Brass Life: Times reloaded vs Accuracy

[SicVic]

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

 

[918v]

I reload until the case head lets go. I anneal the necks every 7 or so to prevent splits.

 

[Steel head]

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.

 

[alamo5000]

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.

 

[skl1]

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.

 

[DMP]

What about internal doughnuts?

 

[918v]

If you use a Lee collet neck die and don’t modify the brass you won’t get doughnuts.

 

[SicVic]

I reload until the case head lets go. I anneal the necks every 7 or so to prevent splits.

No case head issues but I did lose one to shoulder failure at #15.
I do turn necks to a point so they are thinner.
I'll anneal each firing.
Thanks for the reply!

 

[SicVic]

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.

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!

 

[SicVic]

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.

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.

 

[SicVic]

What about internal doughnuts?

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.

 

[SicVic]

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.

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.

 

[Nate60x]

Nice video, thanks for sharing.

 

[SicVic]

Aw

Nice video, thanks for sharing.

Awesome... Thanks for watching n posting!!

 

[918v]

Why is there blood on the wood in the background? And bullet holes.

 

[Nate60x]

Why is there blood on the wood in the background? And bullet holes.

Get to the country much? Looks like weathered barn paint to me, didnt see the bullet holes, probably knots. But if there are bullet holes someone probably shot the barn.

 

[918v]

Get to the country much? Looks like weathered barn paint to me, didnt see the bullet holes, probably knots. But if there are bullet holes someone probably shot the barn.

You must be a blast at parties.

 

[SicVic]

Why is there blood on the wood in the background? And bullet holes.

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!

 

[918v]

Lol. Ur awesom.

 

[SicVic]

Get to the country much? Looks like weathered barn paint to me, didnt see the bullet holes, probably knots. But if there are bullet holes someone probably shot the barn

Lol. Ur awesom.

Ha, Thx Man. Just saying like it is out here.

 

[XTREM HTR16]

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.

@Steel head do you neck size or full length size? TIA

 

[Steel head]

@Steel head do you neck size or full length size? TIA

Some of both.

 

[XTREM HTR16]

Some of both.

Cool. Starting on some 7 SAUM brass myself.

 

[SicVic]

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...??

 

[Sniperwannabee]

thanks for posting, im going to run my brass much longer now

 

[SicVic]

thanks for posting, im going to run my brass much longer now

Oh man... Don't forget about the part where I said don't do what I do.
In all fairness I've had brass that didn't even make it half that amount of reloads.
Thanks for watching n commenting.

 

[918v]

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...??

If you’re jamming the bullet in the lands then neck tension isn’t all that important. Do you jam?

 

[SicVic]

If you’re jamming the bullet in the lands then neck tension isn’t all that important. Do you jam?

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.

 

[elfster1234]

IMO it definitely helps to anneal brass. More longevity especially split necks, better neck tension, and more consistent headspace bumps. I personally use the EP 2.0 brass annealer to anneal my brass

https://www.epintegrations.com

 

[SicVic]

For my style of reloading Annealing is something I do each time.
I 100% agree with you as to the benefits it provides.
I use the AMP. (Annealing Made Perfect)

 

[rustyinbend]

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.

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.

 

[spife7980]

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.

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.

 

[rustyinbend]

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.

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.

 

[db2000]

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.

 

[918v]

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.

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.

 

[Steel head]

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.

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.