized at all to hold another bullet... once in a blue moon, one needs slight neck sizing here and there... So far several batches have gone 8 reloads without any need for full length resizing, trimming etc...this is both on the Rem and Win brass... The goal is to see how many reloads this lighter charge can go on the brass, 1. without resizing the neck at all.. 2. how many reloads it will yield before having to neck size, full length resize, trim... 3. to see just how far the life span of the brass will go since it is not being worked hard.. 4, If there is any difference in the above, between Rem and Win brass... Both of these rifles are sporter weight barrels, and are therefore walking varminters, so the 10 grains of Blue Dot load is more than adequate... Depending on how this works out, it has made me wonder what kind of life one can get out of Lapua brass under these circumstances... I have had loads in other cartridges that displayed this phenominum... but in the 223, it is interesting to see what it can do... the loads are lower velocity, but nothing one can't live with, especially with a mil dot scope reticle mounted on it... on Lapua's web site, they made a claim that some folks have reported loadings of over 200 times with Lapua brass... ought to be ineresting to see how much fact or fiction that claim is... Life Member: The American Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Jan 20, 2009.. Prisoner in Dumocrat 'Occupied America', Partisan in the 'Save America' Underground Beavis..... James Beavis..... Of Her Majesty's Secret Service..... Spell Check Division "Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." John Quincy Adams A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him "Why do you carry a 45?" The Ranger responded, "Because they don't make a 46." Duhboy....Nuttier than Squirrel Poop... | |||
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My brass is assigned a box when it is 1st loaded and count is kept of the number of loads. I can normally get 10/12 loads, depending on cartridge with out necks splitting or other problems, and the whole box is tossed at that count. If hot loads have been used and I notice primers are loose or a mouth cracks I toss the whole box at that point. Personally, I prefer to toss before I see cases failing then to wait for them to start. Brass at $25-$30/100 and shot 10X is no more then the cost of a primer. I feel I can afford to play it safe. ------------------------------------ The trouble with the Internet is that it's replacing masturbation as a leisure activity. ~Patrick Murray "Why shouldn`t truth be stranger then fiction? Fiction after all has to make sense." (Samual Clemens) "Saepe errans, numquam dubitans --Frequently in error, never in doubt". | |||
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Good info here as all reloads aren't created equal. The pressures you are running will ultimately determine case life. I use to anneal cases and try to keep them forever, but you loose so many in the field that keeping a batch together is frustrating in itself. With that said, I generally get between 8 to 12 reloads before split necks, or primer pockets become an issue. I also adopted another rule of thumb -toss the case into the recycle bin after 4 trimmings. The brass you trimmed off had to have come from someplace, so why press (pun intended) your luck? | |||
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Nobody can predict or place an actual number on reloads before failures will occur . That would be sweet wouldn't it !. I've got brass I've been reloading for over 40 years ( Yes the same brass ) . in 7mm RM 30/06 300 H&H and so on . I've had failures in all of them , how ever nothing like .380 pistol brass !.Go figure that . I loaded a bunch of .380 up 12-15 years ago , buried them under other stuff in the safe ( Forgot about them ) A couple of years ago I was cleaning and re arranging to make room for new babies ( Guns ) in the safe . I found those .380 decided to shoot them up , split dam near every case I fired . I know they're not any where near max loads and 88 & 90 grain projectiles on them . Cases got hard from setting ? powder weakened the cases ?. Lack of sunlight shorted them out ?. A mystery to me what went wrong . I had 44 mag older than those and didn't have one split case when I fired those !?. I now anneal rifle brass after 8-12 reloads and don't see any problems there , pistol stuff I don't have failures with any of my other calibers including 9mm , 38 ,38/40 357 or 44 mag , 45 LC , 44 ACP . Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...  | |||
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A barrel maker/benchrest shooter here told me a similar thing with his brass, also saying he never FLS'ed them. Don't know the brand though. I took it as a bit of a line at the time as I thought they loaded pretty hot. Maybe a tight chamber and neck area, and perhaps Lee's neck collet die makes a difference. As I've mentioned before somewhere, a feller here was spliting brand new Win brass necks first shot. I bought the unused ones off him and had no trouble at all. As for hoying them after X No. of trimmings, depends how much you take off each time I guess. I try to do no more than 3thou. Loose primer pockets are my problem, and when a primer goes in a bit too easely, the case goes in a jar, for emergencies or whatever. It's a very subjective call on what's loose isn't it? | |||
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