Used my .357 and .44 brass 8 times - am I asking for trouble?

[IMtheNRA]

I have some .357 and .44 Magnum brass that I've used 8 times now. My loads are not max, but they are usually midway between middle and high on the range given in the manuals.

Everytime I take this brass out of the tumbler, it looks so nice, that I can't bring myself to toss it into the recycling bucket. Of course I can't see things like micro cracks, metal fatigue, and all the other nasty stuff that may be going on with this brass.

Should I toss it just to be on the safe side? Brass is cheap, fingers and eyeballs are not.

What do you think?

 

[Nowhere Man]

You could send it to me!!!! Or, use it 'till it splits.


Dave

 

[jfh]

Since you are shooting this in revolvers (you are't a semiauto / revolver cartridge freak, are you?), the kind of failure is less likely to be catastrophic.

You'll probably first experience splits, although case head separation is possible. Arguably, loose primers fit in the symptoms. So, inspect for splits and look for base rings when you take them out of the vibrator. Inspect the rings carefully for signs of stretching; use a loupe.

Other than that, it's a judgement call. I tend to run my brass until a defect appears--but I shoot mostly low-to-medium pressure loads.

Stay tuned--you should get more posts with more expertise, I think.

Jim H.

 

[rcmodel]

You can safely use any straight wall pistol caliber brass until either one of two things happen to it.

#1 The primers pockets get too loose to hold primers.
#2 The necks split from repeated expanding & resizing, and crimping.

Unlike bottle-neck rifle brass. nothing else happens to it from using it forever.

Head separation doesn't happen in straight wall handgun brass because:
It has always slipped back tight against the breach face or recoil shield before maximum pressure can cause the case to stretch.

In effect, it is always fired with zero headspace, so no stretch can occur to pull the head off.

rcmodel

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Nope, don't toss it. Just use it for moderate/light loads. Don't toss it until the neck splits. Even then I usually trim them back to 38 special/44 special length, if that gets past the split and load them some more(with plinker loads).

I have some 357 brass that was shot until it split, trimmed back to 38 special, and is still going strong with over 30 loads now.

The trick to long case life in revolvers? Light enough loads that you can use a light taper crimp instead of a roll crimp.

 

[Walkalong]

It would have to be a severe overcharge to cause a case head seperation. It is extremely rare because of that.

Like others have said. Shoot it until it splits, or the primer pockets get loose.

 

[NuJudge]

When you get a split at the mouth of a revolver case, it typically will cause a flyer. After 4 or 5 loadings, don't use the brass for applications where a flyer will cause a real problem.

CDD

 

[SASS#23149]

I have no idea h ow many times my brass has been shot,but i"m sure it's at least a dozen times.I shoots 'em til they splits.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

The brass I have has been loaded repeatedly over 15 years. I may have had two or three failures in that time. The trick is to have a bunch, as in 2-3 thousand and cycle through them. That way the odds of a particular piece of brass being loaded frequently is extremely low.

You really have to abuse pistol brass to ruin it. Load on my man, load on.

 

[TooTaxed]

I've had the same experience. My brass has been used many, many times...but then, I only load light target stuff, with a couple of boxes of "business" loads (in new or once-fired cases) set aside for defense purposes.

Even then, I have had few splits, and loose primer pockets are rare.

 

[Steve in PA]

I have .44mag brass that has been loaded a dozen times or more.

24.0gr of H110 and a 240gr bullet. Just as good as the first day I loaded it.

 

[IMtheNRA]

24.0 grains of H-110. Mmmmmm... Warms my heart just thinking of that...

 

[evan price]

I've got an old friend who has .357 cases he has loaded since the 1960's and has had very few fail. You can barely read the headstamps anymore. THey shoot just fine.

 

[Ranger J]

I don't know if I ever had a 357 fail and the only 44s that I have had fail are max loads that I am shotting in an 1894 Marlin and the cases might well have been shot umpteen times. I have never had a 44 fail in a gun that supports the cartridge all the way round.

RJ

 

[Idano]

24.0gr of H110 and a 240gr bullet.

That's a warm one but a goody but a load I guarantee will stop a charging bear! However, I ended up backing mine down to 23.4 grs of H110 for the best group but it is still moving at 366 fps out of my 7 1/4" Colt. Some of my brass is on it's 10 or 12 reload and so far I haven't had a failure yet.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I've loaded .460 S&W with hot loads probably 15-20 times. I've had one fail with a small crack lengthwise on the case wall and one that failed with a crack that ran around the case about half way up the case - the back half of the case ejected just fine, the front half of the case stayed in the cylinder . The shot was just fine, nothing noticed during the firing. I used another empty case to poke the rest of the stuck case out and all was fine.

Hmmmm..... maybe I should have trimmed the back half of that case back and loaded it as .45 Colt

 

[greyling22]

I load them till the split is either longer than 1/2 inch or I notice the case is split. whichever comes first. usually over 15x. I shoot the bad ones out of my ruger.

 

[TooTaxed]

Thinking back, I think the only case neck splits I have had were in nickle-plated .357 Mag cases, and a few in some very old and thin .45 (Long) Colt cases. Both were few and far between...

 

[highbrow]

Use them until they split.