How many times do you reload your brass?

[RogerDat]

You said 25 or 26 grains of powder, I load 24.5 grains Varget and the primers don't show pressure signs and get good cycling. I don't really know, I do record number of times fired for rifle but for 5.56 and .223 that is in bulk as in another 1,000 cases are prepped for second time firing. And since I have a lot of them I just keep prepping 1x to swage primer pocket, trim and then load the 1x stuff. Bolt action I bought neck sizing dies, and wheel guns I throw out what looks ready to fail or did fail.

Hope to get a decent annealing set up before I get all the way through the 5 gallon buckets of 5.56/223 brass

[rking22]

To answer the post, tI'll I start seeing cracks or lose it. Now the only primer pocket loosening I've experienced were in 22 hornet with 55 gr bullets and 296, too hot. Not a lot of loading with 223 but I would double check that load, LC brass has less capacity than Comercial and your loads may be a bit stiff. If I experience primer pocket growth I consider that a pressure warning sign.

[DHDeal]

Not trying to be critical, but blowing primers from their pockets is a symptom of something else. You state you are not over pressure, but your primer/brass relationship is headed for a divorce. I don't know your experience level, but if you just load for 2 rifle calibers means you haven't been at it for a long time. Also, the 2 calibers you mentioned probably means they're AR's. The gun and especially the brass tells you when you are over pressure, not a reloading manual.

Don't take my paragraph as a sarcastic retort, because it's not. You can trash a primer pocket in one very stout load, but what I'm referring to is enlarging the primer pocket (holds the primer loosely), not the primer being decapped by the reload. You know what I'm talking about. Come off those loads and your brass life will improve. As you are already aware, AR's are rough on brass. I can beg and plead a 6.5 Grendel to 8-10 reloads per piece, but it is Lapua brass so I have a reason to beg and plead. A 223, or 5.56 if you prefer, goes 5-6 and I start watching them closely.

The way I do it for AR's is I only put a certain number of pieces into rotation at a time. They stay together until I notice issues and it all goes. For bolt actions, I only use Lapua and in some calibers I can wear a barrel out with the same 100 pieces. Annealed every other firing and by not pushing the envelope makes this happen. Other brands of brass typically won't last as long.

I do not load for close range or plinking. I build every rifle to go to the 600 yard line, so I also don't load light loads. I just load for accuracy and that rarely is at the top of the envelope so to speak.

As for handguns, what everybody else said. Again, I'm not trying to be critical of your experience or abilities, just throwing out some hard won experience of my own out there.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Bolt guns I keep ammo separate per gun, use slower powders & heavier bullets, check for head separations every couple reloads, & recycle on neck cracks. Handguns I just reload one stack of brass for each caliber. I tend to get "many" hulls {3k for one varmint rifle, should last me a year anyways!} so that I can do a fair bit of shooting between reloading sessions, when helping teach a self defense class we were shooting ~1000 handgun rounds every weekend & I didn't have a progressive press yet, so ALL my spare time was spent reloading every couple weeks, fixed that soon enough. Handgun brass is "fire till a defect", neck crack or someone stepping on it & mashing it usually.

[sandman228]

Just curios and nothing more but do you clean your brass? and if so , only 50 at a time? I full length size everything because I have multiple guns in each caliber, My tumbler will do a gallon of brass easy at on time. Have never heard of keeping count in the box. Please don't take my question wrong, it is in earnest.

I also own multiples of same caliber 4_357's. 3_45 lc. 4_ 9mm so on so on . I tumble my brass whatever I shoot I throe in all at once .when I shoot multiple boxes of same caliber I usually make sure I don't take2 with same headstamp and separate by headstamp when they come out of tumbler . if I do shoot multiple boxes of same headstamp i' ll deprime 1 box before tumbling I also full length size.as for keeping count my father in-law found some reloading labels online he gave me a few I just keep making copy's of them, they have caliber,date, bullet,charge,times loaded,primer type.I fill one out and tape it on underside of lid with clear packing tape every reload

[jimb16]

How you load and how you treat your brass make all the difference. I tend to load on the lighter side. I have some .30-06 brass that I have no idea how many times it has been reloaded, but it is dated 43 and 44. I load light, anneal every 3 shots and trim as needed. But with the .223, after 6 loads, it is ready for the recycle bin.

[tazman]

When loading for an AR you have a different set of problems than loading for a bolt rifle. The ammunition must function first and foremost. The stresses on the brass are different in a semi-auto. They are harder on the brass. That's why the cases don't last as long.
In a bolt gun, things are more confined and the brass can last longer. The preparation can be less stressful on the brass for a bolt gun( not needed to full length resize as often).

[lightman]

I load it until the primer pocket gets loose or I start getting case splits. I keep up with the number of times fired and record this on the ammo box along with the load data. I restrict my hunting, defense or match ammo to 2 or 3 firings except for my bench rest stuff. Tightly fitted necks, neck sized only will last a long time.

