Brass after 15+ heavy loads

[tek4260]

So when do you retire brass? Here is some 45 Colt brass that I have loaded 15 times that I know of. It came from the "mixed bag" of brass, so it had been reloaded before that. All 15 of the past reloads has been 24gr of H110 and a 300 or 315gr cast boolit. All seems well with the brass except for the fact that the writing on the case head has been all but hammered out. The necks are still fine and the primer pockets are tight. I suppose I can say that I don't overwork my brass when reloading

 

[WESHOOT2]

I use new sized cases ONLY for 'heavy' loads.
All fired brass then gets used for more harmonious-to-wrists ammo, 'plinking' (or in my case, "making Major") ammo.
The brass lasts until I don't pick it up.....

 

[DeletedMember275]

I continue to load until either the case mouth splits or he primer pockets become loose. I think I'd anneal those cases and use them for more sedate loads until they fail. I load my brass in 'lots,' so when the brass in that lot begins to fail, I retire the entire lot.

 

[tek4260]

I use new sized cases ONLY for 'heavy' loads.
All fired brass then gets used for more harmonious-to-wrists ammo, 'plinking' (or in my case, "making Major") ammo.
The brass lasts until I don't pick it up.....

Who came up with the unwritten rule of only loading barn burners once?

I kept track just to see how long they could go before I had any sign of trouble. Besides, I don't shoot light loads and I would go broke having to buy new brass for every loading.

For the record, my loading of 24gr and that heavy boolit is absolute max based on the seating depth, and there aren't many more "energetic" loads for the 45 Colt. I would have no problem saying 45 Colt brass is good for AT LEAST 10 reloads at this level, barring some dimension issue with your particular revolver.

 

[GP100man]

If the primers are tite & cases good I anneal mine & keep on chugging.

If ya try annealing ya don`t have to go so far as to change the color of the brass .

Just good & warm for straight walled handgun is all that`s needed .

Heres some that stopped grouping (if ya wanna call my shooting that)& I annealed em just a good warmin & I could tell a difference .

Ya can barely tell they`ve been heated by the color.
I have some plinkin brass I load to mid range 357 that I have no idea how may cycles are on em!

GP

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I've never had brass where the head stamp disappeared. I think you are treading on thin ice (pardon the pun) with that brass. A case head rupture can't be any fun. I retire revolver brass to the sport shooting bin after 4-6 full power loads.

 

[mattsbox99]

I agree with Jimbo, at most I only push them to 10 reloads. I have some 38 spl brass with 50-70 reloads on it and it still looks new. I toss those when they split.