Sorting brass by number of loadings -- how important?

[revo]

Hey folks. I'm on a reloading binge over here and I made the mistake of loosing track of how many loadings a set of brass has gone through. (Mixed two piles by accident.)

The difference between the two batches is that one batch was loaded one time more than the other...now I can't tell which is which. I'm guessing that a difference of one loading isn't all that big-a deal, but what if it were, say, a difference of 3 loadings? Or if I had a pile of all mixed (some loaded twice, others once, some thrice)?

Is this a bad thing to do? Do I need to sort my brass meticulously, or am I worrying too much?

If it makes a diff, this is for 454 Casull and 480 Ruger loads.

Thanks in advance for your help, folks.

 

[only1asterisk]

I always split revolver cases before they develop any other issues, but if there is any cartridge to be careful with it's the .454. Do you have to trim your brass?

David

 

[Grumulkin]

You don't have anything to worry about. I doubt you will ever have to trim your 480 Ruger or 454 Casull cases since they are straight walled cases and don't tend to elongate with resizing. Straight walled cases are also very easy to inspect visually. You should get a LOT of loads from them.

It's nice to separate cases by how many loads have been run through them but I lost track of that quite a while ago. Instead I carefully inspect each case when I reload it. I run a wire down the inside of bottle necked cases to make sure there is no crack or groove from case thinning that could indicate a danger of case head separation. I discard cases that have any splits or even loose primer pockets. If a case has a loose pocket, I'll load it but mark the primer with a black marker; that case will be discarded after firing.

Another way to keep track of cases is to periodically buy a different brand. That way you know one set of brass is old and another newer.

 

[revo]

Thanks for the advice. Whew. Feeling better now. But...

only1asterisk -- I think I'm going to sound foolish here, but here goes:
I don't have a case trimmer yet. (For what it's worth, I was looking at one in the Midway catalog last night thinking it might be time. ) Is it time I get one, pronto? Am I setting myself up for disaster by not having one?

Grumulkin -- good point. I can see myself loosing track more and more often now that I'm loading like crazy. I'll try buying different brands of brass to help keep it straight.

I need a dry-erase board, I think. Starting to get slips of paper all over the place and disorganized. Maybe I should start focusing on organization a little more.

Thanks!!

 

[Sport45]

For rilfle I count reloads. I don't know why because I load until I start seeing warning signs of separation. For handgun, I load brass until:

1) I loose it,
2) it splits, or
3) it bulges.

 

[tbeb]

I do not keep track of how many times I reload a case. i clean and inspect every case after firing. This takes some time, but I've fortunately never had a problem in 15-years of reloading (.380 ACP, .38 special, .357 magnum, .45 ACP, and some .308 Winchester).

 

[saltydog452]

Count # of trips through the sizing die..

Years ago I reloaded the same batchs of 45ACP brass enough that a spent primer would occasionally fall out of the primer pocket when the fired case hit the concrete. That was most likely due to over zealous removal of the military crimp over the primer posket. Cracked or split cases were either disposed of as I picked them up off the firing line or used as 'lost brass' matches.

I'd eventually throw that batch away and start over with a new lot (1000) of once fired GI brass or use them on the short line and not bother picking them up. At that time I was using softball loads of BE and either the H&g 130 or the H&G 78. The brass case mouth split before a trimmer was needed.

I tried triming 357 and 44 Spcl brass for a while mainly 'cause, due to different case length, I was getting erratic with the crimp location. Sometimes I'd crimp in the crimp groove, sometimes of the leading driving band. Triming those cases helped some, but I wasn't accurate enough with the Forrester Trimer to be consistent with the trim length, so I stoped triming those cases and started counting the number of trips through the sizing die. Hot loaded small batches of 357 and 44 Spcl brass were disposed of when they showed signs that they needed a trim. Usually though, the case necks would start to split after the 4th-5th loading. Then I was using obsene amounts of 2400 or Norma powder and an extrememy heavy crimp. Case life wasn't very long.

I started putting up my hot loads up in once fired brass, and after the second loading, used sane amounts of Unique. Case life for pistol brass began to improve and the case trimmer stayed on the top shelf of the garage.

Better case trimmers are available now and, except for speciality loads, better factory pistol ammunition. There may still be a niche for a 158 SWC, hard cast of linotype pushed by a bunch of 2400 @ 1400+ fps in a long barreled Python or Mdl 28 Highway Patrolman, but its not for me anymore.

Sport45 has the right idea.

salty.

 

[only1asterisk]

If you load full boogey .454 loads, you can stretch cases and require trimming. The neck will still likely split before you run into any other problems.

David

 

[Amy]

A lot of old-timers have railed at me that there is no reason to trim straight walled pistol cases, and I beg to differ.

Tis my religion that the best edge you can give yourself at the firing line is meticulous case prep. Where pistol is concerned that means making all your rounds as identical as possible as to case length, and uniform all those primer pockets, and deburr all those flash holes.

If the crimp happens the same way across all your rounds you are much better off, and that's why you need to be trimming them all to the same length. Differences in case length are going to differ the crimp from round to round. Thus the tension on each round differs.

Consistency (case to case) equals accuracy over the number of rounds fired.

Amy