Realistically how much brass are you carrying? I am currently loading 338 lm 6:5 cm and .308. How much brass for each?
How much brass
- Thread starter Wildfire1550
- Start date
200-250 in circulation for smaller cases (I fire more per outing). For my 300 I tend to shoot it less per outing, so have about 100.
EDIT: I have a lot more virgin ready to cycle in.
All of it
Just kidding, partially. I have probably 350-400 6.5 Creedmoor (mostly Prime and Hornady), 200-ish 7mm RemMag, unknown thousands of 223, 9, and 45.
I keep about 200 in circulation for my .308 win. And usually about 150 for my Win Mag.
I did however load up 200 Win Mags for a planned trip to a proper long range shooting range, but then Corona came along...so...
I did however load up 200 Win Mags for a planned trip to a proper long range shooting range, but then Corona came along...so...
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I have at least 100 ready to load cases for match grade 260, 308, 6mmAR, and 223. Then 2-3x that in need of processing (various stages, being stuck at home, it's getting processed just out of boredom...).
Plinking ammo/non-precision cases? At least a thousand 223, 300-400x 308, 500-600x 300BO, and 200-300x 6mmAR. The 260 is easy enough to neck down from the 308, so I don't keep too much of that around.
Really depends on what you plan on doing with each caliber. Like the other guys have said, for deer hunting, I could do with 20 cases total (probably last me 3-4 years... 1-2 sighters, and 2-3 meant for the harvest each year).
For matches, I want at least 100 rounds loaded, another 100 ready to load, and another 1-2 hundred for circulation. We don't have prairie dogs here, so no help with that. Just for plinking/security, I have a pile of store bought ammo, and a pile of reloads, into the thousands.
Unless you never buy new cases/store bought ammo, your brass stockpile should increase over time. Even culling out the stretched out cases, my pile keeps growing (gotten more and more picky over time... if it ain't perfect, chuck it). If your buddies don't save their brass, there's another source. I don't even trim 223 anymore, as there's more than enough (5 gal buckets worth) at the range to grab a couple handfuls and chuck (scrap) any that need trimming, and reload the ones that are in spec.
Plinking ammo/non-precision cases? At least a thousand 223, 300-400x 308, 500-600x 300BO, and 200-300x 6mmAR. The 260 is easy enough to neck down from the 308, so I don't keep too much of that around.
Really depends on what you plan on doing with each caliber. Like the other guys have said, for deer hunting, I could do with 20 cases total (probably last me 3-4 years... 1-2 sighters, and 2-3 meant for the harvest each year).
For matches, I want at least 100 rounds loaded, another 100 ready to load, and another 1-2 hundred for circulation. We don't have prairie dogs here, so no help with that. Just for plinking/security, I have a pile of store bought ammo, and a pile of reloads, into the thousands.
Unless you never buy new cases/store bought ammo, your brass stockpile should increase over time. Even culling out the stretched out cases, my pile keeps growing (gotten more and more picky over time... if it ain't perfect, chuck it). If your buddies don't save their brass, there's another source. I don't even trim 223 anymore, as there's more than enough (5 gal buckets worth) at the range to grab a couple handfuls and chuck (scrap) any that need trimming, and reload the ones that are in spec.
It all depends on your use case and how much you practice. No matter what, take lots of notes. I keep an extremely detailed spreadsheet of all of my brass for a particular barrel. Even if I buy a 500 piece lot, I separate it out into 100 or 50 piece sub lots for the sake of record keeping. Example:
If you are just hunting, I'd buy a 50 pc lot. That's plenty to work up a load and then practice & hunt for several years.
If you just plink around at the range, a 100 pc lot is probably fine. I rarely shoot more than 50 rounds of 308 in one practice session.
If you are competing in 1 day matches, 200 pieces is about right. 100 pieces are designated as match brass, 50 pieces as practice brass, and then 50 pieces of extra for load dev and replacing lost brass.
If you plan to run 2 day matches, 250 or 300 pieces would work with the same strategy as above.
If you are just hunting, I'd buy a 50 pc lot. That's plenty to work up a load and then practice & hunt for several years.
If you just plink around at the range, a 100 pc lot is probably fine. I rarely shoot more than 50 rounds of 308 in one practice session.
If you are competing in 1 day matches, 200 pieces is about right. 100 pieces are designated as match brass, 50 pieces as practice brass, and then 50 pieces of extra for load dev and replacing lost brass.
If you plan to run 2 day matches, 250 or 300 pieces would work with the same strategy as above.
Are you asking about total brass per caliber? I think PRS shooters get more then say F Class or BR because in PRS you are likely to lose some brass over time. It also depends on the types of matches you go to. I only shoot local F Class matches so I need 66 rounds. 200 pieces of brass total allows me to load up 100 rounds at a time and gives me a few rounds for practice/extra. I wouldn't want to load up 100 rounds, use 70 of them and then have mismatched # of firings for the next match so those 30 leftover is practice. But someone going to nationals or big matches shooting midrange/longrange/team etc will buy a larger lot of brass.
If you are asking how much I bring to the range, usually 100 loaded rounds of each cartridge I plan on shooting.
I strive for 500 min in each caliber. This is because I like to reload 400+ at a time. I hate setting up (even single stage) and brass prepping for 100 or 200 rounds. Calibers I shoot more often I try to have 1500 brass for. (223, 22-250, 6.5 creed) This way when I go to reload I can do 1000 at a time. Just my 2 cents.
Also note - I don't have expensive top shelf brass so its easier to have more.
Also note - I don't have expensive top shelf brass so its easier to have more.
I start with 400-500 brass with a new barrel for my .260. I am typically getting in excess of 3000-3500 rounds before replacing and in that time, due to lost brass attrition, I’ll end up with maybe 250-260 brass left. In my opinion, that’s on the edge of not being enough for a two-day match with practice up.
How dare you curse those words! You can never have too much. I think most of these answeres were set as a minimum number of brass wanted. More is always brtter.
300 (give or take one or two lost during a range session) for each of my 6, 6.5 and 308. Thats about all the patience I have during processing. I cringe at those that process 500+ during a sitting, but power to them.
9mm and 223 I buy factory cuz I shoot it too fast.
9mm and 223 I buy factory cuz I shoot it too fast.
500 at a bare minimum. i am more comfortable with 1000-1500. i dont even sit down at the press unless i am doing 400 or more.
I have 300 for my match rifle, I generally have 100 for my casual shooters and 50 for my hunting rifle.
No such thing as too much brass, booltiz, powdah!!!! I too have dies, bullets, cases, and some ammo for calibers I don't currently own/shoot. However.... In this case more IS better because...... the current situation we're all in for example.
