9mm shell question

I think it all depends on how hot the loads are. Powder puff loads apparently extend brass life alot, while hotter ones not so much. Just scrounge so much brass that it will be months or years before you get to the 5x mark.:D
 
It's like asking how many miles you can drive a car before it has to be replaced.

Even same make of brass fired equal number of times will show more or less damage to it and some casings may go for 20 reloads while others only 2-3.

Just use the 'healthy' ones to avoid incidents.
 
Using mild loads, I know we are getting more than 5 loadings out of it, both 9mm and 40 S&W.

We don't even count or keep track of # of loadings, it all just goes into the empties bucket, they are cleaned, casually inspected when they are being handled, and reloaded.

It also depends on which powder you use. You can load mild but say if you use a very fast burning powder, (example: Clays with heavy bullets) it can still generate high peak pressures. Lots of variables.
 
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Not something you shoud be too concerned about, shoot enough and you'll lose them before the cases give up the ghost.

I handload lead to about 900 fps and have brass where you can't read the headstamps any more. So gusss what...

I think your friend wants your brass. :D
 
I keep my pistol brass as a single lot. I load it all at once - about 1000 rounds. then I shoot it in severl sessions, puttign the empties in a bucket (one bucket for each caliber). When I am almost out of laoded ammo, I load it all again.

Sooner or later I will find some loose pockets or split cases and I say "OK. This is the last time I load these." And then toss the entire batch of cases after shooting.

Then I go to the big box of once fired brass from the police range and start another batch of 1000 cases. My pistol rounds are loaded to about 150 fps less than max. It lasts a lot longer than 5X. maybe 20X ??
 
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