How many reloads to be safe?

[clrems77]

Ill be reloading factory Hornady brass for .308 and was wondering what you guys thought would be a safe amount of reloads? I will definitely be inspecting the brass and using good dies/equipment to prolong the life, but was hoping you could give me an idea of what you have seen/experienced. Hornady AMAX 168 bullets, 42-44 grains of Varget with winchester primers.

Thanks!

 

[427Cobra]

Brass can safely be reloaded until the neck splits(frequent annealing prevents this) or until the primer pocket is too loose to hold a primer in.

 

[nuclear_shooter]

You can use a small croquet hook to inspect the inside of the brass for incipient head separation. A bent paperclip also works. If you don't bump the shoulder back too far, this shouldn't happen... or so I'm told.

 

[lal357]

it depends on the brass and how hot you load them i just tossed some hornady brass in 6.5 creedmoor after 3 reloading becuase the primer pockets have gotten to loose .also tossing some lapua brass in .223 that has well over 20 loading on them becuase of the same thing my lapua 308 brass some has been going strong for 30 reloadings .it also depends on your case prep i anneal after 5 firngs turn my necks and use a bushing neck die so as not to over worrk the brass i only FL size when they start to get hard to chamber.

 

[bigedp51]

clrems77

I use the RCBS case mastering gauge to measure for stretching/thinning in the base web area. My finger is blocking view of the bent rod that goes inside the case below the gauge tip. This reads any thinning of the case in thousands of an inch and is much more accurate than a bent paper clip.

I also have 30-30 cases that I have been reloading for over 25 years and only fail with split necks, this cartridge is only loaded to 38,000 cup or 42,000 psi and there is very little strain on the case at this pressure.

Below, the .308 cases below were full length resized with the die making hard contact with the shell holder (camover) and resized with maximum shoulder bump. The only thing missing is the rifles actual headspace setting was not checked and therefore we do not know how far the shoulder was actually pushed back and the amount of head clearance when fired.

Below, head clearance is the amount of "air space" between the rear of the case and the bolt face after resizing. This "air space" is the amount the case can stretch when fired and is directly related to case head separations.

 

[Deadshot2]

Regardless of the name on the case head one should always inspect their cases prior to every reload. "bigedp51's post above is great as a tutorial.

You don't need to run out and buy any fancy measuring equipment as a rule, just use the ones god gave you in a pair of good eyes. A paper clip wiht a sharp hook on the end works great to "snag" any case head separation that's starting. As those progress they leave a fairly distinct line around the case just above the normal "muffin top bulge that is about .200" from the case head face.

While not as bad as a case head separation, neck splits will often give some warning with slight cracking of the brass which can be revealed by good cleaning.

How long will brass last? How long is a piece of string? How blue is the water/sky? Hard to tell as each case is just enough different than the other. I have Winchester brass that's been fired so many times the headstamps are mere shadow lines on the brass. Pockets tight, no separations impending or any cracking visible in the necks. I also just threw away a piece of Lapua brass that split the neck after it's third firing. Anything's possible so just inspect each time.

As for primer pockets? I merely mark the case head with a large Red X using a sharpie if the primer seats too easily. That case won't be brought home from the range.

 

[clrems77]

Wow, thanks for the great info guys!! I'll definitely be taking everything said into consideration!

 

[Pinecone]

Another factor is the rifle.

The M1A/M14 is very hard on brass and typical recommendations are no more than 4 reloads.

A bolt rifle, proper sizing, and annealling the cases, I have seen reports of up arund 20x.

 

[pmclaine]

You can use a small croquet hook to inspect the inside of the brass for incipient head separation. A bent paperclip also works. If you don't bump the shoulder back too far, this shouldn't happen... or so I'm told.

Using a croquet hook will likely destroy your brass but if you use a crochet hook that would be allright. I use a paper clip bent to form a hook and I sharpend the feeler point slightly.


Sorry had to be a dick with croquet and crochet. Ill be googling crochet now to see if I spelled it right.

 

[nuclear_shooter]

Using a croquet hook will likely destroy your brass but if you use a crochet hook that would be allright. I use a paper clip bent to form a hook and I sharpend the feeler point slightly.


Sorry had to be a dick with croquet and crochet. Ill be googling crochet now to see if I spelled it right.

Hahahaha I was so confused, but now I get it. I'm gonna blame both myself and the spell checker on this one. That's correct btw. I'm not known for my ability to spell.

 

[Dan Newberry]

big ed that's some great info... thanks for sharing that!

 

[BuzzBoss915]

The question, how many reloads, to be safe? Well, that question has many answers, depending on application, type of firearm and especially how hot you are loading. Could be ONE and could be 40, it's up to you.

It's a question I never worry about because I don't load to max pressures and I fully expect at least ten reloads from every carefully prepped piece of brass. However, I only use WW and Lapua, not a fan of RP or FC, and have not tried any of the others except Nosler.

Inspect your cases as you load them into your gun, when you extract the empty case and at every stage of the reloading process. There is a lot of chatter about case head separation, or incipient case head but to tell you the truth, I think it's overrated since I only had a single incident in over 40 years and was able to extract the stuck part by jamming a smaller case into it and tapping it out with a cleaning rod. Since I was 800 miles from home, it was quite a relief. I have always brought along a backup rifle and that was one occasion that it was very handy. Long story short, it was an almost new rifle and had a headspace problem. That's a rare thing but a handloader caused headspace problem in a perfectly sound rifle should be just as rare, but it isn't, unfortunately. It is 100% preventable and caused by poor resizing technique. Lot's of information out there on how to full length resize properly, all a man needs to do is read how it's done.

Two things to look for, split necks and enlarged primer pockets. These are attrition issues, a few here, a few there. The incipient situation is something that requires immediate evaluation or you will be throwing away a lot of brass. Back to what I said above, inspect your brass, loads and fired cases as you go and no surprises. BB