do you count the number of loadings on your brass?

[dado5]

I see a lot of people talk about reloading certain brass "x" number of times and then get rid of it (might be 5,7, or even 10). I have never really counted or paid attention to the number of times each one has been fired. I inspect each case before I begin the reloading process and discard ones that appear to show fatigue. I always seem to be adding new brass to certain calibers and would think it would be hard to keep track of how many firings each one had. Do you mark the brass so you know or just dont add new brass until all of it is discarded?

[jwrowland77]

Pistol: no. I'll end up losing them before they go worn out from loading.

Rifle: absolutely. I keep a close count and how priming feels. I also check each case with a paperclip to check for impending case head separation.

[Tony Z]

Rifle: definitely!

Pistol: no, as my loads are very light plinking loads.

I also examine all cases after cleaning.

[alexcue]

Ditto what the others have said, I keep a rough count on some "lots" but the pistol I just check them after cleaning. Usually that gets rid of any questionable cases.

Rifle even .223 I'm more more careful and accurate with the count.

[Unclenick]

For rifle, since the brass work-hardens, it is worth keeping lots with the same load history together to maintain consistent bullet pull.

[FrankenMauser]

Depends on the cartridge.

Where I feel that it matters, I keep brass separated into lots (20, 50, 100) and track their use.
Mixing lots defeats the purpose. So there's no replacement of cases in a given lot with some other random piece of brass. If a piece is damaged or fails, that lot is short until the rest gets scrapped. It's as simple as that.

In general, we'd be talking about rifle cartridges and high pressure revolver cartridges for cases that get tracked. Most other cartridges are mix-and-match affairs (lots of brass, not necessarily head stamps).


A few benefits:
1. When one case fails or shows any indication that failure is imminent, it's a good indication that I need to take a better look at the whole lot.

2. Everything is always trimmed to the same length. I won't find myself suddenly having issues in the middle of reloading 50 rounds, because three 'replacement' cases are 0.023" longer, and one is 0.013" shorter, than the rest.

3. I get an idea of how long a particular lot will last, and I can use that information for planning. For example, if I know that LC 67 .30-06 is only good for about 7 full-power reloads, then it would be unintelligent to work up a new load with a new bullet and powder when that lot of brass already has 6 loads tallied. ...Because I'll have to start over with a new lot of brass after just 1-2 firings (possibly before I'm even done with load development!).

4. Just because head stamps are the same, doesn't mean the cases are the same. I don't use mixed brass for rifle cartridges or high pressure cartridges. And, since brass from the same company, even on the same day, can be quite variable in composition, capacity, and life expectancy, I sort and keep it sorted. By keeping brass sorted, segregated, and organized, my end product is higher quality: It's more consistent, more predictable, and more reliable (no pressure spikes causing hard extraction, for example).

[mikld]

As the fellers above; rife yep, pistola, no. I have one 308 bolt gun and a 30-06 Garand. I'm watching and counting the brass from my Garand closely, and pretty much the same with the bolt gun. I have some brass for my .44 Magnums that I purchased in the late '80s and have no idea how many times some of them have been fired...

[mhblaw]

No, but handgun brass inevitably splits and then it gets tossed.

[603Country]

I don't keep track of how many times I've reloaded rifle brass, but I do keep brass segregated in 50 or 100 case lots. I can spot the signs when a batch of brass has reached it's end of useful life, and will toss it then and go with fresh brass.

Over the years, Norma seems to me to have the longest useful life. Nosler brass seems to give a rather short life, in comparison. But that's just my opinion and does not make it fact.

[mikejonestkd]

Pistol - No, I just inspect after cleaning. 99% of my loads are very mild target/ plinking loads.
Rifle - Yes, I keep each batch of brass segregated, and inspect after cleaning. As soon as I have an issue with one or two pieces of brass in a lot the whole batch goes to the recycle bin.

[PA-Joe]

You should also be keeping a reloading data book. I match a batch of cases to an ammo box and then track how many reloads I have done in the ammo box. Keep a detail log in case something shows up.

