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Old May 10, 2001, 06:28 PM   #1
PDshooter
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How many times can you reload your rifle brass? As in 30-06
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Old May 10, 2001, 07:14 PM   #2
yankytrash
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It'd be great if there was a set number of times, or even an average number, for that matter. I've always pondered that one that one myself.

I weed out most of my older shell casings by case lengths. I trim my shells every time, regardless of measured length. As soon as casings won't make it to my personal minimum length of .010 under the book's minimum length, I load it one last time, shoot it, and it gets chucked the next time around.

I can't even give a good guesstimate, because each casing manufacturer has different grades of casings.

Some wait until a failure of some sorts, whether it be extreme bulging, rips, or explosion. I've never had enough money lying around to buy a new gun over a 5 cent bullet, so I prefer a more conservative method.

That'd be a good idea for website - a database of different casings and the average life expency posted by readers. hmmmmm......
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Old May 10, 2001, 07:54 PM   #3
Hard Ball
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It all depends on the caliber and the number of times you gave reladed the cases.
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Old May 10, 2001, 08:06 PM   #4
kurt IA.
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PD shooter I think a lot of it depends on your chamber, and how well the case fits it. Have a TC. in 7TCU that eats a case every 10 to 15 loadings, but I have to size it quite a bit. also have a XP in 7IHMSA, or had, used Fed 308 match brass, that had to be bumped back .010 and necked down. That made the necks too thick so turned them to .001 under chamber size. Shot 3000 rounds a year in it till the barrel went ( about 5 years ) and never lost a case, Though the primer pockets did get a little lose. Of corse they were never sized, didn,t need it.
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Old May 10, 2001, 11:55 PM   #5
444
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It also depends on how hot you are loading, what caliber you are loading, and whether you are full length resizing or neck sizing.
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Old May 11, 2001, 07:27 AM   #6
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Determining factor

The shortest case life will occur with semi-autos. These must be sized smaller than bolt guns because of the lack of caming action to seat an oversized case in the chamber. The most likely problem to occur is case head seperation. There ARE, however, ways to reduce the problem.

First, resize the MINIMUM amount necessary to reliably chamber.

Now, obtain an old dental pick from your dentist (or fashion a tool from a large paper clip) and use it to feel for a slight groove inside the case, just above the head (as far down in the case as you can get.). You'll soon develop a "feel" for it. By culling cases with grooves, you've eliminated the most likely (and dangerous) method of failure. Now, you're down to split necks (which can be delayed by annealing) or body splits. Neither of which is a catastrophic failure.


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