How many times for brass?

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Desert Rat

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Joined
May 14, 2018
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Location
100 miles from water, 3 feet from hell.
Do you have a formula for how many times you reload a case? Do you track the number of times you reload it? How do you track it?

I generally load my rounds on the light side and I inspect them after I clean them, but I have not really kept track of how many times I have reloaded them. I this point it may have only been 3-4 times so far.
 
Depends on the cartridge. For non-magnum handgun,...no,...just use em til I lose em.

Rifle, however, is another matter. I reuse 5.56 and .308 3 times then chuck em in the scrap bin. I don't make match-grade ammo, so I don't bother trimming or annealing or any of that. I'll purchase match-grade stuff.

I have bins for once-fired, twice-fired and thrice-fired. After that,...no mas. I label the boxes as to how many times that batch has been loaded. I could maybe get away with more loadings if I trimmed the brass, but not only is it time-consuming, the primer pockets are usually getting loose by that point anyway, and there's nothing to be done about that. So I scrap em.
 
I shoot em til they split...
I don't bother with pistol brass but I do prep all rifle brass and it is time consuming... this form accompanies all reload batches.


case prep Form.jpg

I use a pin gage to check for loose primer pockets
I only anneal every 3-5 loading's... and as brass gets used x-times I move it down toward lower pressure loads.
Some brass doesn't last long... typically, a majority of my FC, WCC, PMC only get reloaded 1 or 2 times before something gets it tossed.I have many other brands 223 that's been loaded several times
 
I pretty much do the same things Harrier does but I don't have a checklist, just keep it in my mind.
 
I have buckets labeled 2,3,4, 5 in the gun room. When I come back from shooting I just put them in the bucket according. If I want to question a case on life I just use a case gauge and look for cracks.
 
Pistol brass I load forever, I still have some that I started with over 30 years ago that have been loaded over 100 times and are still fine.

Most rifle brass I reload one or two times and then scrap it. Rifle brass today is not the same as the LC brass I used 20 years ago. All 5.56 and 308 brass is run the a header to re cut the extractor groove and remove burrs that I find a lot of, had a small piece of brass get caught in the locking lugs of a ar and it took me a hour to beat it open to extract the case.

My 338 brass I have loaded between 15 and 20 times but now scrap them after 11 loadings, costs me about .15 per firing for the brass. 416 and 50bmg up to 10 times and then crushed and scrapped.
 
Annealing is really only necessary for consistent neck tension. Unless you're shooting a precision rig in a game that calls for extreme accuracy (i.e. not banging steel in the desert), it's not worth the time or expense. My 6.5lapua brass gets 10-12 loads on it before I really start noticing it getting stiff.

I am a little surprised at how many people are tossing perfectly good brass around here though. If you're losing primer pockets on a 223 after 2-3 loads, I'd say that's more of an issue with how you're loading than the brass. I know people shooting 90's over stout loads than can get more out of it than that.
 
TheAccountant said:
Annealing is really only necessary for consistent neck tension. Unless you're shooting a precision rig in a game that calls for extreme accuracy (i.e. not banging steel in the desert), it's not worth the time or expense. My 6.5lapua brass gets 10-12 loads on it before I really start noticing it getting stiff.

I am a little surprised at how many people are tossing perfectly good brass around here though. If you're losing primer pockets on a 223 after 2-3 loads, I'd say that's more of an issue with how you're loading than the brass. I know people shooting 90's over stout loads than can get more out of it than that.
Click to expand...

I get a lot more than 2-3 reloads, but for most desert or training shooting I don't load max loads anyway. Why would you unless it's for SD or competitions/distance or testing new loads or ?
 
TheAccountant said:
I am a little surprised at how many people are tossing perfectly good brass around here though. If you're losing primer pockets on a 223 after 2-3 loads, I'd say that's more of an issue with how you're loading than the brass. I know people shooting 90's over stout loads than can get more out of it than that.
Click to expand...

Interesting you should mention that. I do 3/8 of a mile every day in laps in the pool and it's a great time to think about things while doing all those laps. Yesterday's thinking was precisely this.

I don't have primer pockets loosening up after 2 or 3 loads and I was pondering why this could be. The only theory I came up with was that it might somehow be connected to swaging primer pockets, but that's a little thin as a theory. FWIW, I don't swage, I ream primer crimps off.
 
Flash said:
I pretty much do the same things Harrier does but I don't have a checklist, just keep it in my mind.
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And I do, as both of you do! 8-)

Well, almost, 8-) , basically I inspect each and every case prior to reloading, right after wet tumbling to a bright and shiny finish with spotless interiors and primer pockets.

But,... I haven't gotten high tech in my reloading like most of ya'll, I never graduated from my single stage presses, which I think helps in dealing with each and every case individually! With this method, a bad case almost jumps off the bench, into the brass scrap bucket, all by itself! 8-)
 
shooter444 said:
Well, almost, 8-) , basically I inspect each and every case prior to reloading, right after wet tumbling to a bright and shiny finish with spotless interiors and primer pockets.

