How long should brass last?

I chuck my '06 brass in the recycle pail after 10 re-loadings, whether they need to be chucked or not. I have so much of the stuff that I'll never need to acquire anymore, ever, for my own personal usage. I've never had a split neck or case, but primer pockets on Fed brass seemed ALWAYS to be too loose. Just don't use that brand anymore. Winchester, Rem, Lapua and now Peterson is all I use these days, and have all I need.

My .223, M700, runs the same way. I use Lapua brass mostly on .223 loads these days, but I've shot quite a few rounds from range brass I've picked up through the past few years since I've gotten the gun. Perfecta, ADI, Hornady, Rem, Winchester and Lake City (lots and lots of them, many way too short for my purposes; they go in the recycle pail). Picked up hundreds and hundreds of the assorted ones mentioned. Might be the Perfecta's that had the flash-holes off center in the pockets; tried some anyway, and couldn't see a difference in accuracy. I've found the ADI brass seems to be really good, consistent stuff. "Seems" I've gotten a "bit" more consistent accuracy with the ADI, too; "seems" right up there with the new Lapua brass (and my shooting...).
 
S'all about pressure and how hard you work it. I get over 20 loadings on my Lapua and RP 7BR brass, it's a pussycat with low pressures (45-50k) and a stupid tight chamber. 7-10 loadings on .243AI in Hornady brass I run it at normal 55k level pressures. 3-4 on 7RM I run at 62K on Norma, Hornady, RP and Winchester brass. 1 loading on .223 PPU brass that I run over 75k psi on. 10-15 loadings on normal pressure (55-62k) PPU .223 brass. On my 6XC Peterson and Norma brass we haven't found an upper limit yet after up to 10 loadings running sane but max pressures around 55k.

I mostly neck size only but on my 6XC I full length size with an extra tight neck (-.009) bushing and bump the shoulder .0015.
 
I have 270WIN brass that I neck size that has been fired more than a dozen times in the same gun with light loads ..... 47gr of IMR4064 or 46gr of H335 under a 110gr VMax ... some of the necks are starting to split .... when that happens, I hammer them flat and toss in the recycle bucket. I run a lot hotter deer loads in that gun .... but only reload those 3-5 times, before putting them in light load bucket. Never had a head separation in that gun.

I have had one in a 30/30 .... probably 5 firings max now.

I've got 45ACP cases that I have fired many, many times ..... bought them at the end of last century as loaded ammo ($9.99/box of 50! Yellow boxed UMC.) The headstamps are getting hard to read, and the necks split on them once in while ....

Also have some .357Mag brass, some of it "nickel plated" ... the "plating" flakes off at the case mouth before it splits, usually, and I toss it in the bucket.
 
Board member Hummer70 has one 308 case that has been fired 150 times. Tricks to it? Custom trimmed and neck-honed sizing dies matched to his chamber to minimize working during resizing. Annealing every 20 loading or so, IIRC (if you over-anneal, you will need to do it every five loads or so). Use brass with a hard head to prevent primer pocket expansion (LC, Starline, and ADG are good). Don't load to maximum. Some nice accurate, but sedate by some standards, load will do.

About 25 years ago, I had the good fortune to speak with Keith Turpie, who won the 1953 (IIRC) Wimbledon cup shooting a 30-06. He said he had a small group of cases he'd found that shot best in his rifle, and he nurtured them carefully along through the National Matches. If you select cases for uniform walls and water overflow capacity after performing the usual case prep, you might find they shoot better for you, too. In that instance, given they will usually be a minority of the cases in the bag you buy, you may find it worthwhile making them last.
 
that would have to be my 5 that shot a slightly under .200 group at 200 yards!

I guess I could sort those good 4 out of 5 too. Something to work at.
 
I have so much .223 brass now I’ve stopped keeping track. I wouldn’t be afraid to go 7 loading though. I load middle of the road.

If you reload for milsurps and oddball calibers, brass life does become a real fret. 8mm lebel brass isn’t cheap and plentiful. Many of these weapons have... lets just say very generous chamber sizes. While this allowed reliable feeding of slightly corroded or dirty ammo, it’s not too good for us reloaders who still shoot these beasts 100 years later. Working the brass back into dimension after its expanded to a oversize chamber common to many surplus rifles (K31s and Type 99s come to mind as significant offenders) is hard on brass. It’s the only reason why I would/do go to the trouble of annealing.

I have 9mm with dozens of leadings. Pistol calibers I don’t even think about it really.
 
There was a commercial tool for bringing expanded primer pockets back, but I haven't spotted it for awhile. Maybe someone else will have a record of it.
 
