Throw away rifle brass

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GSoD

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So I`m wondering - do you guys throw away your brass after x-number of firings or trimmings regardless or do you wait to see visible signs of terminal wearÉ

I was going on the idea that you toss brass after x-number of loads & trims.

But I was expecting there to be signs of distress by that point.

I have .308 federal that has been trimmed 5 times and fired 12. I have full length sized them every time. I thought for sure with lots of people running down Federal brass and full length resizing these would be gonners already.

But, when I look at them I see nothing to warrant chucking them. I even run the gage through the inside to look for head seperation and find no evidence of it. Visually, they look as fine as when they started out and shoot great.

I put a little bit of work into the brass (weigh, check run out, uniform pockets etc.) so I`m a little hesitant to throw out brass. But I don`t want to create a danager to myself or my gun for a little bit of brass.

I`m curious to know what others do.

Its being fired out of a Rem700 bolt action and is using 44.5 grains of Varget pushing 175SMK at 2700fps if that makes a difference
 
You sound to be doing everything right to me. check the outside, the necks, the base(with a bent paper clip), and the groups. If everything checks out, use them again.

I don't toss brass. Once it has served, I take it to the scrapper. Not much $ in return, but I like that it isn't just going to landfill.

I shoot pretty much the same load BTW.
 
The other thing I do is be aware of primers that seat way to easy, indicates the pocket has expanded, those ones I chuck. Other wise I'd say you are checking everything needed to insure safe reloads. I neck size until the brass won't chamber easily then bump the shoulder.
 
The original writer must have very minimal headspace in his Remington. That allows him to full length resize, without the cases getting the tell tail ring of expanssion.
Your brass will likely end its useful life by the neck cracking, in the vertical position.
There is no danger involved in neck cracking. It is the usual way that well cared for brass wears out. You will notice it by spotting the cracks, or maybe notice a bullet has seated easier than usual. If this happens, you can still fire the cartridge, in safety. I would fire it single shot.
 
You're checking all the right thing.

Personally, I take my brass to the bitter end. Most of my 300 win mag brass gets the magic light coloured ring just above the head after 12-13 firings. Then I chuck it. A few start to get neck splits.......so to answer your question...no, I don't just toss it after x number of firings.
 
You are loading to near max and have trimmed the cases 5 times. As a general rule of thumb my brass is recycled after the 3rd trimming.

That brass you are cutting off has to be coming from somewhere and it would be a good idea to section a case or two to look for any thinning of the case in front of the case head.
 
I weigh brass and use 50 round plastic boxes. When I get a couple of split necks or a few in the box that have loose pockets, I toss the box. I don't keep track of how many times they get loaded. I did that only once and stopped counting at 25. That was 308Win.
 
Thats not a terrible idea - I think I will split one of the open and take a looksee.

'Boo said:
You are loading to near max and have trimmed the cases 5 times. As a general rule of thumb my brass is recycled after the 3rd trimming.

That brass you are cutting off has to be coming from somewhere and it would be a good idea to section a case or two to look for any thinning of the case in front of the case head.
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Is there a proper etiquette ;)on picking up brass at a range. I was shooting the other day, and I like to keep my brass but I guess as I was shooting buddy was catching them as they were flying out of the air or something. I went to collect them and they were gone:confused: I looked over at the guys shooting beside me and they gave me a dumbfounded look like "Whaat". I didn't bother saying anything but if they seen me collecting them you would think they would return them to me.....I don't know.:confused:
 
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Ronkytonk, I believe the proper etiquette is to only collect your own brass. I collect and keep my own brass even if I'm not going to reload it (don't want someone else pulling the many times reloaded brass out of the garbage to reload and possibly have a case failure). Not to mention keeping a clean range, I can't stand those guys who don't clean up their brass.

Those guys taking your brass is theft. If they don't know any better then best to tell them politely, but by the way you described it they knew exactly what they were doing.
 
So, I don't reload. I would like to try it one day but I don't think I shoot enough right now. I have all this brass I collect after I shoot. Mainly 30-06, and .303. Is there a market to sell it or a venue to get rid of it where someone can use it?
 
I just want to expand on this issue if I may. My manual states that you shouldn't use a case if it has been trimmed a fifth time. Am I to understand that you guys aren't trimming every time you reload? Isn't uniform case length vital to achieve maximum accuracy?
 
Gard said:
My manual states that you shouldn't use a case if it has been trimmed a fifth time.
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If you're using too hot of a load, you will get less loads out of each case. Lighter loads= more loads.


Your brass has tolerances and depending on the gun it may not need trimming each time. For example, bolt actions are very forgiving compared to other actions when using reloads.

There are also signs to look for that indicate stressing like a light ring on or near the base, powder marks, cracking, extruding primers, loose primers. ect.
 
I have some brass(Norma) for my 7mm Weatherby that has been loaded 5-6 times. Neck sized only, trimmed once. Annealed necks once. I will continue until I get split necks or the light ring. No loose primers yet. A few were getting loose seated bullets, which is why I annealed them all. A few of the cases have pretty harsh ejector marks though.
 
ronkytonk said:
Is there a proper etiquette ;)on picking up brass at a range. I was shooting the other day, and I like to keep my brass but I guess as I was shooting buddy was catching them as they were flying out of the air or something. I went to collect them and they were gone:confused: I looked over at the guys shooting beside me and they gave me a dumbfounded look like "Whaat". I didn't bother saying anything but if they seen me collecting them you would think they would return them to me.....I don't know.:confused:
Click to expand...

i'd just ask them flat out , " hey do you guys know what happened to my brass ? "
 
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