What rifle and pistol cartridges can be reloaded the most?

[Beagle-zebub]

What rifle cartridges and what pistol cartridges can be reloaded the most times? I've heard that .38 special can be reloaded perhaps three dozen times if one uses light target loadings each time, and I think I recall that one of the selling points of the short magnums from Winchester was that their increased webbing would allow them to be reloaded much more than other rifle cartridges. How many times can .45 Colt be reloaded? But the first sentence is the most important question to answer.

 

[Idano]

It really depends on the chamber of the gun and for rifle whether you full length resize or just neck resize. IMO can reload the brass until it splits because it is the chamber and the action of the gun the constrains the pressure not the brass cartridge. In over 30 years of reloading I have only had one web rupture and that was in my Beretta 92FS and the only way I discovered it was that the casing didn't clear the action.

 

[Beagle-zebub]

Let's say for revolvers, particularly the Blackhawk. How many times can a case of each caliber be reloaded?

 

[Grumulkin]

Straight walled cartridges can be reloaded MANY times. If they're crimped, the first thing to go will probably be splits around the mouth of the case.

The construction of the 45 Colt cartridge case isn't as strong as as say a 454 Casull case but, for the lowish pressures generated by this cartridge, it's sufficient. The 30/30 Win. case is also designed for lower pressures so won't last as long as other bottle necked cases. Obviously, if you use conservative loads, your cases will last longer.

 

[griz]

As already mentioned, most straight cases can be reloaded so many times that you don't need to worry about it. With pistol rounds I usually lose them before they are worn out. With 38 special, I'll bet I can reload a case more than 50 times if I don't bell it so much that I get premature neck splits. I'll admit I have never kept track of a single case to verify that, maybe one day when I am very bored.

With rifle cases that operate at much higher pressures, it depends much more on the chamber fit and what dies you use. With a loose fit in the chamber and full length resizing, you might only get three or four loads out of a case. With a tighter chamber, and maybe just neck sizing the case, it might last 10 or 20 loads. I have kept track of the number of loads for a few different rifle calibers, and they range from three for a 22 hornet with warm loads, to over 20 with a couple others. While I will push a 38 special case until it starts splitting, I try not to load a rifle case until it fails since the most likely failure is a head separation.

 

[highlander 5]

A writer for Guns and Ammo asked the dame question so he proceeded to load a 38 Spl till the case was no longer usable.
Using a load of 3.5 gr Bulseye and a 144 gr wadcutter he got(drum roll,please) ............................ 156 times till the case split.

 

[Waffen]

I've got a 357 blackhawk that I've put over 3k rounds through (bought new last year on 3/27/06) and I'm still using the original 100 cases I purchased. I've had 3-4 go to splitting the neck.

Just keep them trimmed and you will be fine.

 

[rchernandez]

.45acp...relatively low pressure. Yup, ya keep reusing brass until the brass splits.

A bullseye shooter I know has a 5-gallon pail full of brass that he cleans, reloads and shoots through every 1-1/2 months (I'm guessing 5-7,000 pieces of brass). He inspects them after cleaning and discards split cases (into the recycle bin).

 

[Master Blaster]

I have 3000 .45 acp cases that have been reloaded 10 times now and none of them have split In fact they all still look pretty darn good. Folks at my club who shoot bullseye and have reloaded for years say that after about 25 to 30 reloadings they will start to see some splits. Some folks have been reloading the same cases for 20 years, dont know how many times.

The Hodgdon annual manual I have has an article in it where the author reloaded 100 .30-.06 cases 26 times and claims after triming they could go 10 more times.

Of course if you are going to push your loads and work the brass alot it will work harden and have a shorter life.