Brass Accuracy After Number of Firings

[Danale147]

Has anyone experienced a drop in Accuracy from brass that has a higher number of loadings on it.
I have a set of 100 pcs, have been cared for well, annealed, trimmed and all the proper prep every time. Annealed every two or three firings. It's on about it's 15th run now and I'm trying to rule out issues or decide if I need to invest in some new stuff right away or wait till I have to.
Starline SP 6.5cm

 

[kingston]

How are you annealing?

 

[Danale147]

I do it by hand with a torch and brass in a dish of water to protect the case heads. Haven't been able to splurge on a full blown annealer yet

 

[kingston]

I’d be looking at your annealing process.

 

[RegionRat]

When your primer pockets let go, the cases are not viable. The necks can go a long way, but if you are on 15X you should consider new cases.
That is about where I retired silhouette cases that were still doing fine in terms of accuracy, but primer pockets were starting to get too loose to consider maintaining them as a batch. Your own definition of case life determines the answer for you, but you certainly shouldn’t risk erosion to the bolt face from loose primers.

 

[Danale147]

Agreed. I'm leaning towards just getting some new stuff at this point. I did pick up a primer pocket go gauge from Brownells and so far they all check out, but some are getting closer to falling out.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Stop annealing and trash the brass when it crashes.

 

[Dev L]

A simple Annealeaze will pay for itself in saved time several times over. Plus it will result in much more consistent annealing of the brass. Just accept the fact you will loose a piece of brass every time you set it up for a new caliber. I still find my best accuracy is firings 2-3 but at least I know its not my annealing that is the issue and firings 4+ are all consistent.

 

[Milo 2.5]

I'd be asking myself, how many accurate rds does this barrel have left, could brass and barrel life time out together. Is my chamber in spec enough to transfer the new brass if I buy to another chamber.
There is no way in hell I'd introduce new brass to a barrel with 3/4 of it's life used up. Of coarse we are different, but if you had bought 200 pcs of brass, now you'd be trying get 11 or 12 firings from it and when the barrel is done all could go in the recycle bin.
ALso, if your anneal method is working, you do not need an annealeze, if you are going to drop coin, get a double torch system or induction machine.

 

[Steel head]

I have brass with 30+ firings on it that’s shooting excellent.

I’d first look at your annealing process.

Some things I’ve found with higher round count brass.

The primer pockets often need to be cut deeper as brass flows in over time.

Necks can get wonky-I skim cut them and things got a bit better.

 

[Danale147]

I know the barrel is good, I changed it out roughly 500 rounds back.

I ordered a new set of brass today.

The next thing to work out or eliminate is the shooter himself. I haven't been at my best and need to get back to basics more lately. But I don't want bad brass making it worse and potentially reenforcing bad habits