Brass Life: Times reloaded vs Accuracy

S

SicVic

Sergeant of the Hide
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Mar 14, 2021
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#1
New to forum so if I break any rules on my first post I'm sure someone will advise me immediately.

Vague subject but how many times do you reload your Brass?
More so the question; does the performance suffer as times reloaded goes by. 8, 9, 10 and so on.

I kept this video super generic but I was actually surprised by how the "performance numbers" related to the condition of the Brass.
The viddy has no real meaning; more so posted due to the absurd amount of data I had pertaining to the Lot of Brass.

Hope ya'll get a kick from the watch.
Sickness

 
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#3
My last lot of 260 brass killed a few barrels.
Some died just before 40 loadings of primer pocket disease and finally I had a case head separation so I scrapped the rest at 40+ loadings.
I did have to recut the primer pocket once as material flow made the primer stand proud at about 25 loadings.

My current lot of 7 saum is on 19 loadings.

I anneal every 4-6th loading

They all shoot great till the primer pocket goes.
 
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#4
Following.

Just curious what brand of brass was used in the video.

My initial reaction is it's not uncommon to get a lot of reloads out of brass. That's assuming it's decent to start with and it's not being used at or past max all the time.

I've heard people tell me they get over 30 firings and such.
 
#5
I've had case head separation on high psi cases I HAVEN'T been annealing as early as 8 or 9 firings (.338 WM). I mean CHS where I don't think there's an underlying problem (with the brass or too hot a load or a particularly flexible action type like a SMLE).

I think with annealing and light loads cases will almost last indefinitely.
 
#9
Steel head said:
My last lot of 260 brass killed a few barrels.
Some died just before 40 loadings of primer pocket disease and finally I had a case head separation so I scrapped the rest at 40+ loadings.
I did have to recut the primer pocket once as material flow made the primer stand proud at about 25 loadings.

My current lot of 7 saum is on 19 loadings.

I anneal every 4-6th loading

They all shoot great till the primer pocket goes.
Click to expand...
All of my pockets feel consistent during primer seating.
I use the 21st Century hand primer so I can "feel" if any are weakening.
I use a primer pocket uniforming tool to clean then each time so I can't really speak about them traveling.
Great information!
 
#10
alamo5000 said:
Following.

Just curious what brand of brass was used in the video.

My initial reaction is it's not uncommon to get a lot of reloads out of brass. That's assuming it's decent to start with and it's not being used at or past max all the time.

I've heard people tell me they get over 30 firings and such.
Click to expand...
I used Lapua in this case.

I do a lot of case prep work early then just maintenance from then on.

Thanks much for posting.
 
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#11
DMP said:
What about internal doughnuts?
Click to expand...
All doughnuts are delicious.... except those!
I don't have any actually.
I use a Forster full length sizing die W/O the expander installed.
I set tension with 21st Century expander mandrels.
Only time I've had issues with Doughnuts is back when I tried bushings to set tension. I had terrible luck with that.
Thanks for the question; hope this answers it.
 
#12
skl1 said:
I've had case head separation on high psi cases I HAVEN'T been annealing as early as 8 or 9 firings (.338 WM). I mean CHS where I don't think there's an underlying problem (with the brass or too hot a load or a particularly flexible action type like a SMLE).

I think with annealing and light loads cases will almost last indefinitely.
Click to expand...
I find inconsistent H Space numbers as well as bullet seating force pressures if I don't anneal each time.
I feel annealing keeps it at a very brainless consistency.
 
#18
918v said:
Why is there blood on the wood in the background? And bullet holes.
Click to expand...
Well, that Barn was built back before dirt was invented. Some holes are knots and others were from when my Grandpa was really old but still had a wicked vendetta against Squirrels and was yet allowed free range of the scatter gun.
As for the red; Marines always say " Blood makes the grass grow"
Good times!
 
#21
Steel head said:
My last lot of 260 brass killed a few barrels.
Some died just before 40 loadings of primer pocket disease and finally I had a case head separation so I scrapped the rest at 40+ loadings.
I did have to recut the primer pocket once as material flow made the primer stand proud at about 25 loadings.

My current lot of 7 saum is on 19 loadings.

