45acp Case Longevity Article

[Hooda Thunkit]

The lower pressure would reduce if not stop the primmer issue.

While I found the article very interesting, I hesitated when I read the load chosen.

Most folk shooting 45 ACP choose a lighter load, which makes this articles findings suspect.

Although, I must admit I was surprised at the info about just where the brass was going as it lost length. It has to go somewhere of course, but...

 

[Jim Watson]

A guy here did not know not to put a round loaded in a cracked case back in the gun. As best me and FLG could figure, the bullet had no tension, it set back against the feed ramp but still bounced into the chamber and fired, blowing the case head and gutting the magazine.

Maybe trying for every last use is not a good idea.

 

[FROGO207]

A guy here did not know not to put a round loaded in a cracked case back in the gun. As best me and FLG could figure, the bullet had no tension, it set back against the feed ramp but still bounced into the chamber and fired, blowing the case head and gutting the magazine.

Maybe trying for every last use is not a good idea.

Ouch!!

I use medium loads of 700X and mostly 230 grain lead bullets for my 45 ACP shooting. I have a 2 gallon can of mixed headstamp large primer brass that I cycle through. Over the years I have lost many in the weeds but have not split or had primer seating problems with any of them. No way of knowing how many times they have been shot though.

 

[CQB45ACP]

ONLY 54 firings using a max load on a semi-auto pistol round??? ....and never have to trim??? lol
I would likely lose any ejected semi-auto pistol brass before I could reload it that many times. But, if I managed to reloaded such a case 50+ times, I'd probably frame it, and proudly display it above my bench. lol

PS, they should have gotten some tighter fitting metric primers and kept on going!

I know you jest about using metrics but what the author experienced was primer pocket becoming too shallow.

 

[Pete D.]

Let me take a different point of view. My standard loading for the .45 is a 185 grain LSWC and 4.2 grains of Bullseye propellant. the gun is a Colt Gold Cup worked over a tad by the late George Madore. I started shooting Bullseye matches about 30 years ago. For much of that time, I shot between 30-40 matches a year. I have never cleaned a primer pocket, never annealed a case and never trimmed one either. The ammo has always worked. I can count the FTFs on the fingers of one hand. I am not a master shooter but steadily expert indoors and outdoors. I shoot the brass until it splits. Over the years, I have accumulated enough cases that I do not worry about getting 50-100 reloads from a case. In my humble opinion, the time spent cleaning primer pockets, trimming, annealing would be better spent shooting.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Let me take a different point of view. My standard loading for the .45 is a 185 grain LSWC and 4.2 grains of Bullseye propellant. the gun is a Colt Gold Cup worked over a tad by the late George Madore. I started shooting Bullseye matches about 30 years ago. For much of that time, I shot between 30-40 matches a year. I have never cleaned a primer pocket, never annealed a case and never trimmed one either. The ammo has always worked. I can count the FTFs on the fingers of one hand. I am not a master shooter but steadily expert indoors and outdoors. I shoot the brass until it splits. Over the years, I have accumulated enough cases that I do not worry about getting 50-100 reloads from a case. In my humble opinion, the time spent cleaning primer pockets, trimming, annealing would be better spent shooting.

I don’t disagree but the author is running a test not advocating doing any of those things.

 

[Buzznrose]

Thanks much for the linked story. I learned something very useful.

 

[n2omike]

I know you jest about using metrics but what the author experienced was primer pocket becoming too shallow.

Yea, just ream the pockets and get another 54 shots. lol

 

[CQB45ACP]

While I found the article very interesting, I hesitated when I read the load chosen.

Most folk shooting 45 ACP choose a lighter load, which makes this articles findings suspect.

Although, I must admit I was surprised at the info about just where the brass was going as it lost length. It has to go somewhere of course, but...

It has to go somewhere indeed

 

[Barmcd]

Most of my cases are shorter than SAAMI length specs after just a few firings. I too wonder if there is a point where they should be discarded before the case mouth splits. I deprime the cases with a Franklin Arsenal hand deprimer and the only cases I've thrown away deprimed too easily for my peace of mind.

 

[lordpaxman]

2001: A Space Odyssey. The best. But, you need to remember back to sitting in a theater in ‘68 watching this, not rewatching it at this time. It’s interesting how perspectives get shaped.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Ouch!!

I use medium loads of 700X and mostly 230 grain lead bullets for my 45 ACP shooting. I have a 2 gallon can of mixed headstamp large primer brass that I cycle through. Over the years I have lost many in the weeds but have not split or had primer seating problems with any of them. No way of knowing how many times they have been shot though.

Many moons ago when dirt was still patent pending I chased and saved every piece of brass I fired and scooped up anything not claimed by others. I learned the same lesson the same way: cracked case necks don’t hold tension. My QC and processing were the real problem. I got too interested in making ammo for shooting and wasn’t enough interested in the reloading process itself. Nowadays I have an inspection process that ISO could be jealous about and I leave my brass for others. I have plenty and more gets left on the fence every month or so.

My advice to anyone concerned about brass wear is to slow down, develop an inspection routine you will be happy following, and don’t try to get “the last loading” out of any piece of brass. It might really be the last.

 

[CQB45ACP]

2001: A Space Odyssey. The best. But, you need to remember back to sitting in a theater in ‘68 watching this, not rewatching it at this time. It’s interesting how perspectives get shaped.

Dare I say I’ve never seen it? Okay, I’ve never seen it. Hard to believe but there you go.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Many moons ago when dirt was still patent pending I chased and saved every piece of brass I fired and scooped up anything not claimed by others. I learned the same lesson the same way: cracked case necks don’t hold tension. My QC and processing were the real problem. I got too interested in making ammo for shooting and wasn’t enough interested in the reloading process itself. Nowadays I have an inspection process that ISO could be jealous about and I leave my brass for others. I have plenty and more gets left on the fence every month or so.

My advice to anyone concerned about brass wear is to slow down, develop an inspection routine you will be happy following, and don’t try to get “the last loading” out of any piece of brass. It might really be the last.

I don’t pick up most other than my own anymore. I just don’t need it and I already look strange enough scurrying around for mine.

What you concluded with above is really important and I mentioned something like that a couple days ago in the context of my 9mm case test and the failed case (crack in base of case). And that is, my only concern is if the ultimate failure is a kaboom v. a fizzle.

As you suggest, I have developed a good inspection process both formalized and simply many steps requiring hands on. I suppose it could be improved but by how much I don’t know.

BUT, despite that, I saw no telltale signs that cracked case was about to crack. Only that it had cracked.

Now nothing happened this time. The failure was actually (maybe) brought on by that one last decapping/resizing with the undersized die, not while shooting.

Anyway, I need to continually assess the relative importance of my little test.