Forgot how many times I've reloaded, should I toss my old brass?

Scarumanga

Scarumanga

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So I forgot how many times I've used some my brass at this point. I reloaded a ton back in 2012-2014 but then not a whole lot until last spring. I have bags of brand new brass for all my calibers not even opened as I'm too stingy to dig into it. I've been using cases from factory ammo I got in 2010 still to this day. Some of it was probably fired 5 or 6 times...I think, some more some less maybe...I have no idea. I trim the cases for uniformity and use my full length resizer every time I reload them. But yeah, really no clue how many times my 308 and 45-70 brass have been reloaded at this point... Other than the sks brass, when the gun ejects them it leaves a little line marking so keeps track for me.
Should I just chuck the old stuff and break out the new shiny stuff? I'm hitting the range again and have reloaded my old stuff once again, but thinking maybe should just retire it?
 
Pay attention for loose primer pockets and anneal the necks/shoulders.

The 45-70 lasts forever. I've got some that has become thin at the mouth from erosion over 20+ years of use with black powder.
 
Definitely no loose primer pockets yet. Haven't really annealed other than 10 45-70 cases last year using a Drill, magnetic parts dish on the chuck with 1/2" of water in dish. Stood casing upright, spun drill and hit the top 1/3 with my propane torch for 5-7 sec until change in color started then knocked it over to fully submerge. I think it was a success...
I do think I might need to by a machine to tumble my brass though, found myself using hot boiled water with dish soap and vinegar to clean it...that was just a nuisance I thought.
 
Scarumanga said:
So I forgot how many times I've used some my brass at this point. I reloaded a ton back in 2012-2014 but then not a whole lot until last spring. I have bags of brand new brass for all my calibers not even opened as I'm too stingy to dig into it. I've been using cases from factory ammo I got in 2010 still to this day. Some of it was probably fired 5 or 6 times...I think, some more some less maybe...I have no idea. I trim the cases for uniformity and use my full length resizer every time I reload them. But yeah, really no clue how many times my 308 and 45-70 brass have been reloaded at this point... Other than the sks brass, when the gun ejects them it leaves a little line marking so keeps track for me.
Should I just chuck the old stuff and break out the new shiny stuff? I'm hitting the range again and have reloaded my old stuff once again, but thinking maybe should just retire it?
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Given that some brass will begin failing around 7x, I'd be nervous (with the bottleneck round especially) about the hassle of extracting the case that remains in the chamber after a case head is ejected. It depends on how tight your chambers are. I have a very tight match chamber that when I must FL resize, the die must be screwed in to the press tight to the shell holder or those rounds won't chamber. But if your chamber is loose, FL resizing each time will give very short brass life.

There's a chart floating around cyberspace about different manufacturers and brass life expectancy when FL resized and re-familiarize yourself with how incipient case head separation occurs. Typically I keep using pistol/straight wall brass until necks split and pockets loosen.
 
If you have new brass, use it, what are you saving it for?

If you need money real badly, sell the new stuff.

If we ever have gunshows again, send the old stuff through the tumbler and sell it as 1F.

The loose primer comment, that's hard to detect. The real loose stuff, sure, but the ones that are going to gouge the bolt face, hard to detect. I don't know about you, but cratered bolt faces are not something I like.

Nitro
 
New Camper said:
There's a chart floating around cyberspace about different manufacturers and brass life expectancy when FL resized and re-familiarize yourself with how incipient case head separation occurs. Typically I keep using pistol/straight wall brass until necks split and pockets loosen.
Click to expand...

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that such a chart is not worth the paper it is printed on, even if in cyberspace. The data on it was probably drawn from a statistically small sample to begin with, and likely made no effort to take into account the many factors that can impact brass life.

Depending on the specifics brass can last as little as two reloads, or more than fifty plus; anybody trying to pin it down to precise numbers thinks he knows a lot more than he really does.
 
BattleRife said:
I would bet dollars to doughnuts that such a chart is not worth the paper it is printed on, even if in cyberspace. The data on it was probably drawn from a statistically small sample to begin with, and likely made no effort to take into account the many factors that can impact brass life.

Depending on the specifics brass can last as little as two reloads, or more than fifty plus; anybody trying to pin it down to precise numbers thinks he knows a lot more than he really does.
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I've seen new brass have split necks once fired so yes, there is some subjectivity... what were the die vs. chamber sizes? I don't recall the test size or if any bias was actually reported but it wasn't without value as the brass I know from use being higher quality did score higher. But it was FL sizing... and yes could be anywhere from 1x to ?? (most likely <15 best case scenario) Lot quality wasn't mentioned in test either: an important factor. It's difficult given the oft general circumstances to pin down an answer more concise than "scrap the brass before the case heads detach from their bodies."
 
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Jon. said:
If it's not showing signs of cracking or failure why worry?
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Pretty much this.

My method for long brass life is this. Partial full length resizing, non nuclear loads, and annealing here and there. If you're worried, check to see if you have incipient case seperation (I think that's the term). I also don't believe that cases are garbage after being fired 7 x, it all depends on the rifle/resizing dies/tolerance stack up. I rebarreled a rifle some time back, and fired 3 cases 15x each with a normal load, annealing every 3 x. If they weren't marked, I couldn't have told the difference between them and any other cases.
 
I pretty much go by loosening primer pockets, or cracks with 308.
I keep 45-70 forever. I no longer track them, or even bother to sort them. They don't even need trimming for the most part, at least with my rifle and loads. On some of them, the head stamps are getting hard to read, not from over pressure but just from the number of times they've been fired.
 
I have a 6mm BR in a savage rifle and the brass is Lapua. I think I am about 20 or 25 reloads. I usually neck size but full length size when the bolt gets hard to close. If I were you I would wait until the cases fail. The reloaded brass will work fine at the range, I would go hunting with reloads that have fewer times through.
 
I mostly shoot 357, 44 and 500. I don’t keep track of how many times a case has been loaded. I just use them over and over until the next splits. Haven’t ever had an issue with loose primer pockets.
 
Just cut one of the brass in half, then lightly sand the burrs away. ( in half vertically ) You will see any thinning of the case wall. write on it with a sharpie to keep track where you are at.
 
Lead hammer said:
Just cut one of the brass in half, then lightly sand the burrs away. ( in half vertically ) You will see any thinning of the case wall. write on it with a sharpie to keep track where you are at.
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That will give him a great idea of how thin the piece of brass he just ruined is... Brass is not completely uniform and different loads will progress at different rates.
 
B said:
That will give him a great idea of how thin the piece of brass he just ruined is... Brass is not completely uniform and different loads will progress at different rates.
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If you put a 90° bend in a piece of wire and sharpen it a bit, you can feel inside the case for web thinning. When you find a case with a thin web, it very clearly catches the wire. I've done this many times to cull brass.

Also, primer pockets should be checked with a primer pocket gauge.

If the case web and primer pockets check out, just anneal the neck/shoulder area and reload with confidence!

Edit: I have these primer pocket gauges, highly recommend: https://ballistictools.com/store/small-and-large-primer-pocket-gauges
 
nitro-express said:
If you have new brass, use it, what are you saving it for?

If you need money real badly, sell the new stuff.

If we ever have gunshows again, send the old stuff through the tumbler and sell it as 1F.

The loose primer comment, that's hard to detect. The real loose stuff, sure, but the ones that are going to gouge the bolt face, hard to detect. I don't know about you, but cratered bolt faces are not something I like.

Nitro
Click to expand...

This is why brass is often hard to sell. Dishonest people.

SCG
 
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