How long until pistol brass wears out?

Gatehouse

Gatehouse

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Yes, the usual answer is that you "will lose the brass before it wears out"

But what's the truth? Has anyone taken a case like 9mm or 45 ACP to failure?

I have brought various presses and reloading gear to the range many times, usually back in the day when I had less time and wanted to do load development for rifle cartridges in the shortest amount of time. At our old range I used to clamp the gear down to a side bench but when we built our "new" range almost 20 years ago I made sure we had double 3/4" plywood side benches and I drilled holes in them to bolt down a press. I've also used the LEE handpress.

I've tried to see how long it takes for a piece of brass to get enlarged primer pockets or neck splits or even case separation- reloading and firing the same piece of brass over and over at the range until it failed. Different brands of brass and different cartridges had different failure rates, but most of this was with rifle brass from .223 and on up. Most of it was remarkably resilient and often neck splits would have been fixed via annealing and wouldn't have failed as the primer pockets stayed tight. Some brass would get loose pockets rather quickly.

Quite a few years ago I took 10 rounds of 45ACP, loaded with both Remington UMC and Federal brass. I loaded them all with close to max loads and fired and reloaded them 20 times at the range.

After the 20 reloads I gave up. Nothing really changed. I should have chronographed them, as that may have shown some differences, but I didn't think of it at the time.

Has anyone worn out pistol brass? 45 ACP is very low pressure with SAAMI specs, even lower than 9mm. I suspect the more modern higher pressure cartridges and high pressure loads for 44 mag/45 Colt may wear out though my top end 45 colt brass has not...
 
44 Magnum

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...t!-13K-now?p=16725561&viewfull=1#post16725561

"Every single surviving piece of Federal brass has now been loaded at least 30 times with some on their 33rd trip. But after tomorrow there will be less than 100 pieces of it left since 20 pieces are marked as failing. Also I scrapped 2 pieces of Starline brass that had failed after 8 reloads. But that's now maybe 10 out of 1400+ "
 
For pistol cartridges, I just use them until they split at the mouth or happen to see it. They have a distinct "clang" sound as you pick them up during a reloading session.

Can't say for magnum or rifle as I've only reloaded max twice so far for these.

on-ca
 
I reload range pick up 9mm brass. Usually about 2,000 at a time.

About once in every fifth session I find a split case. I can't tell if this is because of poor annealing or too many reloads.

I don't ever recall finding a primer pocket too loose to use.
 
I have fired 45 ACP cases until the headstamps were no longer visible and the cases were still usable. If the cases are for plinking I just use them until the necks split. If the cases are for matches I use new or once fired. I had a batch of 9mm that I know I reloaded at least 20 times with target loads and maybe split 5 or 6 cases total out of 500. I don`t ever recall having a handgun case head separation in 40 plus years of handgun shooting.
 
I expect the resizing and crimping life hardening cycle would be the limiting factor, I've run fireformed and never sized again rifle brass at over 200 loadings, some may be over 300 and the pockets are still good. I gave up keeping track on that brass other than to note it needs annealing now, won't expand and seal the chamber, bullet lube coming up the side.
 
Im still reloading 45 ACP brass that Ive had since the 80s,there is the occasional split one,but I think Im more likely to lose them than before they split.Even 38 super loaded to major factor last a very long time.
 
I think for majority of handgun cases it’s a moot point; use until failure.
But who would have the time or control measures to accurately assess this?
Other than my moon clipped brass, pistol cases fly everywhere.
I pick it up but who’s to say I only picked up mine...
Even when I strip my moon clips the brass just goes in that calibers bucket for cleaning at some point.
I never noticed any increased brass failures between my 9’s, 40’s or 45’s which have considerable pressure differences.

In my time with pistol brass the causes requiring replacement are;
1) loss, either at matches or just on the range floor. I’m lucky to get 60 to 70% recovery...
2) getting crushed under foot (really sucks when they’re on a moon clip, cause that usually gets bent to).
3) side splitting, random, rare and probably in the 100’s of reloads and unfortunately only caught after the case has been primed...
4) neck splitting from roll crimping on revolvers, crimping works the brass and over crimping will show failures fairly soon.
5) extractor rim/thinning head stamp area/loose primer pockets. Very rare, even rarer today but some open guns (especially 45acp) really beat up the brass to the point of failure(over time).
 
Gatehouse said:
But what's the truth? Has anyone taken a case like 9mm or 45 ACP to failure?

Quite a few years ago I took 10 rounds of 45ACP, loaded with both Remington UMC and Federal brass. I loaded them all with close to max loads and fired and reloaded them 20 times at the range.
Click to expand...

I have the odd .38 Special, 9mm and .45 Auto case failure, usually longitudinal body splits that extend from just above the case head to just below the case mouth. Meanwhile, cases in the same group keep on soldiering along without problem. I have gotten close to the point where between wear and ejector marks the headstamp is completely illegible. I have come to assume that the splits I have seen are the anomalies, probably due to small drawing defects that grow with use. In the absence of those, I suspect 50 to 100 reloads is the norm.

I took a batch of ten cases to the range last summer for an experiment similar to yours, except instead of .45 Auto I was loading .223 Rem and running them through an AR15. My average shots to failure was over 20, with the longest going 29. Brass lasts a lot of loadings when tested like this.
 
About the only thing for sure is that nickle plated cases don't last as long as regular brass. At medium velocities, I go along with the 50 to 100 loads. (or more).
 
Most reloaders wear out brass & discard when a split is discovered. Some reloaders even reload cases with small splits one more time. I think the factor that everyone here is missing is that brass life is directly determined by how much the brass gets "worked."

Brass life is determined by how much the original brass goes from reasonably soft to hard & brittle. That's the main reason some rifle reloaders try to re-anneal hard, many times fired brass. The more times you reload & fire, the harder it becomes, & the faster it approaches the split phase.

Whether or not nickel plated brass splits faster than plain brass has not been definatively established. It appears that way but I have yet to see a study that proves this hypothesis.
 
I will toss 10 to 12 split nickle plated to 1 brass case.
Definative enuff for me, in 39 years of reloading........
 
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