how many times to reload pistol brass

[chaos]

I've been rekloading for a pretty lengthy amount of time. i've not loaded up too many powder puff rounds in 44 mag cases before. I'm loading pretty light as my kids have grown to like shooting my 44's. I loaded this particular brass 7 times. I normally toss my 45acp brass when it starts to crack. Should I keep going with this 44 brass or toss it? It's been trimmed once. Remmy brass, which is the last of my stash..... will tap into my starline stash next

[targetshootr]

Keep going till it cracks. And if you're cheap like me cracks won't even stop you. I don't recommend it, just saying....

[Down South]

Till it cracks.

[runfiverun]

what's a crack ?
i usually shoot em untill they are the same length as my 44 mag cases.

[timkelley]

targetshootr +1.

[beagle]

Shoot them until they crack or the primer pockets start loosening. That usually happens with 9mm stuff and not .44 Mag. I have several boxes of IMI .44 Mag that I'll bet have been reloaded 20 times. .44 Mag brass is good stuff./beagle

[trickyasafox]

you guys still get good neck tension after a split? I never even tried- I may now though

[Poygan]

I'm trying to be more consistent lately. For revolver brass, generally I reload it until I get cracks in the necks. The consistent part is to try to keep the same batch of brass together so that I don't have some reloaded five times mixed with others that have been reloaded much more or less. I notice the amount of pressure it takes to flair the necks and also the pressure it takes to seat primers. The brass that has these characteristics is designated for moderate or light loads.

"Tis a different story for auto loader brass, especially high pressure stuff like 9mm. I believe the work hardening that occurs with repeated sizings reduces the grip on the boolit and lends to more frequent telescoping of the boolit during the chambering cycle. Tapered case probably adds to this happening. Not as much an issue for .45 acp.

[DLCTEX]

With nickeled 38 brass I lost 2 cases of 100 on the first firing. One split the side, the other the neck. on the fourth firing I lost one more to a neck split. I just reloaded for the 5th time with a heavier boolit and hotter load. If I had tossed them after the first splits, it would have been a waste. My 45 brass just keeps on going. I've never worried about how many times they're loaded, and the only losses are to crunching them while reloading(plus those that hide when shooting). DALE

[chaos]

what's a crack ?
i usually shoot em untill they are the same length as my 44 mag cases.

These are 44 mag cases. Im Loading up relatively hot 44 special loads in them. Some get run through a marlin 1894 and the rest through Super blackhawks. These loads in a superblackhawk are much like shooting a light 45 acp round. i guess the weight of the gun has a bit to do with that. I've NEVER trimmed any handgun brass before, but my first couple of loading with this set of brass was "Balls to the wall" and it had stretrched a bit when resizing.

[runfiverun]

you'll know when your crimps are all over the place.

btw to keep them separate load all of them shoot all of them then load all of them then shoot all of them
and any new you buy put in a separate box untill this batch is done for.

[Tom Herman]

Hi Chaos!

Run the brass until the individual cases crack, then cull the cracked ones out!
I've run some .45 ACP through the mill over a dozen times. I don't throw anything out until the cases split or otherwise become unserviceable.
I don't push anything too hard, I figure midrange loads will keep the brass going just about forever, as well as being easier on my guns and hands.
Good Luck!

-Tom



I've been rekloading for a pretty lengthy amount of time. i've not loaded up too many powder puff rounds in 44 mag cases before. I'm loading pretty light as my kids have grown to like shooting my 44's. I loaded this particular brass 7 times. I normally toss my 45acp brass when it starts to crack. Should I keep going with this 44 brass or toss it? It's been trimmed once. Remmy brass, which is the last of my stash..... will tap into my starline stash next

[Dale53]

Actual machine rest tests show that brass that cracks when shot throw a wild shot.

I shoot until they die (crack). I do NOT shoot cracked brass.

I no longer engage in competitive pistol. However, If I did I would reserve a set of cases JUST for competition. You cannot afford a wild shot when competing. The same would follow if I were using reloads for defensive use.

