When to trash your brass?

[gspn]

I've got some 41 mag brass that I think is nearing the end of it's useful life. It doesn't have any splits at the mouth...but it's starting to develop "rings" around the case toward the middle and bottom...and that part of the brass is brighter than the rest.

Should I just go ahead and trash it now? Or is this not a sign of a case coming to the end of its life?

 

[FROGO207]

I do not reload 41 Mag but I reload a lot of 44 MAG and 357 MAG. I have never had a case head separation on this or any other straight walled brass yet. The neck area will split or the primer pocket will get loose to hold a primer. Some of this brass has been shot so much that the lettering has been peened out so much that the heads appear blank. Someone else may have had a problem the same as you and they will chime in. Is this possibly a ring from resizing the brass?? If you make a feeler out of a paper clip with a 1/16 right angle end that you can slide it down the inside and slowly out again do you feel the end catch on the wall or dip towards the outside?? If you do then the wall is weakening and the brass should be scrapped. This is true for all brass. With straight walled brass you should be able to shine a light in and see the problem if it is clean enough also. FYI some of my brass has been reloaded over 100 times and still is OK. The loads were not full house by any means but they were all above starting loads also.

 

[gspn]

Thanks FROGO. It could be from re-sizing. I'm not reloading max loads very often. Most of the time it's middle of the road on pressure. I'll try the paper clip trick too.

 

[gamestalker]

This is already a pretty active topic, but I'll throw in my 2 cents worth anyway. I load gobbs of .357 mag. and 44 mag. using full house H110/296 charges, exclusively. I just started a new thread about the fact that I've never had a mouth split, regardless of how many times it's been reloaded. I do notice primer pockets starting to get loose, but as long as the primer will seat all the way and stay put, they always hold a 100% seal. When ever I notice an unusual bright ring I check it from the inside of the case for evidense of incipient separation or excessive thinning, and then toss it if it looks questionable.

 

[Glock Doctor]

I'll just bet ya: Those aren't, 'sizer die rings'. Instead they're incipient case head separation marks. Take a 6" piece of wire coat hanger. Put a small bend in one end sufficient to go inside the cartridge. Use a Dremel Tool to grind a sharp 45 degree angle at the end of the bend. Now you have an inside inspection tool.

Run the sharpened angle up and down the inside of the cartridge case. If you feel any sort of depression, AT ALL, get rid of that case. Sure, you've got to be an absolute saint to never pick up found brass at the range; BUT, I will never understand, 'Why' so many reloaders try to get the very last loading out of a well used cartridge case?

How often you can reload a cartridge case depends on a lot of things. Case stretch is just one of them. In my experience by the time the primer pockets have opened up, the case is already long gone. Depending upon how hot you load, many pistol cases can go for 12 to 15 reloads before the case mouths have to, at least, be cutback and chamfered again. 'Bright rings' on the lower half of the case body? Absolutely no way would I keep that case in service!

In fact, over the years, I've developed the habit of throwing my frequently reloaded pistol cartridge cases away at some point between the 12th and 15th reload; but, then again, I tend to load hot; and I own very expensive pistols - Just ain't worth it to me.

 

[Scimmia]

Depending upon how hot you load, many pistol cases can go for 12 to 15 reloads before the case mouths have to, at least, be cutback and chamfered again.

Hold up a second, are you saying you actually see straight walled pistol brass stretch and have to trim it back to spec? I've never seen that, and never talked to anyone who has.

And what's this about chamfering pistol brass? Again, never heard of that.

 

[RalphS]

I reload 44M, 357, 38, and 45LC. I've never trimmed or chamfered my brass.

 

[FROGO207]

I will check my pistol brass range pickups for length when I get them but have never found any that were over spec in the cheapie universal case length gauge tool I own either. I do LIGHTLY outside chamfer my autoloading pistol brass to help with feeding issues. Other than that I never chamfer pistol/revolver brass. I will expand the necks enough to seat the bullet without damaging the brass but absolutely no more than I have to.

 

[AABEN]

A Long time if you don't over load them. I load what I shoot at the range as low as the book says. Hunting load is all the says max.

 

[Glock Doctor]

Scrimmia,

No offense, but, I think you should take the time to more carefully read the technical section(s) of, at least, one of the better reloading manuals.

All fired brass stretches. If nothing else then to the maximum dimension of the chamber. There is no such thing as a fired case that does not stretch. What you're, possibly, experiencing is routine case mouth cutback from repeated belling and crimping. That, also, wears the mouth of straight walled cases, too.

If you don't ever chamfer your straight walled pistol cases, what do you want me to say? Chamfering is a good thing to do every now and then - especially if you shoot a lot of lead, or run a progressive press with the intention of making better than average (more accurate) reloaded ammunition.

You do realize that we're talking about basis reloading #101, here. Right!

 

[Scimmia]

You do realize that we're talking about basis reloading #101, here. Right!

Of course I do, and if we were talking about bottleneck rifle cartridges, I would agree with everything you said. Straight wall pistol loading is a completely different situation. I have NEVER seen a piece of straight wall pistol brass stretch, and have read on this forum and many others that countless others have the same experience. The sides will stretch to the maximum dimensions of the chamber, but only a bottleneck cartridge is going to stretch to the length of the chamber. There are people who have shot 40 S&W rounds in a 10mm chamber, the brass certainly didn't come out at 10mm length.

I do shoot a lot of lead and use a progressive press, but I don't want to chamfer any brass that headspaces off the mouth of the case. Thinning a surface that's going to be slammed into the lip in the chamber doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[cfullgraf]

My straight walled revolver brass either gets vertical splits in the body or splits in the mouth area.

I trimmed 357 Mag brass once 30 some years ago and decided it was not worth the effort. I have not trimmed any handgun brass since except for the following exception.

When forming 38-45 Clerke, I trim that to length with a trim die. But then it never gets trimmed again.

Sometimes the resizing die is cut a little under size and will leave a ring where the resizing stops. The carbide burnishes the brass and will make it look a little shinier.

I won't say it cannot happen, but I have never heard of or experienced a case head separation with straight walled handgun cases.

 

[grant1265]

As long as your cases are in spec and not split or cracking you're good to go. I usually load my 357 and hotter 45 loads around 6-8 times, with light loaded 38 wadcutters, I have gotten to 19 one time. The rings on your brass are most likely from your resizing dies. Just make sure you check each piece of brass thoroughly before loading!

 

[medalguy]

I reload .357, .41, and .44 and I've never seen any straight walled pistol brass stretch, I've never trimmed any, and I've never seen a case separation. And I too have brass that's been reloaded so many times the headstamp is indistinct. I still reload it. Not hot, but I do reload it.

 

[AABEN]

I jest trimmed 40 cal one time shot. Out of 400rd I had about a dozen that did not need trimmed. I was shock at the brass that was stretched. SO I would say to check to see if they need trimmed. I use the LEE trimmer in my hand drill.

 

[cfullgraf]

I jest trimmed 40 cal one time shot. Out of 400rd I had about a dozen that did not need trimmed. I was shock at the brass that was stretched. SO I would say to check to see if they need trimmed. I use the LEE trimmer in my hand drill.

Unless you measured them before shooting, you would be surprised how variable factory new cases are.