How long does yer bp main match brass last?

[Dick Dastardly]

I get cheep plastic boolit boxes to put my ammo in.  There's a sticker in 'em whut says "how many times you load this brass".  Shucks, I don't know.  It gets picked up at the match and sometimes some of it isn't even mine.  So, I've got no idea how long my main match brass lasts or how many times it can get reloaded.  Seems like a lot cuz I don't throw much out.  In fact I don't remember when I last threw out a piece of 44Magnum brass.  I've had some cracked 45 Colt brass, but not much.  38 Special seems to last a long time too.

So, anybody know how long brass that's always loaded with bp lasts?  And, how do you keep track of it?

Thanks,

DD-DLoS

[REELFOOT REGULATOR]

DD, Thats a good question? I gave up trying to keep up with this a long time ago. I figure at least as long as the smokeyless loads

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I don't know, Dick.  

I'm the guy that hates to buy if people just leave it layin' around the range.  I'll pick it up after the match is over or everyone has gone home, even if I don't use that kind.  I use some as powder measures, and give away good stuff to friends needin some brass and who deserve a favour.  The range is a good source for packaging material, and some cardstock from bullet packs makes fine wads.

Rule 1.  Don't leave stuff layin about the range.
Rule 2.  Sort, and select your best and largest lot for match brass.  Treat it with respect and it will last a long time.
Rule 3.  Use the odd and the old for practice.  Use it often, and use it well.  Replace practice cases as required, from the sortings of Rules 1., and 2.

To try and answer your question, with reasonable loads, I lose count!

[Cuts Crooked]

Still got most all of the .45 Colt brass from 5 years ago, a few splits and crushed cases but not many down through the years.

One creveat here though: Of the 50 rounds of nickle plated stuff I bought 5 years ago, not a single one lasted through more than four reloadings...it all split!!!!!

[Dick Dastardly]

Come to think of it Cuts, the plated stuff don't last as long.  I like it for my belt loops tho cuz it don't turn green.

DD-DLoS

[Arcey]

Got some unplated stuff I bought 14 years ago.  It's been from smokeless to Holy Black, back to smokeless then back to Holy Black again.  I've lost more of it than I've had to throw away.

The plated stuff I too have found to be less durable.  I set that aside for belt cartridges and shoots where I know they don't want ya pickin' up brass after a stage.

The stuff is all .357 Magnum.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

DD, as a heathen, I'd figure to put my $.02 here as well. I've got some FC .45Colt that I bought used when I first started that I'm still using and this is my ninth season. Most of my original new brass is still doing it's job as well. Very few splits, a few crushed, some lost( brass gods gotta get their due). I've got some nickled .38's, and they split pretty quick, even at CAS pressures. The regular stuff just keeps on going.
The only real splitting problem I've had was with 38-40's, and that was because I was setting the shoulders back too far and work hardening it fast. Once I got the sizer reset to just push it back past fired condition and still fit in all chambers I have, it went away.
I've also given up trying to count reloadings, a ball park guess would be at least ten or so on most of it in all calibers.....Buck

[Howdy Doody]

Good question DD. I know some folks keep track, but I am not one of those. One observation is that I don't find near as many splits as I did when I shot just the heathen stuff. I just load away if the cases look half way decent. I use the factory crimp die for crimping. I used a roll crimping die (RCBS) back in the smokeless days. Maybe that helps keep the splits down. I like to use brass cases too, but I have a bunch of nickled and I use them only for the pistolas. I have noticed many a top shooter that loads brass into rifle and nickle into pistols. Why? My guess is they have different loads and that is one way to keep things seperate. Plus maybe the tendency of nickle to split and it would be better to end up trying to force a split empty from a pistol at the unloading table, then it would to battle one in a rifle. Top shooters think about things like that. I know a couple really fast top shooters from up where I used to live, that would never think of using anything but new brass for a big match, even though most big matches out this way are lost brass matches. Jeepers, I am so cheep, that I use my crumbiest brass if I know it is a lost brass match. See the pattern going on here? Top shooters, best brass. Tagalong shooters, junk brass. It fits a pattern of best equipment and equipment that will work, but not really all that great.
I always planned to be in the top spots when I started the game, but then reality set in and I found I can have just as much fun at my own pace and by making a smoky statement. There is room in the game for all of us and now to figure out how I got so far off topic. Be kind, I ain't gittin' any younger. 

[sundance44`s]

Mine last untill i ..or someone ..steps on`em ..

[Virgil Ray Hality]

I have been using Winchester brand 44-40 brass.  I have a little over 1950 pieces.  I have only loaded and fired 900 of them.  About 500 are now "once fired" and have not been used in two years. 

This is a lifetime supply.  I have lost, ust plain lost to the "grass gods of brass" almost 50 pieces. None have split in 5 years.  The case neck do stretch some and have to be trimmed.  I have crushed a handful in my press also. 