I anneal every 4-6th loading

They all shoot great till the primer pocket goes.
Click to expand...
@Steel head do you neck size or full length size? TIA
 
#24
I'm surprised no one has commented on the neck tension vs accuracy statement I made in the video.
The neck was cracked so badly that I could see inside the case below the seated bullet yet those first 4 fired rounds pulled a 1.5 something SD.

Thoughts.... Aside from; don't be firing cracked cases...??
 
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#27
SicVic said:
I'm surprised no one has commented on the neck tension vs accuracy statement I made in the video.
The neck was cracked so badly that I could see inside the case below the seated bullet yet those first 4 fired rounds pulled a 1.5 something SD.

Thoughts.... Aside from; don't be firing cracked cases...??
Click to expand...

If you’re jamming the bullet in the lands then neck tension isn’t all that important. Do you jam?
 
#28
918v said:
If you’re jamming the bullet in the lands then neck tension isn’t all that important. Do you jam?
Click to expand...
You're gonna love this.
So when I used 140 Elds I had it set to .0415" off of touching lands.
Ran out of those and just switched to Bergers. From there I just ran .0415" again.
That was the last time I measured anything again with the exception of the powder drop. That was 17 reloads ago.
This is what I find so amazing about this study I did.
I pretty much did all the stuff you shouldn't do and the results stayed dead nuts consistent. (Sd and group size)
That cracked case pressed 15 pounds lighter than the others and velocity was 3 fps from the average...all 4 times.

I'm not saying neck tension doesn't matter but it made me realize that it doesn't hold as much weight in my book as it did before I did this testing for the video.
Of course everyones results yield differently.
 
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#31
Steel head said:
My last lot of 260 brass killed a few barrels.
Some died just before 40 loadings of primer pocket disease and finally I had a case head separation so I scrapped the rest at 40+ loadings.
I did have to recut the primer pocket once as material flow made the primer stand proud at about 25 loadings.

My current lot of 7 saum is on 19 loadings.

I anneal every 4-6th loading

They all shoot great till the primer pocket goes.
Click to expand...
Struggling with the "sporadic" annealing. If you have the annealer, why not anneal after every firing? I have an AMP, so I can anneal about 100 cases in 20 minutes and have been annealing after every firing. Is there a reason "not" to do that? Is there an advantage to going a few firings without annealing, or is it for "time saving" only? Apologies if these are stupid questions.
 
#32
rustyinbend said:
Struggling with the "sporadic" annealing. If you have the annealer, why not anneal after every firing? I have an AMP, so I can anneal about 100 cases in 20 minutes and have been annealing after every firing. Is there a reason "not" to do that? Is there an advantage to going a few firings without annealing, or is it for "time saving" only? Apologies if these are stupid questions.
Click to expand...
He saves time where he can. He anneals only every handful of firings. He also necksizes a few times before body sizing.

I don’t mind wasting time so I do everything every time regardless.
 
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#33
spife7980 said:
He saves time where he can. He anneals only every handful of firings. He also necksizes a few times before body sizing.

I don’t mind wasting time so I do everything every time regardless.
Click to expand...
That's the "what" ... I was curious about the "why". Sounds like it's to "save time" ... and he'd anneal every time if he had more time. Is that generally correct? Just trying to learn.
 
#34
Hornady 6.5 PRC will begin to separate near the base after 11-12 reloads in my experience. After 10 you begin to see a shiny stress ring develop before the inevitable fracture of you keep pushing it.
 
#35
rustyinbend said:
That's the "what" ... I was curious about the "why". Sounds like it's to "save time" ... and he'd anneal every time if he had more time. Is that generally correct? Just trying to learn.
Click to expand...

The why is to avoid an extra unnecessary pain in the ass step. Necks do not have to be soft to produce accuracy or low ES.
 
#36
rustyinbend said:
That's the "what" ... I was curious about the "why". Sounds like it's to "save time" ... and he'd anneal every time if he had more time. Is that generally correct? Just trying to learn.
Click to expand...
I found with my reloading regimen I don’t need to anneal every time.
Why do something if it’s not needed?

I try to streamline things so they’re easy on me, my wallet and my time.
Reloading isn’t a hobby I’m really enthusiastic about dumping a bunch of extra time into.

I do enough to get the results I need and that’s it.
Hell, for my bolt guns I don’t even bother cleaning my brass unless it get muddy.
 
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