How many loads out of a 260 Rem. R-P case?

[Ledzep]

Any bets?

I'll have the results tomorrow evening assuming it's less than 26. I have 25x powder charges of 42.3gr H4350 in fired & cleaned cases with a 140 Amax slip-fit backwards in the case. I will pull the bullet, pour the powder into the correctly loaded case pictured above, load the bullet, fire, rinse/repeat until failure.

Going to anneal the neck every 5 firings. Die is set to minimally bump the shoulder, .290" bushing for the neck. No expander ball.

I'm going to call the following "failure":

1) Cracked neck
2) Primer falls out
3) about to or does head-separate (Really hope this isn't the one)
4) other, unforeseen dangerous situation

Stay tuned

Edit: Should I shoot them all onto the same target, or do a new dot for each shot? Going to be ~200yd unless there's no wind, then I might go 300.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Tag


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[pyrofx]

6 and primer falls out
greg

 

[longrangefool]

tag

tag

 

[Javelin]

 

[dauntedfuture]

I think that your primers are going to fall out before the necks start to fail. I'm anxious to see what happens.

 

[Nate O.]

I got eight from mine before the necks started splitting and I didn't anneal. Primer pockets stayed tight.
Interested to see how yours do.

 

[seanhagerty]

With annealing like you are, i bet the failure point will be the primer pocket.

I am betting in excess of 10 loadings before primer pocket failure, unless you are overworking the shoulder. If that's the case, you will see pending head separation earlier, depending on the amount you are working the neck.

I am anxious to see these results as well.

Sean

 

[Steel head]

Looking forward to the results.

Good to see another Lee hand press!

 

[jrpilot]

tag

 

[morganlamprecht]

i got to 5 on mine with no failures, pockets still plenty tight, FL sizing every time, no annealing, 44 grains of H4350 under a 139/140...never saw a failure cause i quit shooting 260

 

[SPEAK338]

Tag

 

[supercorndogs]

depends on the pressure if it is on the high end your primer pockets will go if it is on the low end it will probably never fail

 

[George Az]

interesting. Tagged.

 

[Steel head]

depends on the pressure if it is on the high end your primer pockets will go if it is on the low end it will probably never fail

I haven't used Rem 260 cases so I don't know the average volume but in necked up Win 243 cases that's a mild to medium charge.

 

[supercorndogs]

I haven't used Rem 260 cases so I don't know the average volume but in necked up Win 243 cases that's a mild to medium charge.

i doubt that it is mild pressure wise because hodgdon shows 43g as max charge. it is with a 140 nosler partition though. so it is possible that it is. ejector swipes and sticky bolt handles show pressure exceeding sami max. the only way to gauge pressure without fancy equipment is a chronograph. pressure = velocity. if it is shooting considerably faster than the reloading manual said it should out of the same barrel length you are making more pressure than they were. it could have mild powder charge and jam the bullet into the lands and make it a high pressure load too. this is more a pressure test than a brass test.

pushing shoulder back too far= case head separation cure=bump shoulder properly
cracked neck=brass got to hard cure=anneal
loose primers=brass flow from pressure cure=less powder or seat bullet away from lands

 

[Ledzep]

54 deg. F, drizzling, and 10-15mph winds, beautiful

Here's the setup. 200yd, shooting the top "shoot N see" target, chrono about 12 ft infront of the muzzle.

Round by round (22" bartlein 5R, 1:8 twist),

1. 2732
2. 2721
3. 2749
4. 2737
5. 2704 *hits noticeably lower than others even from 200yd. First annealing done at this point
6. 2737
7. 2732
8. 2748 Noticeably easier to seat primer than when it was new, still solid resistance, just lighter
9. 2726
10. 2726 Annealed again
11. 2754
12. 2737 After firing I notice a ring 3/4 the way around the body (see picture)
13. 2760 high impact, at least partially my fault
14. 2757 Closing the bolt requires more than normal force
15. 2737 Bolt still closing hard. Case is annealed for the 3rd time
16. 2743 Bolt closes normally (questioning the quality of my 2nd annealing). Ring on body splits, thankfully not entirely. Case ejects normally, no damage to the chamber. Ejector swipe on the case head (first and only).

Avg: 2738
ES: 56
SD: 14.8

After 12th firing. Normally this is where the red flag goes up and I trash it, but curiosity got the better of me.

And 4 shots later, the split.

The target. I believe the rings are 1" thick. Most of them I couldn't see where they hit after 4-5 rounds, just the ones that landed on the outer fringes. I did nothing to correct for the wind. 10ish mph with gusts up to 15 coming from 7 oclock.

I bought 500 cases thinking they would last about 1 barrel. I think I'll get a bit more use than that out of them. Mostly I'm just really really fucking happy that the case didn't completely split in half in my chamber I also question how rigid the LEE hand-press is, and how consistent it is about bumping the shoulder (I think not very). At least I know I can bank on 10 loads at minimum. I was kind of surprised that the velocity data was quite a bit worse than normal. I figured using 1 case would give more consistent results. Usually ES is around 20-30fps, and SD right around 10.

 

[SkyScrapin]

How many loads out of a 260 Rem. R-P case?

How were you cleaning the brass? Did you just clean the outside neck area?


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[Ledzep]

Not much. I wiped carbon away with my shirt, then when it got caked on I took a super-fine file out of my tool bag and kicked off the little deposits. Normally I tumble and scrape out the primer pocket.

I also forgot to mention, I trimmed the case every 5 firings along with the annealing treatment.

 

[Steel head]

Interesting.
Those are some decent speeds for a 22" barrel.

 

[NCKan]

I did the same type test with Winchester brand .243 brass, in a .243 Ackley. I took five cases and loaded them over and over. I think my load was 47.5 grns of H-1000. I full length sized after every shot but never annealed the necks. I was using Fed GM match primers. After 25 loadings the primer pockets were still good and I had zero split necks. It was tight chambered and the dies matched perfectly. Compare this to my 260 Ackley with Remington brass, after 3-4 reloads the primers pockets are done. For the 260 AI I'm using the same primers with 45 grains of H-4350 @ 2950fps. w/140's.
I'd love to try some Winchester 7mm-08 brass necked down for the 260. I've heard it will last almost as long as Lapua brass.

I'd say if you were loading on a regular press and/or checking the shoulder bump constantly then the load count would be much higher. I would have thought the primer pockets would have gone first. Good test.

JSS