Jayhawkhuntclub
Buckeye
I'm not talking about flame throwing hot loads, but mid-level H-110 type loads.
How many times do you reload hot 44 mag and 45 LC brass?
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pvtschultz
Blackhawk
I'm at about 10 and counting. I'll let you know when they start to split...
I've never used H110 for mid-level loads but I don't think that matters. The crimping of the brass is the weak point as that is where you find it splits. I have some 44 brass that has been loaded at least 10 times and I am not thinking I have tossed many due to splits. Now I have some 3030 brass that will stretch at the base and separate at the rim if you are not paying attention. Chief aka Maxx Load
WIL TERRY
Buckeye
I have W-W 45COLT brass that has been in continuous use since I bought the RUGER BH 45COLT back in 1971. That would be the original 250 cases and so far, not a single case has given up the ghost. The load was the classic Elmer Keith 2400 load pushing the classic Elmer Keith bullet, the Lyman 454424 262gr bullet.. The brass has been loaded many dozens of times.
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Have been loading 44 Magnum since the mid-1970's and 45 Colt since the mid-1980s. Loaded initially on an RCBS Rockchucker with RCBS dies and now on Dillon 550 and 650s with Dillon dies.
Am still using the brass that I initially started with and can't recall ever losing a piece of brass due to age or defect.
Sometimes I load five rounds, shoot them, then reload the same exact five cases, shoot, and repeat all day long. My reloading press is right next to my shooting bench.
Some individual cases have been loaded well in excess of a 100 times.
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Have been loading 44 Magnum since the mid-1970's and 45 Colt since the mid-1980s. Loaded initially on an RCBS Rockchucker with RCBS dies and now on Dillon 550 and 650s with Dillon dies.
Am still using the brass that I initially started with and can't recall ever losing a piece of brass due to age or defect.
Sometimes I load five rounds, shoot them, then reload the same exact five cases, shoot, and repeat all day long. My reloading press is right next to my shooting bench.
Some individual cases have been loaded well in excess of a 100 times.
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COR
Blackhawk
I agree wholeheartedly with the crimping being the spot the most "wear" occurs. My 44 Mag Load is a 260gr WFNGC at 1200 fps and I have at least 10 reload through the brass I use. If it splits I just use it for 44Spl loads.
I have more Heavy .45's split (300+gr bullets) due to the heavy crimp I use with cast bullets.
I have more Heavy .45's split (300+gr bullets) due to the heavy crimp I use with cast bullets.
the fatman
Single-Sixer
I find this interesting. I have always been like revhigh. I have loaded till they split or the primer pocket gets loose. Now in the lyman pistol &revolver handbook third edition that I got about a week or so ago. They paint a rather bleak and scary picture of incipient case head separation and recomend about five uses if maximum loads are used and around eight uses other wise. So I'm not sure what to make of this. According to lyman rev and I should of been in deep doo doo along time ago. :shock:
Pal Val
Buckeye
Mid level H-110 loads? My heavy .44 mag loads are with H-110. The manufacturer recommends not loading it down more than 5%. That leaves you with little choice.
Jayhawkhuntclub
Buckeye
Maybe mid-level is the wrong way to put it. I'm just saying loads that don't push the envelope, but are still pretty hot (eg 240 gr 44 Mag with 23.0 gr of H-110). Yes I know you aren't supposed to cut them back much.
Bucks Owin
Hunter
If the gun is a Ruger, it'll have charge holes far too large. This'll let the case bulge right in front of the web when you shoot the "barnburner loads". Repeated sizing will work harden that area and give you a case seperation eventually. It's good advice to only FL size the cases a couple of times if shooting hot loads, then relegate those cases to more "gentle" loadings. BTW, regarding the talk about 2400, Elmer's "classic" if you're talking around 18 grs of 2400, is fairly mild in a Ruger. My 7.5" spits that load out at only 809 fps...Same amount of SR 4759 does 853fps!....FWIW, Dennis (Oops, I guess the 2400 debate was on a different thread...the fatman":geo4uvic said:
)the fatman":163jng91 said:
Case/head separation, I see this happening with bottleneck cases eg. 30-30. never been a problem with straight walled cases. Just my own observations. I mention 30 30 because of the typical action types they are most associated with.
Chief aka Maxx Load
I'm still reloading every case I own until they split or are damaged. A load is a load, and even if the case DOES split ... who cares ... it's contained in the cylinder. I don't buy the case/head seperation concept in straight wall pistol cases, as I've never seen it happen ONCE in probably 250,000 total reloads.
People can do whatever they want, but in all those 250,000 reloads, I've never even come close to any kind of incident ... EVER. I'm confident enough in my reloading process that I have zero worries regarding this. All of my reloads are ... shall we say ... a little on the hot side (except for 45ACP and 38 Special) .... if you know what I mean.
REV
People can do whatever they want, but in all those 250,000 reloads, I've never even come close to any kind of incident ... EVER. I'm confident enough in my reloading process that I have zero worries regarding this. All of my reloads are ... shall we say ... a little on the hot side (except for 45ACP and 38 Special) .... if you know what I mean.
REV
twobisquit
Single-Sixer
I've had a few nickle .44 mag cases split but never had any regular brass case split. Same with .357 and I've had a lot of nickle .38's split.
I once had a head separation on a 45-70 and never knew it until I was cleaning the bore and a brass tube fell out of the breech
I once had a head separation on a 45-70 and never knew it until I was cleaning the bore and a brass tube fell out of the breech
Jimbo357mag
Hawkeye
I keep track of how many times I hot-load a case. After 4 times it goes into the plinking load bucket. I do that mainly because the neck tension goes away after that many times. :shock:
...Jimbo
...Jimbo
How do you test the "neck tension"?Jimbo357mag":29jri5ml said:I keep track of how many times I hot-load a case. After 4 times it goes into the plinking load bucket. I do that mainly because the neck tension goes away after that many times. :shock:
...Jimbo
Bucks Owin
Hunter
Yes, and that's what I meant earlier by "FL sizing" the bulge in .45 Colt brass being the reason for case seperation in front of the web. :wink: If one doesn't keep resizing the bulge, the case should last until the mouth splits from crimping. (As will any case, 45 LC or otherwise) I didn't think I should advocate "neck sizing" here, although I think it's a good technique to extend case life. (At least until Ruger/SAAMI figures out that the charge holes don't NEED to be .010 to .015" bigger than the case! We aren't hurriedly loading up a ".45 Gvmt" with dented, muddy and altogether grubby cartridges in the middle of a pitched battle with renegade Comanches anymore! :lol: ) I like to only resize as much case as needed for sufficient grip on the bullet. Heck, the bulge may even then help accuracy with better cartridge alignment in the cylinder!. Haven't experimented with that notion yet, I expect it would involve indexing the case in the cylinder for a couple firings until "the bulge" becomes concentric. Maybe next summer it'll be another excuse to go out and burn powder! :lol: .....FWIW, DennisSBH4628":2vgc3zzk said:
Yosemite Sam
Hunter
Neck sizing is regularly used for benchrest rifle rounds, hence the name. It does indeed help preserve brass by not "working" it too much.
FWIW, I use the extra-long decapping stem from a Lee Universal Decapping Die in my regular .45 Colt decapping/sizing die, and it lets me back it off far enough to only resize the case to bullet depth while still popping out the spent primer.
-- Sam
FWIW, I use the extra-long decapping stem from a Lee Universal Decapping Die in my regular .45 Colt decapping/sizing die, and it lets me back it off far enough to only resize the case to bullet depth while still popping out the spent primer.
-- Sam
