Several Months ago there was a thread questioning the service life of brass. Some people came on saying that they had used brass for years, some only a couple of times etc.

I think what the people asking the question were doing was wondering about how many loadings were possible out of brass. This kind of intrigued me, so what I did was take 25 brand new pieces of Winchester Brass in 22/250.

I decided to keep a log of the life of this lot of brass. All were out of the same bag new.
I picked a Ruger 77 Mks Varmint Target rifle. I decided that the entire life being spent in one rifle, would be a good idea, for conversations sake and minimizing the variables.

Below are the findings and the loads used in each loading.

1. IMR 4198/ 25 grains. Speer 52 grain HP
2. RL 15/ 34.5 grains. Sierra 52 grain HP Match
3. H 380/ 38 grains. 55 gr FMJ Winchester
4. RL 15/ 35 grains. 55 gr. FMJ Winchester
5. RL 7/ 31.5 grains. Sierra 53 grain HP Match
Full lengthed resized this time, as bolt was getting stiff. It was neck sized the first 4 resizings.

6. RL 7/ 32.5 grains. Hornady 40 grain VMax
7. Rl 7/ 33.5 grains. Sierra 40 gr. Blitzking
8. RL 7/ 33.5 grains. Nosler 409 gr. Ballistic Tip
9. RL 7/ 30 grains. Sierra 55 gr. HP
Full lenth resized again. Number 6 thru 9 neck sized only.
Hornady Neck Sizing Die used in neck sizing operation.
Brass was also trimmed to length at this time.
10. RL 7/ 30 grains. Hornady 50 gr. SPSX
Full length resized again, only because Seafire had misplaced his neck sizing die.
11. SR 4759/ 24 grains. Hornady 52 grain Match HP.

Causalties:

Number one: second reloading, handloading Operator error.
Number two: One case. Primer Pocket loose. Case scrapped.
Number three: One case. At 10th reloading, one case let loose at the web, when extracted after being fired. Removed case with a copper brush for a larger caliber.
Number four: three cases. At the time of resizing, full length again, Noticed that three cases had cracks partially around the web again. Upon examination, saw a multitude of cases looked like they would have failed or partially cracked on the next firing.

So experiment ended with this lot of 25 cases.

Federal 210 primers were used for the entire experiment.
All loads were close to the book max recommendations, as that is what many of us usually do in our loads, especially in the 22/250.

Based on these findings, I am dividing all of my cases into groups of 25 for my 22/250s for this varmint season, instead of mixing them all together like I usually do.

I find this an easier way of keeping track of the actual life span and can scrap and replace lots before having failures in the field, which are usually a couple of hours drive from home.

I will do a couple of more testing with lots of 25 to see if 10 loadings in a reliable point of life span. I do think that it is pushing it, but it is a nice round number. In the real world, I think it will boil down to that a lot of 25 pieces will probably be reliable for 7 to 8 loadings.

Full length die was an RCBS. Neck sizing die was a Hornady neck sizing die. Cases were tumbled after resizing to take the lube off of them. Several times Brasso was also used to clean the necks of the cases, so that looked shiny instead of all black. ( estetics strictly, no other reason.).

I hope you guys find this useful and if someone else does some experiments on the life span of other brass in other calibers, I am sure there are a batch of us that will be interested in the findings.

Cheers and good shooting
seafire

Seafire ,
A friend of mine recently found that almost all his .22/250 case necks cracked on the second firing (first reload) . The rifle and dies are known not to be the cause . Crappy Winchester brass to blame . Not happy .

Seafire, you do a lot of interesting work and I've enjoyed/profited from it as have the rest to some degree. I must say however that while your work on this demonstrates something about your gun/loads etc. etc. it is of little value to the rest of us. Please understand I'm not lighting a torch under this subject, just passing an observation. The variables at play regarding case life in the reloading cycle are many, and I don't think there is much to be gained by this exercise except as pertains to one's personal firearms.

PO Ackley did some work on this once and IIRC he wound up near 40 reloadings on some cases. I think he got bored with in the end, at least that was the impression I got from his writings. His data is no more pertinent to me than yours.

