OOPS! Reloaded Too Many Times

[BRL40]

Long story short, I reloaded these cases, fired them, polished them up and then inspected them afterwards.
Out of 70 I had 14 with cracked case necks.
Trashed the whole spent batch and now I'm going through those that are ready to shoot.
Looks like the plants are getting some nitrogen today.

 

[BRL40]

Now I'm going through all my reloads, these are in good shape but the other ones I have no idea how many times they were reloaded.
I'd rather inspect them all now, it only takes a short time for peace of mind.
ETA: The mark in the square is the number of times I've reloaded these, the others were unknown.

 

[AJ]

For rifle cases it seems that those folks keep a count on how many reloads their cases get. I reload pistol only (except for .30 Carbine). I have cases that are 20 years or more old in my possession. I have reloaded some cases from 1916. I usually figure out that I need to throw away cases when I see or feel a cracked case. I have heard to reload rifle cases no more than five times.

 

[SweetMK]

I have heard to reload rifle cases no more than five times.

At the beginning of the first "Jack Reacher" movie, the guy is reloading rifle cases,,
one of the steps is that he is trimming the cases to length.

I have a 300 Win Mag,, i have shot a LOT of heavy loads in,,
The cases have not needed length trimming ,, yet.

So, I think I will get WAY more than 5 reloads in these cases??

 

[AJ]

At the beginning of the first "Jack Reacher" movie, the guy is reloading rifle cases,,
one of the steps is that he is trimming the cases to length.

I have a 300 Win Mag,, i have shot a LOT of heavy loads in,,
The cases have not needed length trimming ,, yet.

So, I think I will get WAY more than 5 reloads in these cases??

Do what you feel safe with. People I trust say no more than five reloads.

 

[BRL40]

Do what you feel safe with. People I trust say no more than five reloads.

Sounds like a good rule of thumb, or at least inspect them closely after 5.
One time I had a batch of 100 .45 ACP cases that I reloaded 25 times before I caught a cracked case neck and scrapped all of them, but rifle cartridges run at a lot higher pressure than a few grains of Bullseye with a lead semi wadcutter bullet in a 45 ACP case.

 

[BRL40]

I think those skinny case necks just got work hardened and brittle. I had given those cartridges to a friend years ago because I was never going to purchase another .223 rifle.
He wound up giving me some back after I purchased another .223 rifle.

 

[BRL40]

Rule number two, don't wrap a rubber band around your plastic ammo cases, stuff them in a GI ammo can and expect them to be in pristine shape years later.

 

[BRL40]

Credit where credit is due.
These Freedom Munitions remanufactured still look excellent!

 

[Nevada Ed]

Hunting loads may get 5 or more reloads with a maximum fps load.

I have had target 270 and 30-06 loads go 15 rounds per case, with light loads.

I have some GI cases that are on 20 and still no cracks on the neck.

Pressure, chamber fit and how you treat your brass, all play a part in how long it last.

Have fun.

 

[BC38]

FWIW, I have seen people recommending annealing of the case mouths of bottle-neck cartridges to extend the number of times they can be reloaded.
I have seen equipment for annealing them advertised for sale as well.
As I understand it, the bottle-necked cases tend to become brittle due to work-hardening as they are resized, and annealing the mouths of the cases before reloading them reduces that brittleness - allowing them to be resized/reloaded several more times.
When you look at bottle-necked factory ammo - like.223 and 5.56 rounds, it is easy to see the discoloration from the ammo manufacturers annealing the cases before loading them.

 

[STCM(SW)]

Only rifle rounds I check for problems is my 220 Swift and 25-06 as I do load them hot......

 

[austintexas]

case life

I'm still reloading 45 ACP cases I picked up on the range in Rota, Spain. In 1969-70. The Marines had barrels of brass so I got a grocery bag full. I don't keep track of reloads. I inspect cases before I reload them and throw away any that are cracked. I Recently pulled down 80 factory 30 Remington rounds, all very old and dirty. Some of the unfired primers were full of green growing stuff and after I wet cleaned with steel pins I culled 18 that were showing the start of cracks on the shoulder and neck. I think the cracks were caused just because the ammo was OLD. It just pays to inspect brass before you reload.
SWCA 892

 

[rwsmith]

Try annealing......

You might be able to get more loads per case if you anneal them every three or so reloads. I rotate larger cases in a propane flame and when it gets too hot to hold, I drop them in the quench.

Any reloading component is a valuable commodity nowadays and I don't suppose anymore that I can replace anything easily.

I also don't shoot hot rounds unless I need them. And since I don't hunt or shoot long ranges, I rarely need them.

 

[6string]

Speaking of the number of reloads, you can’t just pick a number out of thin air and call it a rule. There is no “magic number”.

