150 piece brass, Lever guns

[WhelanLad]

How long would 150 pieces of Brass last for you in a Lever gun cartridge, Straight walled with a fair bit of oomph?

I'm really goin to get into and film some Open sight Close range Lever gun hunting for YouTube videos and some challenge over the net few months/ before Summer arrives.

I have the 375BB and around 150 pieces of Brass, ive only used 50 and the rest are all once fired originals......... my initial count was 189 cases So there could be a handful hiding in a box I'm yet to find...

I have a Factory box of 200gr stuff that ill keep for history sake............ moot point.



I have to crimp the cases fairly well for the tube mag Lever gun, seems if anything I'm applying heavy crimp and getting the faint lines up near the case mouth, something I can proberly work on in time...


I guess I'm worried about ending up with no brass for a gun, as if I'm "wasting" or "using up" the stock I have............. but I guess that is part of it hey?

cross the bridge into 30-30 country when the Brass dries up on this side yeah?

shoot it til I have to cross the bridge yeah?



* I may need to test 30-30 brass for my loads as I also guess, if they work out fine then brass isn't really an issue.... hmmm

weird post, help me out!

WL

 

[big boar]

I have a 450 Marlin and stopped counting how many times I reloaded it after I hit 20X. The only brass I've lost is...........stuff I've lost.....as in the woods. I've fired 1000's of rounds out of it, all cast bullets. Wonderful stuff, no need for a jacket when you're doing loads that are under 2000 fps.

 

[WhelanLad]

I have a 450 Marlin and stopped counting how many times I reloaded it after I hit 20X. The only brass I've lost is...........stuff I've lost.....as in the woods. I've fired 1000's of rounds out of it, all cast bullets. Wonderful stuff, no need for a jacket when you're doing loads that are under 2000 fps.

Hi mate,
I too are using Cast bullets, a hard cast mass produced coated bullet, under 2000 by some, and real down on the loading Data, so I don't believe there is much stress on the Brass, in terms of getting slammed each firing.


Have you found your Brass stretched much at all over these 20 firings? much trimming needed?

thanks

 

[bearhunter]

If you're using cast bullets at cast velocities/pressures, which I know can be quite substantial depending on the alloy mix and use of gas checks, 150 cases should last as long as the rifle.

The biggest issue you may have will be the crimped case mouth. Standard loading procedure with straight wall cases calls for a slight belling of the case mouth and then crimping after seating the bullet.

Have you tried a tube full of this ammo without the crimp or only a very slight crimp to eliminate the bell??? You may not need it.

Another thing, will you be annealing the case mouths????

As for stretch, straight wall cases don't usually stretch enough to require trimming in my rifles.

 

[big boar]

I have never ever never trimmed the brass. Ever my heavy loads ( 400 gr RCBS FN ) at about 1800 fps have never required a trim. That load in a light Marlin 1895M almost rattles my teeth, it's not a fun load. Most of my stuff is for rapid offhand (3 shots in about 6 secs?) and is a light load. That's a 300 gr slug over shotgun powder and recoil is about 1/2 of a 30-30 or less. My deer load is the same 300 gr but this time is about 17-1800 fps. Recoil is not bad and is very effective on deer out to 100yards at least. I've never been able to recover any cast slug.

 

[hometownhero]

If you're using cast bullets at cast velocities/pressures, which I know can be quite substantial depending on the alloy mix and use of gas checks, 150 cases should last as long as the rifle.

No reason why you can't load cast to jacketed pressure/ speeds.

I load cast in my 30-30 and have loaded the brass countless times. I lost 2 pcs die to a split in the shoulder area. Both of those cases were given to my by my grandfather from when he used to hunt in the 70's.

 

[Evanguy]

I have some Win brass in 303 british that i have over 65 reloads on with no issues. I use 100 to 300gr cast bullets anywhere from 900-1600fps. And thats in a lee enfield so you know the chambers are oversized. I just neck size though and every 20 or so loads ill do a FL size. Dont he hard on it and it will last foreever

 

[jethunter]

Depends on your rifle chamber dimensions, the pressure, and your brass handling techniques. Hard to say how many reloads you can get and doesn't really matter because you want to get as many as you can anyway.

Straight walled brass doesn't usually need trimming.
Most of your brass wear will likely happen when belling the case mouth to accept the bullet - minimize belling to get the bullet seated.
If you use bullets with a crimp groove you might not need to crimp as hard to prevent bullet set-back.

 

[BigUglyMan]

I fully expect to see you advertising for a sponsor family on the EE if things get any stupider in Australia. Don't worry about running out of brass...your supply should last you plenty long enough and if it runs out before the gunpocalypse you could always step up your immigration timetable.

 

[pastway]

I guess I'm worried about ending up with no brass for a gun, as if I'm "wasting" or "using up" the stock I have............. but I guess that is part of it hey?

cross the bridge into 30-30 country when the Brass dries up on this side yeah?

shoot it til I have to cross the bridge yeah?



* I may need to test 30-30 brass for my loads as I also guess, if they work out fine then brass isn't really an issue.... hmmm

weird post, help me out!

WL

I picked up some 375 brass a few days ago, about 1/3 of the number you have, so I have been wondering as well how many firings to expect. Difference with me is I also got some 220 gr hornady jacketed projectiles, so will be sending them along at full speed, thus higher pressures. Before that I was using fireformed 30-30 brass and cast lead.

A couple days ago I tried comparing the weight of the brass. RP brass, federal and winchester all weighed about 10 to 20 grs less than the real 375 stuff (WWsuper in my case), but I was surprised to find that Imperial 30-30 brass weighed almost exactly the same as the 375, sometimes even slightly more, even though the fireformed brass is a bit shorter. So, how this translates into wall thickness, I don't know. But I am less concerned now about running out of 375 brass, thinking I can likely use Imperial 30-30.