I bought a Remington 700 BDL Laminate/Stainless in 300 RUM about 2 weeks ago. I have a good load worked up with the 200g SMK. I am using 94g of H-1000 for a velocity of 3195fps. I am wondering about how many firings my brass will last? I was thinking about 3-4. How long is your guys lasting? Thanks for any replys.

remingtonman_25_06,

Welcome to the forum.

How long the brass lasts depends on mainly two things. Your chamber and your loading die - and of course how hot you load your ammo.

I have just returned from a hunt in Tanzania, and some of my ammo was loaded in cases which have been used 16 times before. This is for our own 375/404, which is a wildcat very similar to the 375 RUM.

I am hoping to use them a few more times too.

Invest in a neck sizing die, if you don't have one already. It will greatly reduce how much stress you put on your brass. I'm still loading my first lot of brass and I think I'm on number 4 or 5.

I have to differ on the neck sizing die. I did this with my 300RUM and runout was horrible. I now partial full size in mine. But what I have noticed, is neck tension becomes an issue. Basically, my most accurate firing is the second due to its fireformed.

My gunsmith used the reamer from my chamber to cut the Wilson neck die for mine. The brass will not run up in the die after the 3rd neck sized firing. Several guys who shoot the 300RUM often have told me that they get better long range accuracy AND brass life by FL sizing the brass. I got only 4 firings with the neck sizing,..and they get 7-8 firings bt FL sizing. I know it sounds backwards,..but I have started to run mine through the body die every time and I will see how mnay firings I get now. The supermags are hard on brass.

If you have a factory (oversized) chamber,...you can probably get away with neck sizing for more firings,..but my wilson die on an arbor press doesn't like to size the base (case head/web) area due to the pressure required to fully take-in the case. So,....either size the body and then neck size with in-line dies,..or get the Redding "S" series FL die and do both at the same time on a threaded press with much more leverage.

Runout on the rem brass can be fixed by turning the high spots,..I did that and get .001" or better.