Guys,

When I used to do IPSC I'd always take ammo loaded on once-fired brass to major matches. Was a little more accurate, had been through the pressure test once, and certainly had a flash hole.

Do any of you fire brass to a specific chamber before loading it for a real hunt where travel is involved?

Thanks,

When I went to Africa all of my ammunition was loaded with once fired cases. They fit the chamber but haven't been sized enough to stick or weaken. I could probably have used 5 times fired cases but once fired just gave me more confidence.

each of my guns has it's own brass and they get neck sized only. i have a 7x57AI that has over 20 loads on it's present brass.
i think i can safely say that most of the guys on here do similar.
even the two factory chambered 30-06 rifles i have has it's own brass and is neck sized only.
the brass is then used in that rifle only, hunting or range work.
i keep a 50 round inventory of fire formed, but unloaded brass for each rifle seperately use twenty at a time and as the brass gets to looking like it should be replaced, i toss the 20 i'm using, dip into the inventory and replace it as needed, as time allows, loading new brass, fire forming it, preping it and placing it in inventory.
i would assume, most guys on here probably have and use alot more brass for thier guns, but i don't shoot that much any more.

I guess we all do this to get it like we like it, but it's 3x for me. I like to really make sure the brass is formed to the chamber well, use a die of some sort to bump the shoulder back .002 - .003 and rock and roll.

I have found 1x often times hasn't moved the shoulder far enough forward to be consistent with the other brass when sized-- YMMV

Mike,

You will probably laugh at this.

This year I am going to use new brass for my 375/404.
I form this from either original 404 Jeffery or 416 Dakota.

I have been using the same brass cases for all my hunts since 1995!

Year before last, I noticed that some had small cracks in eiter the neck, or shoulder. I loaded them again, and fired them with brass hat wasn't damaged.

They all shot well.

Last year I noticed that more brass cases showed cracks.

So I have decided to form new ones this year.

We have never noticed anything different in the performance of the ones with cracks. And several of us use them for our hunts.

I get a few laughs when I show up in camp and others see my newly formed and loaded ammo, as I do not fire form them.

I just run the 404 brass into a custm made neil Jones forming die, and load them.

This creates a second shoulder, for the case to headspace on.

I will post photos next month when I get to do these.

I usually use 1X or 2X fired for hunting, whatever you prefer.

The case is the weakest link in the chain! While I agree that you may be able to reload and fire the same case(s) multiple times, I would hate to need a second shot only to find the last case separated and half of it was stuck in the rifle! Especialy if I were hunting in dangeruos game territory! Personally, I do not load cases used for hunting more than 3 times, but it's your call. Have a great day.

It's been my experience that factory hunting rifles have more generous chambers and that accuracy improves as cases are fire formed to fit those chambers. Forming generally takes one or two firings. Rifles with extremely tight chambers are another matter.

I've never personally experienced a case failure in a neck sized cartridge that was loaded only 5 times or less. I've loaded cases up to 30 times, annealing after every 5 firings. I don't shoot any belted magnums, so I can't offer any personal experience with them.

the idea of reloading is to obtain better ammo than you can from boxed stuff. the better the case fits the chanber the more consistant the results. .....i dunno, i guess it's my humble opinion that it makes more sence to make reoading work by keeping pressures well within the capabilities of the brass being used several/many times. you don't reach consistancy by replacing brass every 3-4 loadings,all your doing is constantly making new brass. your just going through the motions at that point, in order to proclaim you "reload". no flames intended, just my .02......

The photo above shows how we form our brass.

We hunt with it with two shoulders, and the cases get formed on the first safari.

Saeed,
I hunt with a 7x30 Waters and an AI 25-06, plus one custom wildcat built off a necked down 300 RUM case. In all of the firearms, similar looking, but smaller, ammo shoots just as good as the final loads generally do.

I do know what you mean about those looks and grins as well.

As to the OP, I hunt with some cases I do not even know how many times they have been loaded, as well as first time cases. The loads I use in my hunting rifles really show little preference between the two, and I have never had issues with either. I do full length size all hunting ammo, except in the above mentioned cases. I am however NOT hunting things with teeth and claws or that will stomp you into mush.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
...Do any of you fire brass to a specific chamber before loading it for a real hunt where travel is involved? ...

Yes, always have - always will.

New Cases get a Full Prep and Weight Sorted. Lots pulled of 15-20 Cases for the serious Hunting rifles and then Fire Formed(1st shot). Then they are P-FLRed and either Loaded for Hunting - if other Cases in this same Weight have proved themselves as accurate.

Or they are shot with the normal Hunting Load to verify the accuracy(2nd shot), P-FLRed and reloaded for Hunting.

Any Cases which exhibit a Flier are marked and segregated to see if it was in fact somehow Case related.
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For shooting non-dangerous Game up close, it doesn't matter very much what a person does as long as the Load is Safe.