Look what I found!

[personal_aviator]

So was cleaning my brass tonight in prep for some reloading. As per normal I ran my pick down the inside of the cases and lo and behold..

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It's Lapua brass .338. Have 15 reloads on these cases so definatly have gotten my monies worth out of them. I found 2 others with the thinning inside. This was the worst of the 3. Have more to run through the cleaner so we will see if I find any more.

 

[billdick]

when they get that thin you should see a dull yellow ring around the outside before you clean the brass. 15 times is quite a few.

 

[TargetAcquired]

I don't shoot .338, but I've got well over 15 loads on some other bottleneck calibers.

 

[Seagull]

How often do you FL size or bump the shoulder? And by how much? I am not too surprised but I don't have a 338, but 15 to me is impressive.

 

[TargetAcquired]

I'f you're asking me, I've never FL sized much of the brass I reload for some bottleneck calibers. I just marry specific sets of brass ot specific rifles. Including older 30-30 levers. Probably not necessary, but FL sizing is tough on brass, so I just think its easier to use the same brass in the same rifle to avoid the stress of FL sizing. Once it goes, I have bags on new brass to replace it with, but I'll wait as long as I can before I open them.

Threads about trouble finding projectiles, powders, even some primers. Sooner or later people will be screaming bloody murder about not being able to find new brass too. Its just another component I'd rather have too much of than just enough for now.

 

[personal_aviator]

I don't FL size. I size 2/3 the neck. I bump the shoulders when the bolt gets stiff to close. I anneal after every 3 reloads. This batch of brass is from the first batch of 100 once fired I bought. I have about 50 left. The 50 that got tossed were due to me using a wrong size shell holder and using the sizing button when I first started reloading them. The wrong shell holder combined with the excessive pressure to bring the sizing button up through the neck tore up a lot of the rims so they had to get tossed.

I have another 100 once fired that I haven't touched yet. Just goes to show that you should be checking your brass on the inside with a paper clip or pick or something for imminent case head separation.

The brass did have a faint line on the outside where the thinning of the brass was. It's more like 3 lines. One bright thin line where the brass is thinnest and two thicker darker lines that border the thinning. Those who are new to reloading can mistake that line for the line their dies make on the outside of the case. So always check! Better to catch it now then trying to remove it from the barrel.

After finishing cleaning my brass I found three with the ring inside. I'll put up a pic of the outside of the case to show the ring it leaves a little later.

 

[c-fbmi]

Brass does move forward under 60+ thousand psi regardless of shoulder position, it has to do with the taper in the case body, same reason necks need trimming even on neck sized only cases. Unlubed expander plugs will also pull your case forward and cause some stretching, in both case body and necks.