reusing brass

[FTRrookie]

How many times do you reload your brass? Do you use a specific number of times or do you use them until they show signs of stress? Here's why I'm asking. There's a calculator on realguns.com that allows you to input the number of times you plan to re-use the brass and it uses that in calculating your total costs. So in my case, reloading 45acp if I buy new brass at 500 for $84 and only use it 1 time I only save .02 over commercial. But if I up that to re-using it 5 times my savings are .15 per round or $15 per 100. Now I spent ~$1000 for my 550b and accessories and according to this calculator I will need to shoot 6667 rnds to break even. Which tells me, I need to shoot more and faster Now throw in another 6667 to cover the cost of the gun and by the time I've shot 13334 rnds I will have gotten both the gun and reloading equipment for free At least that's how I figure it.

 

[dzelenka]

For .45, you should be able to use it until you lose it. At least 10 times if you load to sane pressures. Like I said, you are more likely to lose cases than wear them out.

 

[sksshooter]

for pistol cases ive read about people reloading them as many as 20 times. the census seems though that most get around 15 reloads out of a case and it seems that most of the time by this point the mouth has been worked and starts to crack. it really depends on how hot you load and how you prep the brass as little bell on the mouth as possible to start a bullet and under max loads should get you pretty good life out of a case. ive also read some people that keep their brass in batches and if some of them start to crack they throw the whole batch out others just cull them as they fail. for the quantity that i shoot and the lack of expierence i plan to keep them as a batch and as soon as i see failures i will toss the whole batch out.

edit to add that dan has more first hand knowledge than me i only know what i have read on other reloading forums. also above may not hold true for all pistol stuff mainly talking 9mm, 45acp as from what i understand 40 brass is worked pretty well each time it is reloaded and may not last nearly as long.

 

[sksshooter]

this is a forum that i have been reading a decent amount there is a wealth of info here with many reloaders with 20-30 yrs experience and they all press safety to the newer reloaders. there is also a bunch of wildcatting info some of these guys have created some pretty awsome stuff. www.accuratereloading.com

 

[FTRrookie]

Loss is the reason I estimated only 5 uses. I don't load "Hot" I load more for plinking and accuracy while staying just about major PF. Which isn't a problem with 45acp and 230 gr projectiles.

 

[smith625]

I load them till they split and then discard.

 

[Storm52]

New brass, I expect to get 8-10 loads on them. I've had some go for 15 times and others less than 5. I never included initial cost of equipment to amoritize reloading costs. Reloading isn't for everyone, even shooting sport enthusiast. You have to be able to dedicate the time, which is a real cost ingredient.

 

[dzelenka]

I never amortize equipment either because it has a good resale market.

Dan

 

[nickatnite]

I load them till they split and then discard.

^^^^^^ This works best...

The only thing I do after the match when I come home is put all of my brass in my tumbler, clean them and then as I'm re-loading, check them before they go in the press. If something doesn't look right, toss it. Other than that, re-use them until you loose them!

 

[BUSTER48]

I load them till they split and then discard.

^^^^^^^
This.

 

[bayoupirate]

I load them till they split and then discard.

Me too

 

[tactical723]

For my .38 spl cases that I use for cowboy action shooting where we shoot very low pressures, I shoot them until I notice cracks, (15 to 20 reloads) as we rearely loose the cases, on my 9mm , I generally get about 10 reloads out of them

 

[dmiculek]

I load them till they split and then discard.

And then load them a few more times.

 

[kz45]

I load them till they split and then discard.

Same here

 

[BayouDeputy]

I have to agree with what everyone is saying.... I usually get around 10 reloads from my brass. That is loading 180 gr projectiles for my 40 S&W, with pressures that keep my just above Major PF. If you were to take a handful of cases and shake them in your hand you will be able to tell real quick if there is a shell that is cracked. It will give of a sound that sound completely different from what you are used to hearing.

 

[bayoupirate]

So Donnie,

If you had a loaded round that you realized had a crack in sidewall of the brass case, you would shoot it?

 

[dmiculek]

Absolutely, have done so many many times. I would not trust it to feed in a match. But for practice, let it rip.

High pressure stuff like centerfire rifle, it gets trashed immediately.

 

[scubasteve]

I load them till they split and then discard.

yup.

 

[Pale Horse]

I bought a mixed bag of range pickup .45acp brass a few years back. It included some 1918 production USGI and British Royal Army 1942, along with a mix of stuff from the 60's and 70's. I got at least 20 reloads out of it before I gave it away after selling my 1911.

That said, I do think that with lower pressure rounds like the .38 Special and .45 ACP, the brass does last longer than higher pressure rounds like the 9mm and .40 S&W.

 

[Leadslugga]

I load a lot of 9mm, and I really have no idea how many loads I get out of them. I usually leave the range with more 9mm brass then I went with, just by sweeping up around my feet. Sometimes I end up just leaving all my brass when I have enough stocked up already, so each one probably only gets loaded by me a few times at most.

For revolvers, since I keep all my brass, I just load until they crack. That being said, I think I have had one .38 case crack on me in the thousands of rounds I have loaded. Get a few hundred cases together (range pick up, buying brass, etc), and you will be hard pressed to load and shoot enough to see a lot of case failures.