Speaking just of rifle cartridges, here are a few general factors:
- Type/quality of chamber. Hunting rifle, milsurp rifle or match grade rifle? A tight match chamber will give you the most reloads. A milsurp will tend to be the worst.

- Compatibility and tolerance matching of the reloading dies to chamber. If you have a loose chamber and tight dies, you will be wearing out brass quickly. Have you ever taken a chamber cast so you can measure the exact dimensions of your rifle?

- Loading technique. Do you screw a full length size die down for a crush fit against shellholder? Or, do you smoke a fired unsized case and adjust your dies to leave the shoulder untouched? OR…do you neck size your brass?

- Do you load to maximum or near-maximum pressure?

For benchrest or schuetzen shooting, where you can reload at the bench while shooting, it is not unheard of to load the same single case over and over again.

Tip: Redding makes a sizing die that uses interchangeable bushings for sizing case necks. They are sold in increments of 0.001” on an inch. You select a bushing that is just a couple thousandths smaller than the chamber neck. Of course, at least with a tight match chamber, you will likely have to turn case necks to a specific neckwall thickness to be a perfect gloove-like fit.

 

[BrBa]

Tossing Lapua, Alpha or Peterson brass after 5 firings would be incredibly wasteful. Greg at Primal Rights does testing that most handloaders can only dream about. He got 45 firings on one piece of Alpha Munitions OCD 22 Creedmoor brass without annealing. He was full length sizing after each firing, and trimmed when necessary. It was a pretty hot load too at 41.6 gr H4350 under an 80 gr Berger moving at 3450 fps. After 45 firings the case neck had a small crack. No degradation in accuracy throughout the string, and the primer pocket was still snug. Incredible really.

 

[mtgianni]

I have rifle rounds that have seen 12 reloads. No cracks or other problems are visible or felt with a bent wire. I have annealed cartridges but only when sizing up or down. I have several 35 Whelen cartridges that say 270 Win on the base. I have also had cases split on the 3rd firing.

 

[M29since14]

I’ve not heard the notion of discarding brass after five firings but I wonder if the responsible person didn’t know how to maintain his brass, or maybe he was in the business of selling reloading brass? That’s a common recommendation in a military-style rifle like an HK91 or an M1-A, but in a bolt action rifle operating at normal pressure, I’d expect to get at least twice that much use.

John Linebaugh once told me he had reloaded a single .416 Remington case twenty-times to check the his die setting and see how the case lasted. That got me thinking, and I made a similar experiment with some old Remington-brand .222 brass that I know with certainty I have had since the early ‘70s. I used the same RCBS die and setting I’ve always used, and the same load. I randomly pulled out fifteen of the Remingtons, annealed and trimmed them, and then reloaded them seven-times. They were fired for function and accuracy at each loading and nothing unusual was noted. They were still in apparently good shape when I lost interest in the experiment and quit. I’d guess those cases were reloaded at least twenty-times, possibly more.

Good brass life is a function of many factors. Causing it to fail prematurely can take only one.

 

[toad67]

Long story short, I reloaded these cases, fired them, polished them up and then inspected them afterwards.
Out of 70 I had 14 with cracked case necks.
Trashed the whole spent batch and now I'm going through those that are ready to shoot.
Looks like the plants are getting some nitrogen today.

Why would you dump the powder in the flower bed, and toss all the bullets? The powder should be perfectly fine and you could use the bullets for practice ammo, if they are hunting rounds....

 

[BB57]

Do what you feel safe with. People I trust say no more than five reloads.

Based on my 47 years of handloading experience covering a large number of different cartridges it really depends on:
- the cartridge;
- the operating pressure; and
- how the case is sized (neck versus partial versus full versus small base).

Straight wall rifle cartridges are much like pistol and revolver cases that exhibit almost no case stretch. Reload them until the case mouth cracks.

Cases with tapered case walls and shallow shoulders stretch a lot. The .22 Hornet is a good example of a case that has a comparatively short case life. Case life gets even shorter if you start upping the pressure and load for velocity rather than accuracy. They usually develop spider cracks in the middle of the case body.

However if you blow a new .22 hornet case out to .22 K- Hornet with parallel case walls and a sharp shoulder case life is significantly improved. The same is true with most of the Ackley Improved rounds compared to their parent cartridges.

Neck sizing a case will greatly improve its life as the shoulder isn’t set back and it doesn’t repeatedly stretch with each successive firing. You may occasionally have to bump the shoulder back, but doing so the absolute minimum for easy chambering will again prolong case life. And in a bolt action with plenty of camming force, bumping it back isn’t required.

Partial sizing, full length and small base resizing all work the case progressively more and will shorten case life.

——-

In short someone saying you should discard cases after five firings as a rule of thumb, either doesn’t understand all the factors involved, or is being overly conservative and wasting a lot of brass.