Eutectic
posted this
14 April 2017
John,
Your question is both caliber and load specific.
With light loads and minimum sizing, cases can last practically forever with good brass.
I only anneal cases for case forming, I would rather buy new brass, but that is just me. Others take pride in cases going 50+ reloads, more power to them.
Some guns are hard on brass. Lever guns do not lock up tight and also need full length sizing, my 30-30’s never give the brass life of a 308 bolt gun.
I developed some full power 30.06 cast loads, case life was the same as like loaded jacketed bullets, it is the load that makes the difference,
Some cases 45 Colt, 38-40, 44-40 are very weak or brass is poor and case life is short, some like 44 Special and 308 Winchester last much better.
In pistol cases cannelures are bad, lead to premature case body splits. I have also had bad luck with nickel plated cases, but this may be just small sample chance.
Split necks or mouth splits cause a flier for that round.
You should cull brass before and after reloading. Mouth splits can happen in the crimping step, which can be hard to see. Minimum crimping or taper crimp minimizes mouth splits.
In used cases, a split may occur on firing which will give a flier. This is only a concern in big game hunting or competition where every shot counts. Hunters and match shooters should be using good brass fired only a few times. Most of my shooting is practice or plinking shooting, I ignore the incipient mouth split problem, it is too small to worry about.
Steve Hurst