How long does brass last?

[wacki]

Just curious. 25 loads? 100? Anyone ever tested this?

 

[msgrep]

Depends on many different things. How heavy you load, case preparation, bullet seating, etc. I have some 270 brass that has over 20 reloads on it and still looks good. Also I have had some that I didnt get 5 times out of. There is really no set rule, ex. (throw away after 10 uses) for brass. Just inspect it each time for damage and take care during case prep and you should get many reloads out of your brass. There is a book "The ABC's of Reloading" that should explain in detail how to get the most out of your brass.

 

[Wil Terry]

IT'S BEEN TESTED MANY TIMES OVER THE PAST 100+ YEARS.

The hotter you load the quicker it wears out. It is as simple as that. I currently have brass in service from 40 years ago that is still doing fine. The original 45COLT brass I bought--250 W-W cases-- to use in a new RUGER BLACKHAWK in '71 is still in service and I have not lost a single case to splits or cracking.
Brass is cheap: give it's lifespan no mind atall.

 

[P0832177]

The brass life is totally dependent on the round, and the quality of the brass! Your reloading practices, and other factors brought into the mix such as the type of firearm the brass is used in?

Take for instance 45ACP brass, I have brass that has been fired so many times that you can not read the head stamp any more! That brass has been around since the late 80's! I loose it before it becomes split and unuseable! The same can be said for 38 specials.

Now, take Federal 308 or 223 brass it just plain sucks! The primer pockets loosen up after a few reloads. Now, here is good example. I have custom 308 bolt. I have one lot of Lapua brass that has 15 reloads on them, that 16 firings! A fellow shooter annealed the necks for me, and says that he has 30 reloads on some of his Lapua brass. Now, I have process of how neck size the brass, and such that I think helps with not over working the brass.

When I shot Highpower using a M1A, I ran my cases through a process. I got once fire LC match brass to work with. I would use for 600 yd loads once, then short line x2, and then use it for practice / league shooting once.
I then swapped it for more once fired brass.

If you get a good custom chamber, brass can last a very long time. I know a fellow with 6x250AI that has 20x on one lot of brass.

 

[wacki]

I have brass that has been fired so many times that you can not read the head stamp any more! That brass has been around since the late 80's! I loose it before it becomes split and unuseable!

How many firings would you estimate that is? 50? 100? 200?

 

[waumo]

In most rifles I have, I find that 50 or 100 cases will outlast the barrel. For a round easy on the barrel like the 308 Win , maybe 200 or 300 cases will be needed.

This assumes neck sizing not Full Length resizing after each firing.

 

[Searcher1911]

Years ago "Guns and Ammo" ran an article called "Torture testing the 38 Special". Loading just target loads in Remington and Federal cases they loaded about 120 loads in each brand case before the cases failed. The 38 is a straight wall cartridge though; a bottleneck rifle round loaded with medium velocity loads for that particular caliber will come closer to a dozen reloads before you will begin experiencing splits and separations. The secret to long case life, if that is your objective, is to stick with moderate loads and size your cases as minimally as possible (eg, use neck sizing only on bottleneck cartridges fired in the same rifle, unless the rifle is a semi-automatic). The hotter the load and the more the brass is worked the shorter the case life.

 

[wacki]

This assumes neck sizing not Full Length resizing after each firing.

I'm a reloading noob. What exactly does this mean?

 

[TonyT]

For 9mm and 40 S&W, which are high pressure cartridges, I limit the brass to 4 reloads. With 45 ACP and 38 Special I use the brass until the case mouths crack.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Resizing brass

Wacki--When a brass-cased round is fired, the brass expands to completely fill the gun's chamber and make a gas seal. When the gas pressure goes back down, after the bullet has exited the muzzle, the brass springs back--so you can then extract the case from the gun's chamber--but not all the way back to its original dimensions. It is this stretch-and-spring-back quality in brass that makes it such a good material for cartridge cases. Resizing a case, fully or neck-only, is squeezing the case or neck back down to its original dimensions. In reloading, you have to resize at least the neck of a bottleneck case to hold the new bullet. If you will be shooting the case in a different rifle next time you have to resize the whole thing so as to be sure the case will chamber. Also, in actions other than bolts (i.e. autoloaders, pumps, lever-guns, falling blocks, etc) the action springs enough on firing that the case is sprung also, and will not fit back into even the same firearm's chamber without full-length resizing.

Even some bolt-action rifles, with locking lugs at the rear rather than at the front of the bolt, will stretch the cases enough to require full-length sizing every loading, the most notable example being the Enfield .303Br military rifles.

Straightwall cases are a different consideration; basically the case is all neck, all the way down to the rim. Most reloaders resize them full-length but a few resize only part-way down. Both methods seem to work.

Hope this answers yr question.