44 rem mag brass - how many resize/reload cycles do you get ???

blacksmithden

blacksmithden

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
Location
I live among the creatures of the night (Edmonton)
I've got a lot of 44 mag brass on the go right now. Probably in excess of 500. Some of these things have been through the press at least 15 times. In all that time, I've only had 2 cases give up the ghost (that I didn't crush to death by putting them in the press wrong). They split at the neck when I was bell mouthing them for inserting cast bullets. Both of them might have been damaged earlier by me, through no fault of their own.


Have any of you guys ever taken a batch right to the bitter end just to see how many times on average you can resize/reload it ???? 44 mag brass just seems to last forever
__________________
 
Yes, Denny, I do the same as you, just shoot them until they get a vertical crack in the neck. Sometimes the start of a crack will first be noticed by the bullet seating a bit easier. If it still seats quite tight, I shoot it and throw it out next time, when the crack will be very noticeable.
And of course, we both know that the less bell we give them, the longer they last.
 
Yes sir,....my .44 mag brass too seems to last many cycles. I have never really kept track how many, but in the last 10 years my numbers have dwindled very little.
Like was mentioned, the less you bell those cases, the longer it will last!:)
 
I lose a lot more 44-40 brass than 44 mag. Thin brass on the 44-40. But in both cases (Pun intended) I reload until the neck splits, or I see a case sep in the making, and I've seen a few of those on the 44-40.
Some of the 44-40 stuff has been reloaded 20 times or more, and some of that is fire formed 38-40 brass.
My 44 Mag stuff, it's fired in a 96 Ruger rifle, has had nothing but full power loads, and has about 25 reloads, I no longer bother to track the number.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
I lose a lot more 44-40 brass than 44 mag. Thin brass on the 44-40. But in both cases (Pun intended) I reload until the neck splits, or I see a case sep in the making, and I've seen a few of those on the 44-40.
Some of the 44-40 stuff has been reloaded 20 times or more, and some of that is fire formed 38-40 brass.
My 44 Mag stuff, it's fired in a 96 Ruger rifle, has had nothing but full power loads, and has about 25 reloads, I no longer bother to track the number.
Click to expand...

Much the same here with 44 Mag, 45 LC and 357 Mag and some has 15 + reloads, most of which has been in handguns and on the heavy side 'Keith' loads. I've had cracks show up on a very few but not enough 'to write home about'.

In a 44-40, I just shoot the odd bit in an old 94 Marlin for 'nostalgia' reasons and haven't reloaded any of those cases more than 5 or 6 times.
 
when i was reloading for the 44 ( some of them hot 240g W296 powder hot)

i would get a few split cases and trim them down for 44 special with W231
 
Honestly I think you loose more .45acp at the range than actually toss because they are bad. As far as revolver brass goes, don't bell the mouth to much and they will last a long time. I have some .38 spl that I bought in 1978 and I am still using them, must have over 75 reloads to them.
 
I don't bell the mouth out any further than I absolutely have to. Just enough to get my cast 240's in it. The reason I ask about the brass life is because I just picked up a Browning model 92 in the exchange. The last thing I need is a head breaking off in a tube magazine in a lever action. I've never had a head separation on a 44 mag case though. If it's almost always a neck failure...no worries. Hey. Have any of you ever tried putting 44 spl in a lever rifle designed for 44 mag ??? I wonder if you could get that 12th shot in the magazine on mine :D.....I know...I know...good ol blacksmithden....always trying to make something do something it wasn't designed to do :D


Thanks for the replies guys.
 
Last edited:
Straight-walled cases should last quite a long time; brass doesn't flow forward from the web the way it does with bottleneck ones. Of course, higher pressures will shorten case life compared to lower pressures.

With .45acp, you will definitely lose cases before they crack necks. I think the last time I found a case with a split neck, it came from re-manufactured ammo I was shooting before I started reloading.
 
I have got 1500 44 Mag brass and I am happy to hear that you guys are getting several reloads . Am only using some light loads as it is more fun to shoot than the maximun load. Thanks for the info.

Straight Shooting

Budweiser2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom