How many times can .45 ACP brass be reloaded?

[Terry A]

How many times can you reload .45 ACP brass before they should be discarded?

Also, on a low pressure round such as the .45 ACP, can bullet setback occur, or is the pressure too low?

[jimbob86]

Depends upon the pressure developed- Hot load them and they won't last, and neither will the gun .....

I have some that I have loaded so many times you can barely read the headstamps...... never had one split.

Now my .357 brass on theother hand.....

[Crankylove]

I usually lose my brass before it wears out.

I have only had a handfull of .45 Auto brass "wear out"........its a low enough pressure round, the brass will last for quite a while. Some of mine has been in the loading rotation for 15 years, with proably 15-20 reloads so far.

[Dave R]

I haven't worn any out, yet.

Prolly 5 loads on my most-used brass. I'll bet it'll go 10 or more. I don't load 'em hot.

[medalguy]

Same experience. Use a low to midrange load and you'll likely never wear it out.

[dmazur]

Also, on a low pressure round such as the .45 ACP, can bullet setback occur, or is the pressure too low?

Bullet setback is a physical problem, caused by insufficient case tension, poor feedramp geometry, and other stuff like that...

So, the .45ACP can't be immune to this.

However, as it is a relatively low pressure round, it can take quite a bit of setback before case volume is reduced to a dangerous point, compared to hot 9mm and .40S&W rounds.

How much is dangerous? I don't believe it can be determined easily. I have read of .45ACP "kabooms" that appear to have been caused by setback.

Best advice is to do the "bench test" to make sure your bullets can't be pushed into the case easily, and avoid repeatedly chambering the same round.

[Terry A]

Sincere thanks everybody for your input and insights!

I'm a long time (started in 1965) gun shooter and a new born baby reloader! This info was real important to me. Thanks again everybody!

[Terry A]

Today 02:10 AM
dmazur Quote:
...... and avoid repeatedly chambering the same round.

I'm unclear as to what you mean by that?

[dmazur]

Well, it's not a concern for target shooters. I believe it's mostly a CCW concern.

Some folks who carry a concealed pistol do "administrative procedures" like clearing the chamber before storage. (Others just carry theirs Condition 1 all the time...so they aren't concerned about this particular problem.)

This usually involves ejecting the chambered round. Some just re-insert it at the top of the magazine, so it gets rechambered the next time the pistol is made ready.

It has been shown that repeated chambering can cause bullet set-back.

Solutions vary from complex magazine rotations to simply shooting the ammo before it suffers too many chambering operations. (I subscribe to the latter practice... )

[Terry A]

Thanks for explaining that dmazur. I guessed that was what you meant but I couldn't understand why.

[Unclenick]

When I was still actively shooting bullseye (conventional pistol) matches, I had one batch of Winchester cases I followed through 50 reloadings. It started out as 1000 cases, and was probably half that by the time I retired it. The main load was just 3.8 grains of Bullseye under cast 185's for indoor and 25 yards outdoors, and under cast 200 grain bullets for 50 yards. I retired them because necks began to split regularly and also because these light loads loose about half a thousandth in length per load cycle, so they were 0.025" shorter when I let them go. That's below SAAMI minimum, but since I headspace on the bullet rather than the case that didn't matter. It just meant my taper crimp die needed to be adjusted differently for them than the newer brass. Coupled with the regular splitting, I decided to let them go.

Most jacketed bullets are gripped with enough friction by the brass that they don't suffer setback. Lubricated lead bullets sure can. I set my taper crimp to dig a couple thousandths into lead bullets to create a small step. That prevents setback effectively. You never want to intentionally fire a bullet that's been set back. In any short case that can raise pressure substantially and rapidly. It is why God gave us inertial bullet pullers. Just be sure, if you are headspacing on the case mouth rather than the bullet that you don't crimp the mouth diameter down below 0.469" (SAAMI minimum), and if you shoot lead or plated bullets, to pitch the cases once they get shorter than 0.888", or you will be headspacing on the extractor hook. Lots of guns shoot jacketed bullets fine that way, but for lead bullets it deteriorates accuracy and increases leading.

[Mike Irwin]

Well, I'm past 50 loadings on some of my .45 brass now.

They've been fired so many times that the headstamp is virtually obliterated.

Same with .38 Special.

Low pressure target rounds and minimal crimping of the case mouth can result in cases that last a LONG time.

[jmorris]

45 brass around out club lasts a long time. I have seen some that the head stamp was gone but still no cracks.

[Unclenick]

I think the split mouths I got were actually caused because I didn't have a taper crimp die when I first started using that batch of brass. It was light roll crimping (this was awhile ago) back then. I had a Dillon Square Deal press by the time I retired them, though. Like yours, the headstamps had all but ironed out, and the rims looked like the stuff had suffered small pox from all the landings on concrete and stones.

A fellow on another forum has one case he's tracked through 156 reloadings and counting. I don't know his particular load, though. I wonder if he still knows what make it is?

[Taroman]

In my experience, you will lose them long before they wear out.