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pistol brass, loaded how many times?

4K views 15 replies 15 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·
How many times can you reload pistol brass and be safe?
 
#2 ·
Until it cracks. There is no set number of time you can load a piece of brass. You just have to inspect them each time to make sure that are still safe to load.

I have some brass that I have been using for 30 years, I won't sit here and say that I have reloaded them dozens of times cause that wouldn't be true, but there is no telling how many times I have loaded them cause I don't keep records.
 
#3 ·
most are pretty low pressure and will last many many reloads.

I also load them until they crack/split or show any signs of splits. .45 ACP seems to last forever... Been loading the same 5000 cases of 45 for 15+ years with very few case failures.
 
#6 ·
Like said above, until you start to see splits in the case mouth but odds are good that you'll lose them before that happens unless you're shooting a wheel gun.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Average or light charge....
many,many times....

Heavy loads with more stress,
still lots of times.

Several factors will determine the life.
Even additives to tumbling media can
shorten the brass' life.

Tumble them, inspect them....
No stress or cracks, load em up.
 
#9 ·
I usually lose them before I break them. I have had some crack at the case mouth, and they get scrapped, but very tiny cracks. I'm just particular - life is too short to shoot bad brass. ;)
i go over my brass, especially rifle... with a fine tooth comb. That gun chamber is way too close to my face for any chance of having bad brass.

I went thru my 222 cache the other day and bet i tossed ? 50-60 cartridges out of a maybee 300 or so. some had marks at the neck or mouth i wasn't happy with.. some actually had a seperation or tear in resizing.. or the start of a fissue could be seen forming. the ones with the minor marks I might got another laod out of.. but as you said.. just no reason to load questionable cases. I got plenty of brass to try to chance it on an iffy one. I must have tossed 15 alone that had case dents I didn't like..
 
#11 ·
+1 to all the above posts, however if it is nickle plated about 3 times before splits occur.
 
#12 ·
FWIW; I bought 1k .38 Special once fired cases back in '87, and have no idea how many times some have been reloaded (I would guess a minimum of 15 times and prolly a lot more). I have some nickle plated brass that I've reloaded so many times the brass is showing through the nickle plating...
 
#15 ·
pistol brass, loaded how many times? My question exactly; 99% of all my loads are right about middle of the load data and I can't even remember the last time I had a case failure in pistol calibers. I have tossed a couple cases before loading, mostly in .38/357 with small mouth cracks.
I've had some nickel cases that I've had to have reloaded at least a dozen times. Nickel plated cases will definitely give out quicker at higher charge levels. I've shot a ton of .327Federal nickel cases, since the 85gn HydraShoks were about the only thing available for awhile. I bought 200 rounds and then used those for my reloads. Glad they have the AE available now, I've got approx 240 nickel cases and 400 brass now. I have yet to scrap a .327 case due to failure, only due to my own boo-boos.
 
#16 ·
load em til they fail.
hard to beat that advice.

I very carefully look over and inspect all my brass after cleaning.. anything questinable goes into my recycle box.

occasionally i will get one that i will decide to only relaoding one last time then discard.. sometiems due to wear in the rebated rim so i don't get ejection problems.. on thos i'll take magic marger tot he bases to id them as 'retire' etc... next time I pick up a batch.. etc..
 
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