Number of reloads

[Blue Steel Traveller]

How many reloads can one expect with these light loads?  I'm using 38 special at around 800 fps.

[Cyrille]

Can't answer for you but I reload .45 Colt and have experenced anywhere from two to one hundred I find that,  in my experence, Starline is one of the best brass cartridges, Winchester is durn good, so is C.B.C. and Remington brasscolored, brass I have used their 'nickle' coated brass and have had three or four split on firing. No problem was caused however, as they were encased by the Vaquero's cylinder they did not split wide but the split was completely through the case wall. Let me add that the number of split cases after the first firing is miniscule when you consider the number of cases I buy. This is not to say that brass colored brass cases do not or cannot split, but in my limited experence I have yet to have a brass colored brass case split on me.
Let me say also that I am not a 'warthog' I load within the accepted 'cowboy' loading data and stay away from the lighest and heavist powder load listed for the particular bullet I am using in my reloads.

[hellgate]

I don't know the answer but if you get a lot of soot on your brass, they are not that hot of a load because the brass is not expanding all the way to seal the chamber. The diameter of your chamber will have a large bearing on case life. The more you expand (by firing) and then shrink down (by resizing) the more the brass will become work hardened and  eventually crack. Also, if you flare the mouths excessively and then crimp you will get case mouth splits in just a few (4 or 5) reloads. Limited case resizing and limited flaring & crimping will increase case life considerably. However I do not know if you'll get 8, 12, or 20+ reloads per case. It all depends. I'd rather suffer shorter case life for reliable feeding anytime. Hopefully someone else will tell us their experience.

[PlacitasSlim]

I got a box of Starline .38 a couple of years ago for Miss Lilli and have not lost any yet. Her loads run around 700fps and have each been reloaded about ten times.

[Sagebrush Burns]

Straight sided brass loaded at these levels should have a very long case life.  Be careful to put minimum "bell" in the case mouth prior to bullet seating - too much is probably the number cause of case failure.

[Curley Cole]

I have been experimenting with my brass to see how long it would last. I have been using the same brass for the last year and a couple of months. (I shoot only one match a month) I shoot both 38 and 45lc. I use Winchester and Starline. So far I have not lost any brass to cracking or splitting only brass loss has been to not getting all of it from the pickups (although I have to admit that even has been minimal., This last match I only lost 2 rounds and I was also providing brass for a new shooter so had about 400 plus rounds.)

So, the short of it is that my brass has been holding up darn good
cc

[Piney Woods]

I've reloaded my Starline 45 Colt cases at least 25 times each and lost only about 1/2 dozen to splits. That's six or so out of about 8,000 reloads. Not a bad ratio. I do bell the case mouth as little as possible when loading, and I think that's the primary reason for the case longevity.

[Camille Eonich]

How in the world do you keep up with how many times you get to reload it?  Serious question...inquiring minds want to know.

[Sagebrush Burns]

I've got about 2500 Starline brass all fired 3 times now and working on the fourth go-round.  When I shoot them I keep them separated (in labeled coffee cans) by how many times they've been fired.  Each time I re-load, I change the label on the box of loads.  I AM somewhat AR about it, but it's easy to keep track.