[country gent]

Loading for a semi auto or bolt gun ( levers and pumps may also have an affect on brass due to some issues). The M1A/M14 is hard on 308 7.62 brass. Ive seen commercial and lapua heads pulled out of square with them. ARs are also hard on 223 556 brass. The semis have pretty violent extraction. Bolt actions lock up solid and are easier on brass. Chamber dimensions of the actual chamber, finish of the chamber, Load intensity, brass care and prep, all have an effect on brass life.
Ive had 308s I got 8-9 loading from maintaining accuracy levels. With light cast boolits loads most cases should last forever. The old rule of thumb was trim to square when new then after 4th trim discard. Primer pockets can loosen from pressure or the repeated seating of primers can also wear them out. High pressure loads shorten case life.

[Hannibal]

There are too many variables to give just one answer to the OPs question.

I can say I have reloaded some .308 LC brass that was reformed to .260 Rem in excess of 20x with stiff loads before signs of impending case head seperation appeared and the batch was scrapped. So I can attest to 20 reloadings as a possibility.

[trails4u]

I ran into a small mountain of Armscor 223/5.56 brass many years ago.... Wasn't familiar with it, so started asking questions. Answers were consistently.....trash it, it's junk. Well...challenge accepted. I did a bunch of testing on this brass.... Case capacity, primer pockets, chrono, etc, etc.... And, also did a very un-scientific test on brass life. 26.5g of Varget under a 55gr hornady, for a test lot of 20 cases. Trimmed and prepped before the first loading and then just abused. No more trimming....no cleaning primer pockets....just the basics. Quick cleaning...deprimed, and then loaded and fired again. I stopped at 11 loadings when I got my very first, very faint neck crack. Never pushed it to complete failure....as my point was to simply evaluate the usefulness of the Armscor brass. I still have many thousands of them....and still enjoy them..

[David2011]

Low pressure pistol brass like .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .38 and .44 special last just about forever unless nickel plated. High pressure pistol brass like .40 will crack eventually but nothing bad happens when .40 brass splits but that's when I know to scrap it.

When it comes to rifles I haven't run any of my brass through enough times to experience failures but I have lots of brass for each caliber. I practice 60-80 rounds a year with my hunting rifle, mostly plink with my AR (5000 cases in reserve) and taking the Garand to the range is kind of like taking an antique car out for a Sunday drive on a perfect day.

[Bama]

For Rifles, I "try" to anneal around the 6-7th time. I have some going on 20+. I don't hot rod my loads. Pistols are indefinite.

With bottle neck the chamber and the way you size your brass has a big effect. I typically shoot Savage rifles and use an RCBS presion mic to set my sizing dies to match the chamber for once fired brass. This procedure reduces the amount of brass working. After brass is fire formed in the paticular gun it is neck sized only and only used in that paticular gun. After that unless I find a thinning in the case wall with the old bent paper clip method I usually can load up to 20 to 30 times. When I find thinning anywhere, it all goes in recycle bucket--don't take chances at that point.

[LenH]

For pistol brass, mostly .45 ACP are reloaded until they split. But when you rotate brass out of a 5 gallon bucket they don't get reloaded that often, and I try and keep at least 2k loaded
at all times. I shoot Bullseye matches so these aren't full power loads. I find most problems with these brass during cleaning, the split brass seem to show themselves better.

Right now I only have a .308 Win. and have shot these brass at least 6 times. I also just started annealing these brass so they should last longer.

[Walter Laich]

cowboy shooter here so .45 Colt brass is 99% of my reloading

Load until major split--been known to go on and load if the neck splits are very minor ~1 mm

[mdi]

I reload my brass until I can't reload them anymore. Inspection is the single most important step for me for my reloading and if there is any defect (or even odd appearing case) the case doesn't get reloaded. The only cases I count reloadings for is my Garand brass...

[second chance]

My S&W 1911 leaves a pretty significant dent in the base, I'm guessing from the ejector. Never noticed it on my other 1911's. I hoped it was just factory "ball" ammo, possibly a little on the hot side causing it, but I loaded some new Starline brass with cast 200 gr HT coated bullets and a mild bullseye load and I'm getting the same thing. I'm wondering how many times I'll be able to reload these before the extractor can't extract them. My usual recycle rate is like most here, reload until a problem shows up.

[starnbar]

pistol and revolver brass gets reloaded until it splits or the primer pocket gets loose rifle brass gets annealed every 8-9 reloading and trimmed 2x then gets the can in over 40 years of reloading only had one cartridge stuck in a rifle case head separation 30/06.

[308Jeff]

When removing military primer crimps, be careful how you're doing it. Some of the reamers on the market will gall the sides of the primer pocket pretty quick if you're not paying attention and being careful.

I've been removing crimps with a utility knife blade for quite a while now. It only removes the tiny ring of brass that constitutes the crimp, and leave the rest of the pocket completely untouched. For me it's just as quick as other methods, and faster that some. I NEVER have a problem with seating primers using this method because I can see and feel exactly what I'm doing and get the same repeatable result.

Probably not for everyone, but it works very well for me.

[trapper9260]

I mainly use the brass till like stated it show a problem. as for rifle I will treat them like stated also if there show some sign of problems.I do not like to load my hot from the start.
I have seen factory rounds that after the first shot show problems.