Brass -- how many firings?

[Ed Dixon]

I read somewhere recently that a good rule to follow is to load/fire brass no more than 8X and for hot loads no more than 5X. Does this sound reasonable to most folks? Does anyone use a different standard?

[Steve Smith]

Well, there are no standards, to be perfectly honest. There are simply too many variables to make a blanket statement.

Me, I started with 3500 cases of LC for competition, and I'm using about 700 of them right now. I'll keep using them until I get a small split or two, and I'll toss em all. So far they're on they're fourth firing and no thin spots at the web yet. I'm awful careful about how much I size, though.

[stans]

I use my brass until it begins to split at the case mouth, or primers begin to fit loosely, or the case head shows signs of thinning. With low pressure handgun rounds, the brass can seemingly last forever.

[HankL]

Ed, Good information above. A lot depends on what you are reloading and what your intended purpose for the reload is.

As Stans said, you can load a lot of low pressure straight walled pistol cases until you loose them. As Steve said watch for thinning of the case near the web and neck splits. Steve also mentioned careful sizing which is the key to longevity in case life in any situation.

Another way to pose your question would be "How many times can I trim my cases before they are not useable." As the case elongates and you trim the case becomes thinner at some point, usually near the web. Depending on the case, you will determine the number of trimmings you can do on a case before too much metal has been removed and the case begins to weaken. Stans also mentioned primer pockets getting loose which is a variable usually.

I have a set of 7MM WHBY brass that is looking at it's sixth reload but I shoot it in one rifle and only neck size it. I have only needed to trim it twice and the first time was when it was new. I have culled a few loose primer pockets out of the bunch but that's it.
HTH

[dairycreek]

To which you have reached excellent advice. Bottom line is to learn the tell tale signs that warn you not to reload that particular piece of brass again. Inspect your brass every time before you reload it. Won't take long before you know what you're doing. Error on the side of safety. If you are not sure-don't use it. Has worked for me for over forty years. Good shooting

[sricciardelli]

No.

There is no "standard" to go by. You just use them until they are no longer functional.

I have some cases which have been reloaded 25 times...

[anand]

A good way to find out is to take just one or 2 cases from the said batch and reload and fire them carefully examining them each time after firing for brass thinning and case splits etc as mentioned in other posts.

You can then figure out how many times(on average) that a case from a given batch can be fired.

Anand

[labgrade]

I have yet to throw away even .05% of any straight-walled case - I usually loose 'em first. I did actually pitch a .38 special case a few ago - & that after 50+ loadings - a very lightly split mouth, BTW.

Bottle necks are different - way different.

Many reloading manuals say after a 3-5X trimming (b-necks), you oughta discard .... likely misleading depending on what load, how much you resize.

If you resize a bottle neck to just touch the shoulder relative to your chamber, you may extend the brass life twice that than if you full length resize.

Depends.

[C.R.Sam]

As both Steve's say...
Too many variables to predict.

Softer loads, minimum sizing etc usually greatly extend life.

I have had a few big bore guns that I only owned 20 or less cases for.

I still have a few treasured balloon head .44 cases that are in good shape after many many firings. Most of them have had three full charge plus loads through them then a multitude of standard loads.

Sam

[Mike Irwin]

You talking rifle, or pistol, or both?

I've got better than 40 reloads on some of my .38 Spl. brass that I bought in the early 1980s.

[Poodleshooter]

I load .45 auto till the headstamp disappears. Same goes for crappy soft foreign 5.56mm brass.
I have in my collection, a piece of .45 auto brass marked "Peters" (not remington-peters, so it may predate that merger). I have no idea how old it really is, but it's been reloaded countless times by myself, and probably even more in the distant past.

[buford1]

Wow thats really getting your moneys worth. Just how many reloadings do you get before the head stamp disappears

[Peter M. Eick]

Headstamps can dis-appear quite quickly in the higher pressure cartraiges. I was shooting 357 sig yesterday, and I noticed that the headstamps (starline) were getting kind of thin after 5th firings. It is certainly noticeable that they are not as deep as before. I also picked up a 40s&w case that the headstamp was nearly gone, but I know it came from an IDPA shooter who reloads till they are way gone.

[Poodleshooter]

Approximately 6 reloadings for crappy, soft Malaysian military 5.56 brass. All of my loads were pretty hot, and most of my shooting is on warm days.
As for my .45 cases-I don't know. Most of them have at least 4-5 reloadings by me, and presumably several with their prior owners.

[John in ca]

If you buy an RCBS concentricity gauge, it has a adapter that you can use to measure the amount of case wear taking place at the web. It works great and will tell you when it's time to throw a case away. At $60, it's a real bargain for the reloader, since it also measures neck runout, which is essential for producing accurate rifle rounds.

[WESHOOT2]

Got some Speer 9x19 cases; fired ONLY through ultimate 'tight-chamber' gun (Nowlin barrel, hard-fit by Bob Cogan at AP&W); got over 40 reloads on some so far; can read headstamps STILL (this actually amazes me) as they've been used in 'Vermont' testing; plenty of Major Nine experiments; still hold primers snugly; ZERO splits.

Got an old magazine test of 38 Special 148g WC/light Bullseye charge, over one hundred reloads.............