How long is your rifle brass lasting?

Life is too short to shoot bad brass. I check all suspect rifle brass with a paperclip as shown, if it snags in the slightest, in the recycle bag it goes.
.223/5.56mm I am getting probably 10 or so loads without issues.
7.62x39mm with cast bullets? I had some with so many ejector marks that the head stamp was hard to read.

armoredman said:

Life is too short to shoot bad brass. I check all suspect rifle brass with a paperclip as shown

Click to expand...

I agree, if you need another shot case head separation will ruin your day.

MWC1974 said:

Like I mentioned, I’ve been neck sizing so I’m not sure why these marks are showing up. My loads are well below max and I’m shooting them through a bolt action. First time using starline so that maybe the difference? I did notice (visually) the starline brass was thinner then the federal brass.

Click to expand...

That almost has to be a head spacing problem imho ... at least the way you are describing it.

Also, while not a huge deal when it comes to 30.06 because there is rarely a danger of compressed charges in 30.06 that I can think of .... the difference in case wall thickness may be that the Federal is surplus milspec brass perhaps? You've not been specific about which Federal headstamp you are referencing.

BTW, Starline makes excellent brass imho.

Edited: changed "when" Federal headstamp to "which" Federal headstamp ... I hate autocorrect. That's right, I am a hater. I hate autocorrect.

MWC1974 said:

Standard federal, once fired. A non-reloading friend gave it to me while we were sighting in our rifles.

Click to expand...

Are you getting any bolt lift pressure during extraction ? I wonder if these are rub marks from the chamber coupled with slight to med bolt lift may be an indication you are approaching the time for full length sizing.
Case head separation is not to be taken lightly or discounted, just thinking out loud.

Honestly not trying to find out. I reload my brass no more than 3 times.

I load my brass till the primer pocket gets too loose to hold a primer. Since I anneal every time, I don't get any necks splitting. On my 223R brass I get around 10 reloads, before I'm forced to use a different primer. Then I get 2-4 more before it makes it to the recycle bin. I have some I'm currently using that has over 15 reloads on it and still going. When I switch primers the load is also changed. So many times the brass ends up in my blasting ammo stash.

Blue68 which primer do-you switch-to when your primer pockets get wallered-out?

And you must have a good annealing methodology happening if you anneal before every reload.

So do you dunk or aircool?

I normally use/start with Rem 7.5 primers for my 223R. I then switch to CCI either #41 or GM205M(AR). When the Rem are loose the CCI are tight.

I use one of the Giraud Annealing machines, propane torch. I used the Temp Lac to set the temp/time, on the inside of the neck. I have a welding back ground so I'm pretty good at reading flame temps. I turn down the lights in my shop when I set it up. Then watch the flame and adj as needed during the run. I normally do runs of 200-2000 pieces. I have enough brass I'm not pressed to do it often.

How many I get depends on the round, load, type of firearm, method used and manufacturer.

I am not a big fan of the paper clip method either. It’s pretty easy to measure wall thickness.

Need something that will go inside the case that an indicator can zero on the tip.

Then shove the case over it as far as it will go.



As you slide the case off the reading will go down as the case walls get thinner.



If the indicator goes back up, you know the case has stretched.



You can cut it in half and see that while it’s stretched, it didn’t show signs on the outside and not close enough to separating to be felt by a paperclip.

For a particular bolt action rifle, I prefer this method.



Using a FL die but not moving the shoulder back far enough the case keeps stretching. If you have to trim every firing, you are loosing body each time too.

For ammunition that I want to work in a number of rifles, I prefer the case gauge.

MWC1974 said:

Here is a better pic. Starline to the left and right. Federal in the middle.

Click to expand...

That "ring" is just a mark left by your sizing die.
It is not a sign your brass is worn out.
I've reloaded my .308 brass over 20 times in some instances and have had no issues
but for the primer pocket not holding primers securely. And I have just about every brand of brass there is.
There is a method to "tighten up" primer pockets that I saw on YT but have yet to try it.