Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

[Lucks]

I'm new to reloading and was wondering about something. I hear that you can reload brass more than once...and the "good" brass like Lapua you can reload up to 10 times.

Do I need to be keeping up with how many times I reload a case, and make sure to not exceed a certain number of times?
Or...
Do you just inspect the brass to determine if its played out... and if so, what am I looking for?

Thanks!

 

[bsh12960]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

Lapua brass can be loaded many times, one just has to watch for case coloring disappearing and re-anneal the necks.When the neck shows cracks or accuracy falls way off, throw it away.
I have had FGMM cases that have lasted four reloadings,it seems to make a good bit of difference on how tight your chamber is.
If the empty case will still chamber and the necks show no cracks, they should be good to go. YMMV.

 

[308zone]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

A log or some kind of record keeping system is very important and you should inspect the cases between each load. As to how many times a brass can be reloaded depends on many things: type of weapon used, type of brass, some calibers are harder on brass then others and so on. There is some things you can do such as annealing your brass to prolong replacing it.

Use this:
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010955838166721108978:qcbx5qqy10o&hl=en
A lot of info on this can be found........hope this helps.

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

this is a question that has been asked here in the past....


i run brass till it fails.....the necks will split, or the primer pocket is WAY too loose, or some portion will look like it will part with the next firing....then it goes into the re-cycle can

but I inspect every case that comes out of the tumbler....if I see daylight where there should not be daylight.....it goes to the can

 

[BLAWTON]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

It depends on how you load it. Tom sarver set a 5 shot 1k world record with a 300 hulk (30/338 Lapua Mag Improved) when he was on like his 55th loading or some insane thing like that. He annealed the cases every firing though (which takes some skill to get good at annealing it the same every time). Which means you need to pay alot of attention to how long or how hot you do them at. Its not super important unless you plan on shooting them in comps....

 

[cinosbus]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

You will probably get tired of trimming brass before it wears out. Nobody mentioned it yet, but you can feel inside the head of the case with a bent piece of wire or paper clip to check for near head separations. This is explained in some reloading manuals. It is probably not a problem if you aren't full length re-sizing or if your chamber is near minimum headspace.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

I use Win and Rem brass mainly, .30-'06, and .243/7-08 necked up/down to make .260 Rem, along with the real deal. If your loads are on the hotter side, odds are the primer pockets will open up excessively first; less zip, and the necks will start to split first. When some of a particular lot of brass exhibits these tendencies, the better examples are retired as fodder for one-time hunting loads, and the rest go to the brass recycler.

I don't anneal necks, but most of my brass has its demise traceable to loose primer posckets. I'm intrigued by the primer pocket sizer that aparently does a fairly good job of returning those pockets to a useable size. If I ever actually get off the dime and it works, annealing may be my next project.

Greg

 

[Wil]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

Greg:

point me to that primer pocket sizer you speak of... I'm curious

 

[BLAWTON]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wil</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Greg:

point me to that primer pocket sizer you speak of... I'm curious </div></div>

I've been meaning to make a swagger that would fix this problem.... I still want to do it. On my 6br dasher brass i have thise same problem. Sometimes i only get 5-6 firings out of it because they love it HOT HOT HOT.

 

[oldreliable45120]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

Brass for a bolt gun will last a long time if you treat them good. Right now in my filling cabnets I have WRA 54 -30-06 brass that I have been shooting out of my Smith Carona 03-A3. I lost track of how many reloads are on them (stoped counting after the 10th reload). I anneal after every 5 reloads and do a visual check before every time. I neck size only on every bolt gun I have, Gas guns get full length. I only toss brass when there to gone to reload. I usualy dont shoot max loads, paper or deer dont know the differance. Your brass will tell you when it's time to toss them.

 

[DRAM40A1]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

Russian primers are oversized and will extend your brass life if you suffer from loose pockets.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

R.W. Hart Case Saver; made in two versions, for large and small primer pockets. Effective, but not without its detractors, too. Some say it mushrooms. I say they're using it wrong.

 

[SuperXJeff]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

I jst bought 500 new cases for one of by Bolt guns. The barrel will be shot out once the 500 have been reloaded 5 times each. There will be lots of dead coyotes,jack rabbits, and ground rats.

I will have had a whole bunch of fun. cost of brass 170.00

Cost of new barrel 250.00= Gunsmith work free as my uncle does it all.
Cost of gas= Don't want to know
Cost of lodging= Don't want to know.

Throw brass away.

Buy 500 new rounds and repeat process.

It just is not worth it in my opinion to stretch it to the point of failure. Jeff

 

[MitchAlsup]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

The cases I am currently relaoding are in the mid 20 reloads, and these are the Win cases. I've not lost a neck, seen a crack, nor a loose primer pocket. And until I do, they get reloaded.

This particular batch is an experiment as to how long a set of cases can be reloaded without annealing the necks by using bushing dies and no expander ball.

Lapua brass should last a lot longer. I've heard tales of Win cases going 50 reload cycles.

 

[SuperXJeff]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

Which cases going 50 reloads? Not 22 250 cases loaded with 40 grains of powder.Jeff

 

[Lburt]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to

www.rwhart.com, may still make their tool for swagging primer pockets. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NotAGuru</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wil</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Greg:

point me to that primer pocket sizer you speak of... I'm curious </div></div>

I've been meaning to make a swagger that would fix this problem.... I still want to do it. On my 6br dasher brass i have thise same problem. Sometimes i only get 5-6 firings out of it because they love it HOT HOT HOT.
</div></div>

 

[Lburt]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

Alot depends on caliber, brass, dies, how hot you load,record keeping and loading process.

If you are using a custom barrel have your smith make a full length bump die for you with the same reamer used to cut your chamber. Also have him make you a chamber bump gage. I check my brass every time it is fired and if my bump gage shows more than .002 growth I use the die made to bump the shoulder. My 6br gets bumped about every 10th load with a max of about 25 loads per case. Conversely, my .243AI needs a bump every other load with a max of about 8 loads.

 

[dmgreene]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

As far as how many times that you can reload brass, the two major factors are how much you over work the brass and how hot you're running your loads. If your die matches you chamber closely and you don't bump the shoulder to far back then they can last a long time. If run hot loads then your primer pockets will start to open up. Neck splitting can be fixed by annealing.

The biggest danger of loading brass to many times is case head separation. Watch for the shinny ring just above the case head. I have never seen a case rupture that was loaded safely that didn't show the shinny ring first.

David

 

[Quicky06]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

Like everyone has said it is dependent on your gun and your loads. My 308 ( 700 spsv 26") Is easy on brass. I load light loads fir inside 600 yds on my 37 load with hornday match brass and 42 gn of varget behind a 168 smk neck sized

 

[Kinsman]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

With my 300 WM I started with new Winchester brass, and each time I reload them, I use a triangular file to put a small notch in the rim. As soon as I look at the primer end, I know how many times it has been reloaded. After 6 reloads, I start using it for squirrel loads.

 

[Casey Simpson]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

My 6.5x47 brass just started shooting crappy with no apparent stress marks/.

 

[Casey Simpson]

Re: Re-Re-Reusing Brass...How do you know when to quit

Retraction: I discovered my problem was a bad digital scale, not the brass.