how many times can brass be reused and shot?

Mr. Friendly

Mr. Friendly

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my brother and I are trying to figure out our costs involved with reloading and one of the one's we can't quantify is the brass being it's multi-use. how many times, realistically, can brass be reshot before it should be retired?
 
A: You won't save any money reloading, you will just shoot more.

B: What kind of rifle/handgun are you shooting? A bolt rifle will have longer brass life than a semi rifle.
 
.45ACP brass, for example, is likely good for 10-15 firings of moderate loads.

Hotter rifle loads (in generous chambers) will stretch a great deal and need to be sized more, thereby cutting down on the life of the brass.

It all depends on the firearm and the load.
 
depends how you load them. Light loads with lead bullets, you could shoot them dozens of times. Stoke them up and you could destroy them with one firing.
Rifle brass will last longer if it"s neck sized only. Your .44 brass will need fully sized each time. I have .44 brass from my Raging Bull that"s been fired more times than I could recall.
 
migrant hunter said:
depends how you load them. Light loads with lead bullets, you could shoot them dozens of times. Stoke them up and you could destroy them with one firing.
Rifle brass will last longer if it"s neck sized only. Your .44 brass will need fully sized each time. I have .44 brass from my Raging Bull that"s been fired more times than I could recall.
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Agreed...I have 45 colt brass that I have reloaded over several dozen times, and they`re still good....The same applies with my .45acp brass....Just as long as its mild loads.....
 
Mr. Friendly said:
hey migrant hunter...forgive my lack of lingo knowledge...but can you clarify what you mean when you say, 'your .44 brass will need fully sized each time'?
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Full length re-sizing of the brass, versus just neck sizing. Full length re-sizing stresses the brass more and reduces useful life. As it implies, the resizing die runs the length of the case, versus just sizing the neck of the case.
 
It has been mentioned that brass can be ruined in one shooting, by a heavy load. This is true, but the load would be MUCH heavier than you should load. The primer pocket would be enlarged, so it will not hold another primer.
Other than that , I don't think normal full power loadings will shorten brass life, as compared to using light loads. With a rifle, no experienced hand loader will size the case more than neccessary. When using them over and over in the same rifle thay need only be neck sized. Except, with neck sizing only, the case gradually expands and soon won't chamber. So, experienced loaders wil set the full length die to just slightly hit the shoulder, thus keeping it from "growing." Cases so treated will end their life by creating lengthwise cracks in the neck. These are not dangerous to shoot, but after cracking they won't hold the bullet.
With my 270 or 30-06, I will guess at about fifteen to twenty loadings.
I have reloaded and shot with, four different 44 magnum revolvers and two Marlin 44 rifles. As has been mentioned, they must be full length resized every time, but don't worry about it. I have never seen a calibre get as many reloadings as does the 44 mag.
Since 99.9% of my bullets have been cast, one must take great care in sizing cases. By this I mean for cast bullets the mouth of the case must be opened up a bit, so the bullet will go in, without shaving lead off of it, by using a third die. Set the die so a very minimum of belling occurs. Just enough to let the bullet go in.
These cases wear out by developing cracks in the neck, the same as bottle neck case. The cracks are short, starting at the mouth. Often they are first noticed when seating a bullet. The bullet will seat with less effort.
Hope this is of some help to you. H4831
 
The statement that full length resizing shortens brass life is a little misleading, as it really only matters a lot, if you are firing full power loads.
If the brass doesn't expand, it doesn't get worked by the die.
The rifle or handgun you are using, it's headspace, and the chamber cut therein are also factors.
As H4831 said above, the 44 mag tends to have long lived brass in at least some guns.
I use it in my wifes '96 Ruger. I don't even bother to count the loadings. I know for sure that some are at least twenty.
 
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I have a box of brass Headstamped 244 Remington that I have loaded 16 times for my 6mm Remington, and these cases are still going strong. I wouldn't take them hunting, but for "plinking" loads, they are just fine. Regards, Eagleye.
 
canucklehead said:
.45ACP brass, for example, is likely good for 10-15 firings of moderate loads.

Hotter rifle loads (in generous chambers) will stretch a great deal and need to be sized more, thereby cutting down on the life of the brass.

It all depends on the firearm and the load.
Click to expand...

I'd always heard that moderately loaded, .45 brass will last forever? Apparently people are still using brass from the 50's, so worn the headstamp has faded off...
 
I keep reloading the brass until I get a split mouth or signs of incipient case head separation.

As an aside, there was a forum on whether to clean/polish brass.

#1 - shows the condition of the case; and

#2 - makes them easier to recover after firing.

Tex

Tex
 
when i am trying to price out my reloads i use 10 times for the brass. this allows or ccracked cases (very few) enlarged primer holes (again very few) and lost brass ( the biggest loss.)
 
In .38 Special I get about 20 plus reloads, in .303 I consider myself lucky if I get 5 reloads without the need for my broken case extractor. For Cowboy action I average 10 reloads out of my .44 magnum.
 
I have some 9mm brass I have had for about 14 years. Don't know how many target reloads they have seen, but you can't read the headstamps anymore. It's still good. No signs of case head separation or splitting.

Auggie D.
 
IIRC the Lee blurb for their collet neck resizing die claims that case life will be up to ten times longer.
I should then get 80 to 90 shots out of them. (?!)

Anyone had a chance to test this?
 
I had some Norma .308 brass that I just kept loading to see how many times I could do it. I just threw them out last week. I reloaded them over 40 times (I lost count). I neck sized only, the loads were moderate but not light by any means. I annealed the necks two times when I noticed the necks were getting hard as evidenced by effort needed to withdraw the sizer ball. I finally chucked them because I was getting varying neck tension and resultant fliers. I had a couple necks crack on firing before I chucked them, which means I should have annealed more often.

It was just an experiment. I don't think I'll go to those extremes again, brass is fairly cheap.
 
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