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Old June 21, 2007, 04:34 PM   #5
Slamfire
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 27, 2007
Posts: 5,261
That is a very interesting question. I will give my opinion.

Case life depends on the tightness of the primer pocket and when the case necks split.

Assuming that your resizing process does not cause case head separations by setting the case shoulders back more than .003" or so.

I took brass, in a M1a, shot it in Highpower rifle matches, and took the stuff about 22 or 24 reloads. I lubricated the outside of the cases with Johnson Paste Wax. M1a's extract when there is still pressure in the barrel and that stretches the cases. Without that frictional stress I never had a case head separation or any indication of case head separation in any case at any time. I did get case splits from brass flaws.

I sectioned cases that had body splits, neck cracks, to see what was going on inside. What I noticed was that as the number of reloads increased, brass was being washed out near the case head. The brass had a “spongy’ appearance.

The last I shot it was at Rattle Battle at Camp Perry. Still I picked up some of my cases. Don’t plan to reload it anymore, the pockets won’t hold primers very tightly, and I think with the spongy internal appearance, maybe 20 times is prudent limit. I would not argue if the limit was less.
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