Brass Life Expectancy

[JTB]

I am somewhat new to reloading. How can I tell when my brass is worn out? I have not been over working it just bumping back a couple thousands. What signs should I be looking for. I have fired my Grendel brass about 6 times so far.

[Lemonaid]

Short version, primer pocket looseness, neck splitting, possible incipient case head separation.
Not all brass is created equal. I got about 9-10 reloads with Hornady, case neck were spitting. I expect Lapua to do better.

[Klem]

JTB,

That's a $64,000 question...it depends.

If you are only bumping 3thou then incipient case separation is not going to be an issue. And unlike handgun brass it's not going to split down from the mouth unless you are working it like a pro. It more like it gets old and tired. How you define that is up to you.

Brass starts to lose ductility but as long as you keep batches together the neck tension should be the same across the strings and precision should not be affected.

The primer pocket will enlarge over multiple firings, especially with high pressure loads. Loose pockets might be the indicator you use to replace them. They won't all go equally loose so you might throw one or two away at a time until you lose confidence with the rest.

Or throw the whole batch out after an arbitrary number of firings.

I keep my brass for a few firings but the day when I don't shoot well, I start looking at the brass and that niggling doubt sets in. Cheap brass tends to get chucked whereas Lapua gets worked to the bone. Plus if it's expensive and hard to get it gets worked to death.

[JTB]

JTB,

That's a $64,000 question...it depends.

If you are only bumping 3thou then incipient case separation is not going to be an issue. And unlike handgun brass it's not going to split down from the mouth unless you are working it like a pro. It more like it gets old and tired. How you define that is up to you.

Brass starts to lose ductility but as long as you keep batches together the neck tension should be the same across the strings and precision should not be affected.

The primer pocket will enlarge over multiple firings, especially with high pressure loads. Loose pockets might be the indicator you use to replace them. They won't all go equally loose so you might throw one or two away at a time until you lose confidence with the rest.

Or throw the whole batch out after an arbitrary number of firings.

I keep my brass for a few firings but the day when I don't shoot well, I start looking at the brass and that niggling doubt sets in. Cheap brass tends to get chucked whereas Lapua gets worked to the bone. Plus if it's expensive and hard to get it gets worked to death.

[Lemonaid]

JTB annealing may be in your future. That kind of resets the brass from the effects of work hardening. See annealing threads on the forum or this link. https://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

[Klem]

Yes, but you might not notice the difference if you mix them up. Depends on the precision of your gun and your ability to control other variables. To be fair it also depends on your definition of accurate and how fastidious you want to be.

If the old batch still works why not keep them for hunting or drills/plinking but keep the new batch separate for when it counts.

[JTB]

JTB annealing may be in your future. That kind of resets the brass from the effects of work hardening. See annealing threads on the forum or this link. https://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

[JTB]

Yes, but you might not notice the difference if you mix them up. Depends on the precision of your gun and your ability to control other variables. To be fair it also depends on your definition of accurate and how fastidious you want to be.

If the old batch still works why not keep them for hunting or drills/plinking but keep the new batch separate for when it counts.

[Rosecrans1]

Overwhelming majority of my Hornaday brass goes 8 to 9 firings. A few in the batch will experience loose primer pockets as they degrade. Just clean them up and inspect them before and after sizing. Regardless of how they are performing, I throw them out after 9 firings and like you, I seldom push my loads into realms of uncomfortableness.

[jbmarshtx]

Timely thread as I just revived a 10 month old thread about Alexander Arms brass. I think that mine is starline if they used it. Since I use it for hunting, I only need a few reloads out of it. I used the factory for break in and am shooting 100 TTSX loads. I'm on firing 3 of it. This is with a Howa Mini, and it looks like the cases will go just in front of the case head when they do as there is a bulge after each firing. It may be that the chamber is not as tight as that on the 700.

And as a side note, I shoot Lapua brass in my silhouette rifle. I'm on firings 4 and 5 with it. Everything looks good for it out of a remington 700.

[Labrat198]

I have been using AR Comp and 123g ELDM and 123g SMK. I am to the point now where I just want to work up another ladder test. All my results are inconsistent and it could be that I let all my brass get mixed up not knowing any better.

The 123 SMK's don't have a very good reputation of being consistent in the Grendel if I remember correctly.

[JTB]

The 123 SMK's don't have a very good reputation of being consistent in the Grendel if I remember correctly.

[FRB6.5]

Sierra 120 gr HPBT MatchKings are pretty much the "standard", if your barrel won't shoot those well it likely won't shoot anything well.

[FLshooter]

I had gotten 5-6 firings out of Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass that I bought new ,before annealing.

[Happy2Shoot]

120gr Berger, VARGET, and FGMM AR primers worked great for me.