[tkcomer]

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned that I got back into reloading. I have some 357/44 mag brass that I have no idea how many rounds I reloaded in them. Is there a way to tell if they have been reloaded too much? I shoot reduced loads through them as I use lead bullets, but there has to be a time when I can tell to pitch them out. Any ideas?

[lamazza]

I don't throw them out until I have to-cracks etc.

[RecoilRob]

Most revolver cases will crack at the mouth from repeated flaring/crimping. I shoot them until the cracks appear.

This is a good reason to limit your belling operation to the minimum needed to seat the bullet without shaving and not crimping them any tighter than needed for consistancy.

[tkcomer]

Do you throw out just the cracked ones? So far I’ve never cracked a case. I just figured there might be some warning signs that I need to be aware of. Like rifle shells. I look for the ring on the bottom on them. Though I’ve not spotted that either.

[taliv]

i shoot 45acp brass until it splits. i'm not sure i would shoot brass from higher-pressure cartridges that often though. yet another reason to love calibers that begin with 45 and end in ACP

[tkcomer]

One of the things that concerns me is a lot of the primers seem ridiculously easy to push in. But not one has ever attempted to back out. If a primer went in this easy on a rifle brass, I’d pitch it out. I marked 6 cases in which it seems like you could push the primer in with your finger. Not one backed out. Once again, maybe I’m being paranoid.

[Sunray]

"...reduced loads..." Brass used for target loads, in any cartridge, will last nearly forever. Case life depends entirely on the load used. Hot loads shorten case life. However, like RecoilRob says, eventually repeated loading will work harden the brass over time. Pitch 'em when the case mouths crack. There's absolutely no danger involved.

[swampgator]

I keep my shot out brass in a box (I crush the brass to make sure I don't mistakenly load it) and then sell my extra's to a metal recyceler when I get a few pounds.

Been doing this for awhile myself. All my worn brass, any Berdan primed brass as well as any .22lr cases I pick up.

I also do this with steel cases but they don't pay as much for scrap steel as they do scrap brass.

[Peter M. Eick]

Toss it when it looks like this:

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/eickpm/brass_split.jpg

Actually this is bad brass from a 357 Max that Remington put it. I sent this stuff in for their inspection and am expecting replacements. But if yours does this, don't use it anymore.

[ezypikns]

Like the other folks said, if you load your revolver ammo light, you'll never have a problem until the cases begin to spilt at the mouth ftom being belled and crimped.
Ammo for semi autos also doesn't seem to be a problem. For one thing, I load it as light as possible. The other thing is that I never seem to be able to locate all the brass. There are always a few ejected cases you can't find. So naturally you have to purchase more brass. If the caliber is a farly common and fairly inexpensive one, I just purchase a couple of boxes of new ammo. I get to shoot it and any brass I pick up, I know is once fired brass.

[tkcomer]

Thanks for the info. I was more worried about the primer pockets. Guess that’s not a problem. I had a primer back out on a 22-250 round a friend reloaded. Had to take the bolt out to get the shell loose from it. The friend said that the primers felt loose on 2 or 3 cases out of the 100 he loaded. I threw the rest away as I didn’t want to take a chance. I thought I damaged my eye when the dirt blew back through the bolt.

[armoredman]

Glasses are a wonderful thing.
I have a bag o' brass ready for the recycler now...
As for the bright ring, I just went through a batch of 7.62x54R Grafs' brass, and almost all of the unfired brass had the bright ring of doom. I kinda don't believe UNFIRED brass is stretched, so I have them primed and waiting...

[Run&Shoot]

Like everyone else, handgun cartridges are fairly low pressure so I reload until the case neck cracks. I keep an eye on sign of case head separation but have not seen this yet. usually I lose enough brass to keep a constant flow of brass through my stores. I also load to less than max pressure except for some test loads. But 98% of what I load is about 5% - 10% below max. The main reason for full house loads is for defense and then I use premium factory loads (so I also get more brass from them).

It seems the case necks crack from overwork lots sooner than any other part of the case will fail. I have had just a handful, maybe a couple of dozen, cases with cracked necks, in thousands of reloads.

I used to be very picky about all that, constantly worrying if my brass was about to fail. then a pistol competitor friend of mine told me he loads thousands per week and just tosses them when they crack. No big deal. So I started doing the same.

[swampgator]

I'm running target ammo that is so reduced that It has just enough "oomph" to cycle the slide.

Don't you just love watching that .45 brass kinda fall out of the ejection port? Makes a nice little pile at your feet!

[nvshooter]

I have those bright rings around many of my 300WSM cases. I think it's just where the resizing die finishes its work and not any sign of imminent case separation. I have this ring on cases that have only been shot three or four times.