Unclenick said:
There was a commercial tool for bringing expanded primer pockets back, but I haven't spotted it for awhile. Maybe someone else will have a record of it.
Click to expand...
It is not a tool specific to "bringing back primer pockets", but it does re-tighten them...A RCBS Primer Pocket Swager Combo P/N 9495 (there is a newer version now). When I first read that it would tighten primer pockets I was skeptical. However, after examining the tool and using it on .308 Winchester and .22 Hornet cases I found that it indeed tighten the primer pockets.

When I examined the end of the rod I found it was cup-shaped and that suggested to me that when it is used in a press, the cup-shape forces the brass inward against the mandrel of the tool. In any event, it tightened the primer pockets on the two types of cases I was having a problem with loose primer pockets.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012920663
 
I neck size all of my bottleneck rifle cases. Most of my rifle loads are about 90% of book Max, except 7mmRM. I retire after 7 loads of non mag and 5 loads of mag. First to fail, for me is primer pockets. Pistols all get FL sizing and I'm exceeding 10 loads in 45 Colt, using Tier2 (20k PSI) loads. When I was a young man, I chased velocity as hard as women. Now that I'm more manure, I've discovered that the animals don't know the difference between 80% and Max loads.
 
dahermit said:
It is not a tool specific to "bringing back primer pockets", but it does re-tighten them...A RCBS Primer Pocket Swager Combo P/N 9495 (there is a newer version now). When I first read that it would tighten primer pockets I was skeptical. However, after examining the tool and using it on .308 Winchester and .22 Hornet cases I found that it indeed tighten the primer pockets.

When I examined the end of the rod I found it was cup-shaped and that suggested to me that when it is used in a press, the cup-shape forces the brass inward against the mandrel of the tool. In any event, it tightened the primer pockets on the two types of cases I was having a problem with loose primer pockets.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012920663
Click to expand...
interesting! I actually have one, I use it to remove crimp from the primer pockets. it does state the the description

Midway item description: Unlike reaming, the Pocket Swager Kit forms a perfectly round pocket that is the correct dimensions for American boxer-type primers.
Click to expand...

The tool is a bit of a pain to use for bulk reloading I will admit, But I could work it in every few reloads to help keep things up to snuff.
 
Bottle-neck brass will tend to separate where the web meets the case wall near the rim. This area gets thinner each shooting/reloading cycle. It can be dangerous. Google case head separation fo some good pics.
 
Kell,

Have you seen that?

I ask because I have some 300 WSM brass with 10 plus reloading on them. I have even used an RCBS Case Master to look for this and have not seen it in my brass.

The only thing I’m doing to avoid this is I FL size for 0.002” clearance. I do end up trimming every 2-3 reload, it seems and that brass is coming from somewhere!

As an aside, the primer pocket GO-NO GO tool is a nice check for primer pockets.

The only failures I have had were related to cases getting too hard in the neck and neck tension being wrong, I had a couple neck splits and I had a couple holes form at the neck/shoulder junction. I do neck turn necks on this WSM brass from 0.015” to 0.013”.....the Winchester brass is so bad that this is required to cut all cases 95%.
 
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Depends on the head-stamp and the powder charge. Not all brass is equal. Different producers use different brass alloys that respond differently to wear.

I won't bother reloading anything stamped Blazer or Aguila - find too many once fired rounds with cracks to bother.

Winchester appears to use a better alloy than just about anyone but Starline in my experience.

I recommend you keep a tupper with cracked brass you'd not reload and after a few months - check head stamps to see which ones you want to avoid as being low quality or suspect. That is how I came to avoid the head stamps I do.
 
Bottle-neck brass will tend to separate where the web meets the case wall near the rim. This area gets thinner each shooting/reloading cycle.
Click to expand...

Certainly true if you full length size every time .... if you use a collet neck sizing die, that part of the case gets very little work if fired in the same chamber every time- it's got no room to stretch back to the bolt face .... I suppose you might get head separation if you fired the same neck sized case hundreds of times, but you'd have to anneal the neck several times in there, or it'd crack from the work hardening it gets .... also, I've found that the primer pockets eventually start leaking, as stated above, before the case web shows any signs of thinning.

I've had a head separation in a 30/30 .... full length sized reloads, IDK how many times they were reloaded..... upon examination, several other cases in the 100 round lot showed signs of thinning web .... pulled those down.....
 
Case life

IMNSLE case life depends mostly on the chamber they get fired in; tight chambers mean less case flow. So size to the chamber, and the cases last longer.
 
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