I am still running a "longevity" test with R-P, PMC, W-W. Starline and Winchester brass that I started a long time ago.  The results will be disappointing for some, so all I will say is:

- I started with am using a random sample of 50 pieces of each brand.  I have reloaded the Winchester brass 17 times with no brass failures.   No split case necks.  No burned through shoulders.  No case head seperations.  The load is 5.5 grains of Titegroup, WLP, and 200 grain RNFP boolit.  I started with Mid Kansasand now use MAV-D boolits.   I have had some interesting problems with the other brass.

[Dick Dastardly]

Well then, there ya have it.  Actual brass cost per round sent downrange moves towards zero the longer we shoot and load.

Thanks Pards,

Keep 'em comming.

DD-DLoS

[Lucky Irish Tom]

Been shooting about 5 years DD and some of the brass I had when i started is still good.  When I was shooting nickel plated it barely lasted 1 season, when I switched to all .45LC I gave away or sold the reamining .38 brass i had and I see some of the people that got it and they are still shooting it.  Probably have to replace more because of loss or getting stepped on, very few because of split cases.

[Wills Point Pete]

 In my .45 Colt I have yet to lose a Starline case due to mouth split or oversized primer pockets. When I first started loading .45 Colt I bought a couple hundred nickel Remington cases, those split pretty fast. I have since bought nickel Starline cases, I get a higher percentage of those back from the brass pickers.
That where I lose my cases, especially during late summer, fall and winter, the grass turns yellow and the brass cases hide better. I try to load nickel cases in my rifle, I don't lose so many.

[Grapeshot]

I've been reloading the same batch of .44WCF for the past three seasons and can only remember throwing away about half a dozen due to splits and cracks in the casing.  Only load BP for the .44WCF cases and seem to pick up one ore two extras at every shoot so i can't keep an accurate count of losses.

One of my pards gave me a bag of .44WCF's a while back and a few of them split.  They had been weakened by the Corrosive properties of BP within the case prior to getting to me.

[Dick Dastardly]

I hear ya Grapeshot,

Mayhaps it wasn't the residue of the Holy Black, but the primers.  It's my undisciplined opinion that much of the corrosive reputation of bp over the years has come from corrosive primers.

Next time ya get yer hands on some of thet old brass, throw it in some warm water with a lil dish washin' detergent.  Shake the lord out of it and rinse it clean.  Then, before you tumble it, inspect it very carefully.  If there's corrosion down around the primer pockets and the web, it wasn't the powder doin' the mischief.  If all the corrosion is up around the case mouth, ya got sulphur and water makin' acid and doin' harm.  There's no cure for that.  The brass will get brittle real fast and split.

Point is, if ya want yer main match brass to last, dump it in soapy water soon as ya kin.  Then, when ya get to yer home range, rinse it clean and tumble it shiny.  Do that, and I think yer brass will outlast yer guns.

DD-DLoiS

[Doctor Bill]

DD,

I started out trying to keep all my lots of brass sorted and logged in a notebook so I could keep track of how many times they had been reloaded.  That foolishness didn't last very long. 

In all the time I have been shooting 45 colt BP, I have only had a couple of cases split but even for those I am not 100% sure if the damage was due to BP shooting since so much of what I load is used brass to start with.

I wonder if the 45 BP loads just don't generate enough pressure to stretch the brass all that much.

Dr. Bill

[Dick Dastardly]

Thanks Doc  Bill,

I was loadin' a batch of 44 Magnum this evening and got to ponderin. . . Just how many times have I seen this brass close up and personal before?  Anyway, I think yer on to somptin' here.  Holy Black don't stress the brass very much.  Yes, I do crimp my ammo with a LEE Factory Crimp Die so it will feed in my 92s without balking and yes, I do think that adds to work hardnin' the brass, but so far I just don't have to throw much away.

My biggest problem is keepin' track of the dang 45 Colt brass that gets mixed in with my 44 Magnum brass.  Sure is one quick way to stop up my progressive loader. . .

DD-DLoS

[Virgil Ray Hality]

While I do think that cases left unclean with black powder residue will corrode, I don't think dopping brass in water at the range is necessary.  The "green rot" isn't quite that fast. 

The case failures I have had with 44-40 brass that I use exclusively with black powder have been neck splits that start very small and grow to about 1/4 inch long over the last 3 or 4 resizings.  Then I throw them out.   I believe this is due to the resizing, stretching and trimming of the brass which makes the case neck really thin over time.  After 15-17 resizings the craks begin to show on some.   

The cases I have reloaded with smokeless have not only had neck craks, but some have had burn through cracks/holes in the shoulder of the case.  This may well be due to the pressure spike that comes with smokeless. 

All in all, I have a 1lb coffee can full of bad 44-40 brass saved up from the last 5-6 years of shooting 44-40 ammo.

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Virgil,

I doubt that my wash bottle makes my brass last any longer.  I just think it makes cleanup easier.  Also, it's a good place to put empties and keep 'em from runnin' all around my gun cart.

I really do doubt that I'd carry a wide mouth bottle with soapy water in it along with me deer hunting tho. . .

DD-DLoS

[Virgil Ray Hality]

Hey Dick, you dont need more than small flask of soapy water deer huniing shell casings right?  Just enough for the one cartridge you use.