Let's see what affects brass life:

Alloy of brass
Chamber vs. Die Dimensions(axial and radial)
Working pressure of load
Annealing or lack thereof
Case design(straight-bottleneck)
Case preperation technique and/or requirements
a. cleaning technique
b. flaring/crimping

These are probably not all the issues, but they come to mind as germaine. I think it a bit like tilting at windmills to try to define what one may expect in this arena. I have rifles that are good for but a few loading cycles. Others, with annealing, are good for dozens...

In fact, I have a Win. Mod 94 Trapper in 30-30 for which my dies were a perfect match, requiring no expander ball, and minimal crimp. Using R-P brass about 1:30 cases failed with axial splits in the neck on first of second firing. Surviving that hurdle the cases remained in service for 14 years before being tossed en masse because somebody gave me a bag of fresh brass. I estimate they had been fired as many as 25 times each, 4-5 types of powders/primers/bullets without segregation of even a lot of thought on the subject. Your mileage will assuredly differ...

Seafire,

I have been loading 22-250 for three and sometimes four guys for pd hunting, for many years. Very close to 5000 rounds in '03 and just over 4000 in '04. I use WW cases exclusively and mark the case heads to keep track of how many times they are fired.

I full length resize as you do, only when the case becomes tight. Usually twice, or three times as you found during the life of the case.

I can support your finding 100%. I found out anything past 10 reloadings "things" will happen, and didn't want them happening on a pd trip. I fire them 9 times and then smash them with a hammer so there is not a chance of them being used again.

Jim

Edited to add: the only significant difference in my procedure (during the life of the case) is I usually anneal at the 5th reloading.

I've found that annealing just the case neck prolongs case life.Thing is I dont load max loads.The load I use shoots at just over 3600fps,and ground squirrels are just as dead.

Brass life is so subjective..It depends on a lot of things, size of chamber, at what step the reamer was used meaning worn our or new, powder used, bullets used, length of cases when fired could mean a little, velocity of loads and other reasons both real and surmised come into play including barrel steel...

Basically if you load that hot number down a bit, the barrels will normally last many rounds, I had one that still shot sub MOI after some 4000 rds when I lost count and quit counting..sometime after that it openned up to 1" average and shot another few years before I traded it off for a pre-64 375..and it still shot very well indeed...I never loaded it over 3200 FPS as I recall. It was my rock chuck gun but I NEVER let the barrel over heat..

I load what some would call fairly hot in bench rest compitition. I have never F.L. sized a case, nor have I ever annealed one. I have a bunch of 30X47 brass that was made from Lapua .308 brass that have been shot upwards of 40 times, and still extract with no drag on the chamber at all. The chamber that these cases were shot in is a relativly tight chamber that I cut with a reamer that I modified very little. [freebore and neck diameter]. I am still shooting these cases and have never thrown one away because of case failure. The necks were turned to within .001 of the neck diameter.[.332] and neck sized very little. Bob

I have shot group after group with the same .223 case.

I hand load at the range with a number of presses. each one set up for a different operation.

pic:
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=260370

Gentlemen:

Thanks for the comments. I am happy to hear from a few guys I have learned to respect immensely, Clark, Digital Dan, and of course one of our resident gurus; Ray Atkinson.

I just posted this as the original question sort of intrigued me. I do know there are a lot of guys that could use this information as they never really had an idea of brass life or what to expect, just like I had before doing this.

I also have loaded some cases ( 30/30) as many as 20 times.

What I have learned to do, in this exercise is to start sorting my brass into lots, and keep them dedicated to one rifle. This gives me a rational rotation life span of that lot of brass. I am doing them in groups of 25 for all rounds except 223, which I am doing in lots of 50.

So after 8 to 10 reloadings, then I will just scrap the lot for 22/250 brass. I am going to see what happens to other cases. I am sure loads will also have a baring on the results, and light loads, will probably offer longer service life.
I am also sure case design or dimensions will also have some effect on life span also.

It will be interesting to see if powder type and burn rate have any contributing factors. As Digital Dan pointed out this info might be useless to some, but it is providing ME with some use, and I enjoying sharing it with those "inquiring minds" on line here.

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

PS: Clark, the squirrel are going to be out soon, so let me know if you are interested in coming down once again.... cheers. jchr./seafire