But,... I haven't gotten high tech in my reloading like most of ya'll, I never graduated from my single stage presses, which I think helps in dealing with each and every case individually! With this method, a bad case almost jumps off the bench, into the brass scrap bucket, all by itself! 8-)
Click to expand...


You're high tech in one respect: You wet tumble your brass. I don't and never will as it's more trouble than it's worth to me. Another point against it is the lack of lubricity on the cases after wet tumbling. My LoadMaster press performs 5 operations with each press of the handle as it primes simultaneously with all the other operations, something that's unlike most other progressive presses.

As a result of the lack of lubricity, the effort required on the handle increases quite a bit, especially with the larger cases, and some of the feel of seating the primer is lost. The only way to get it back to where it was with dry tumbled brass is to lube around every 3rd case or so which is a PITA.
 
One reason I use the checklist is so i don't forget, also i may process a batch of brass and not look at it again for a couple+ years. I can't remember what I did to every batch all the time. That's also why clean pockets are a sign I did all the other processing first, but if I go to pin cleaning that will have to change (maybe mouth chamfer last?)
I may not do all the items on the checklist during every process cycle but it is on there in case I do (flash holes are only done once- but did I do them is the question).

Annealing also helps prolong brass life. Every time you work the neck it gets hardened a little more. Proper annealing realigns the grain structure, makes it more malleable and thus keeps it from splitting as soon.

Primer pocket will stretch for a couple reasons- hot loads with excess pressure could be one but some brass alloy is just soft and deforms easily (commercial FC is known for this as are a few others). When one manual says their max load is 23gr while another says its max is 25gr -how do you decide your 24gr load is over/under max? - it may shoot fine but the brass you are using may develop loose pockets sooner than later).

Even though I have a Dillon 550B and 2 Rockchuckers and a Lee O press, I still load most of my test rounds with a Lee hand press
 
Flash, I hear ya on LUBRICITY!

I use ARMOR ALL SHINE AND WAX in my wet tumbler. It puts enough wax finish on, that even my Marlin444 cases can be resized with little effort with the added Plus of never having a brass case oxidize on me. Using Armor All wax finish cases in conjunction with Lee case lube, makes resizing even long cases, an absolute dream!!!

HONEST!!

And,I KNOW, a super clean wet tumbled case adds to the ease of resizing, without question! And then there is my opinion about a NON SUPER CLEAN case effect on my dies,... but, I won't go there. ;)

Even if the process described above won't work for you, as well as it does for me, you could experiment even further with either a greater percentage of wax (or some other lubricant) added to the mix, or, even experiment with a multitude of other lubricant additives. I use Molybdenum powder to make my cast bullet lube. I find Molybdenum to be the ultimate lubricant, by far, hands down!!!
I don't have a resizing problem, but I will add some Molybdenum to my next batch, just because! ;) The Options are truly endless!

But, I have found, adding waxes/lubricants to my tumbled cases is only effective with a wet tumbler. I tried adding lube to my corn cob dry tumble mix with mixed results. Your's may differ.

edit,... I forgot to mention, Flash, that you obviously don't suffer from OCD as I do! :roll:
 
I use NuFinish in my dry tumbling. That plus dust from the media is what gives my dry tumbled brass its lubricity. The wet ones I sampled came from a friend and there was no lubricity at all on those cases.

The only dies that are going to touch your case walls outside are the sizing die and, if you have one, a Lee Factory Crimp Die for handguns. Both are carbide if you spring for carbide in your sizing dies as most do these days and there's no way walnut dust is going to wear down carbide in less than a few million applications or so and as a result, I don't give it a second thought.
 
Agreed, about carbide,... I guess I just feel better about the amount of tarnish or powder/carbon stain on case exteriors, when comparing my dry media tumbler results, to my wet.

As to the clean level of the case interiors and primer pockets,... a dry tumbler WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO COMPETE, imo.

To each their own!
 
I use a couple dryer anti-static sheets in my tumbling media to help filter the dust and I also use some NuFinish to add a little polish, only because I won't use that stuff on my car.
 
Harrier said:
I use a couple dryer anti-static sheets in my tumbling media to help filter the dust and I also use some NuFinish to add a little polish, only because I won't use that stuff on my car.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I just read about those static sheets a month ago and picked some up. But I haven't used them, since I haven't tumbled lately, and I only dry tumble my wet tumbled, sized and primed cases to remove the sizing lube.

OCD is a bitch!!! :ugeek:

Nice to read someone else is using them,... they must work.
 
shooter444 said:
Agreed, about carbide,... I guess I just feel better about the amount of tarnish or powder/carbon stain on case exteriors, when comparing my dry media tumbler results, to my wet.

As to the clean level of the case interiors and primer pockets,... a dry tumbler WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO COMPETE, imo.

To each their own!
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. No comparison.

OTOH, I don't care about primer pockets and case interiors so I stick with dry tumbling. Heck, I dry tumble before I decap except for precision rifle.
 
Interesting discussion...never have worried about primer pockets or the inside of the cases for range ammo.. or my match pistol ammo. I have prepped pistol cases, cleaning the primer pockets and inside of the cases and even trued up the flash holes. I have never seen any difference in accuracy using either method.
 
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