Dale53

[klw]

I've been rekloading for a pretty lengthy amount of time. i've not loaded up too many powder puff rounds in 44 mag cases before. I'm loading pretty light as my kids have grown to like shooting my 44's. I loaded this particular brass 7 times. I normally toss my 45acp brass when it starts to crack. Should I keep going with this 44 brass or toss it? It's been trimmed once. Remmy brass, which is the last of my stash..... will tap into my starline stash next

I started out with 2100 pieces of 44 magnum brass. 19 reloads later I'm got to 1426. So I've lost about one third in 19 reloads.

I've reloaded my 500 brass about 20 times. Have had to pitch very few cases.

The fastest dying pistol cases seem to be my 357 brass. I've lost about a quarter of them in 14 reloads.

Straightwalled rifle cases seem to do better. Lost almost none of my 45-90 cases in 35 reloads. Bottlenecked rifle cases seem to be about half gone in 15 reloads.

I pitch brass when it cracks badly.

[mike in co]

splits...cracks ??...... what's that ??

i hate to be rude, but if you have lost 1/3 of your brass to cracks in 5-10 reloads..you do not know how to reload, specifically how to open the case mouth. cracking is typically the results of work hardening, quicker with nickle plated as it tends to embrittle brass. the work hardening comes from constantly opening and closeing the mouth of the brass...too much. it expands when you fire it, it closes when you size it, it opens again when you bell the case mouth for bullet insertion. this is the step that is killing you. you then close the brass with a roll or tapper crimp die. flexing it open and close in excess will work harden and kill the brass quickly.
most "belling" dies have the ability to ruin brass quickly, and if you did not trim all your brass to one length you just compounded the problem. if you open the case mouth more than .001 you are hurting the life of the brass. if you did not trim to length....the long ones are dieing a quick death, cause you turned the die down to make sure you belled all the short ones.

change to a lyman m die and throw out your expanders if you cannot control your process better.

for the record 9mm is max 35kpsi, 44 mag is 36kpsi, and i shot 9x21 for years in ipsc matches long after it wasn't legal. i shot one lot of brass for years,one match a week, plus practice. i lost two cases to splits. this was a 135 gr bullet doing 1300 fps....or aprox 42kpsi.....two splits in 7 years!
if you are splitting brass at lower pressures.....you need to look at what you are doing. your process sucks.
i have 45acp prass in use from 1917, i have a friend who is shooting his dad's pre WWII brass and has over 50 loads on some of it.

and yes i have seen guys in ipsc shoot cracked 45 acp cases...."cause it wasn't split all the way"...lol.....

look at your process.....
i load for 32 auto, 380 auto, 9 mak, 9 mm, 9x21, 40 s&w, 45 acp, 32 s&w, 38 s&w, 38 spcl, 357 mag, 44 mag......and then there is rifle....

on the other hand....your process does keep me employeed.

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY

[HeavyMetal]

Shoot it till it cracks then save it for the recycler! Even cracked brass is worth money!

Cracked brass won't shoot right so don't try!

I have 45 brass in use from back in the early 70's and case prep is everything.

Nickled case's go faster particularly in 45 and 38 special. Think it's the thinner case's?

[targetshootr]

I think nickel is just more brittle.

[44man]

Loading for the .44 since 1956, I don't ever remember cracking one. When I get to about 40 reloads I load them a final time and give them to friends that don't load to shoot up.
I have had a few .475 cases split at the first reload and then I get no more. I attribute that to a bad anneal during production for a few cases.
All of my loads are hot so I don't think the pressure effects splitting too much. It seems as if the smaller cases like the nine will just split easier. Might be how they are made too, I don't know. Might be more brittle to start with.

[lathesmith]

I have a batch of 38 special mixed brass that I bought in the early '80's that I am still working on. Some of these have been reloaded probably 10-15 times, maybe more. I have noticed as this brass ages that the neck tension is starting to get more inconsistent--some are snug, some are kinda loose. There have been the usual few-odd splits here and there, but the neck tension is the first thing I have really noticed to make me think this brass is showing its age. Of course, this is several brands mixed together, and I am sure this causes some of the variance. This brass is long-since "free" to me though, I only paid a few cents apiece(if that much), so I am not complaining much. Heck, some of it had probably been reloaded several times before I got it--it was from a police range, and like everything else, was dubbed "once fired". YMMV.
lathesmith