[William T. Watts]

I agree with 603Country about Nosler cases, I've found too many of them that have primer pockets starting too loosen on the first firing, the brass is either too soft or the factory is loading too hot.. With that said I rarely load my cases more than four time, I can't recall a split neck nor ever had a primer pocket to leak. it helps to have a chronograph to develope your loads too!! William

[849ACSO]

Pistol - No. A good inspection before loading.

Rifle - I TRY, but sometimes they mixed up. I inspect the insides with a sharp wire for thinning above the web, and pay attention to primer pockets.

[jmorris]

No, I rely on it to let me know when it is done.

There is no magic number to how many times a case can fire a given load. I have some 45 acp cases that have been fired so many times you can't read the head stamp anymore.

I do keep cases segregated sometimes but not by times fired.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I do for everything but my CAS cases... generally those are 45 Colt or 38 Special ( though I do have others ) but I find I don't often get my same brass back, so since they are sane loads, & I don't often get my same brass back, it just wasn't worth the headache...

BTW... I generally also only use one headstamp of brass per caliber, or per gun if there are multiple loadings for different guns, within the same caliber

CAS cartridges are the only ones I shoot mixed cases within the same load lot...

[Mike Irwin]

Used to, but then I stopped shooting/reloading for rifles.

Handguns, only as an exercise in interest.

I have some .38s that I've loaded going on 50 times, with light loads and little to no crimp.

I have some .45s that have been loaded and shot so many times that it looks as if they were never headstamped.

[noylj]

Rifles and pistols--no.
See no need. I inspect the bottleneck cases before sizing and check length after and trim as needed.
I'm not shooting international long-range competition, and don't need to play those games.

[Kosh75287]

I do the paperclip thing on rifle brass, or toss the brass when it develops a flaw I can't trim out. With gas-autos, I lose brass pretty fast anyway. I probably lose a lot of GOOD brass along the way, but the attrition appears to cull out the ones developing incipient failures.

In magnum pistol rounds, I use once-fired brass one time with magnum loads, then retire it to the bin intended for more sedate ballistics. Non-magnum pistol rounds are used until they develop a flaw not amenable to trimming or other remediation.

I know the axiom about a procedure needing to fail only once to produce a catastrophe, but in 4 decades of shooting, I've had none. Given the way that Murphy's law routinely stalks my daily existence, I think disaster should have struck by now.

[30Cal]

The stuff I shoot through my M14, yeah. I buy 1000+ cases to work with and use a pair of big buckets to keep track of things. At times, I shoot a ton of ammo through it and the brass fares poorly.

Otherwise, no. I don't keep track.

[rclark]

I do for my revolvers (don't shoot pistols). My 'boxes' are all those plastic ones. 100 cartridges to a box. So easy to just scratch another line every time I reload. More of an 'interest' thing than anything.... Well, unless I am testing. Then I'll find the cases that have been used the least as the mouth tension is probably more 'consistent'. Don't shoot enough rifle to care. My 100 30/30 cartridges has lasted me more than 15 years now. '06 even longer.

[4runnerman]

Rifle only. Pistol never

[walnut1704]

Nope. I only shoot and load pistol.

I have some really old .38 spl brass that I've loaded I don't know how many times. You can't even read some of the head stamps, they've been peened out. I am thinking about tossing the lot. Over the years some newer stuff has been mixed in but the original lot is thirty years old. My standard load is 4.0 gr of W231 with a 158gr LSWC, which is no powder puff for a .38 load. Case loss does not seem to be accelerating.

Don't think you'll get away with that on higher pressure rounds like the 9mm though. But certain revolver rounds, especially the Magnums with reduced loads, can last a really long time.

[TimSr]

I do for research purposes and person knowledge of everything but semi-auto pistol loads which always get mixed and lost.

[Ole Joe Clark]

I shoot em till they split. I do look at them after each firing though.

[101combatvet]

I've often wondered about the number of reloads you can get out of a pistol cartridge, a friend that did some serious small arms testing over the years told me about 20 before the cartridge will fail. I've got over 11,000 rounds of 9mm down range and I've only seen a a few fatigued cases, probably less than 10. I also shoot them until they are split. Currently, I have about 2,000 9mm cases in inventory that I shoot from, I shoot light loads, so case failures should be picking up soon if my friend's theory is correct. I'll keep you posted.