3. Brass Life

Brass Life

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    How long is everyone's brass surviving and how is it failing? I know it's dependent of chambers, calibers, loads and reloading technique but it will be interesting to hear what everyone is seeing.

    I'll go first. I started with federal gold medal match .308 Win ammo in a Remington 700. I didn't start annealing till about 5 firings. Several lots have 9 firings on them and the primer pockets are loose enough that I set them aside. I'm sure I can load them a couple more times but I'm saving them for a situation where I might lose the brass. All brass was full length sized and loaded light to middle of the range.

    Likewise I started with federal bulk .223 Rem ammo for an AR. The necks started splitting after 3-5 firings. Again full length sized and middle of the range loads.

    I've now started using Norma brass for everything and have multiple lots with 4 firings and no signs of weakening. I also anneal every third firing.

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  • I use lapua brass in my 308. My last load was warm at 44.5gr varget with 175 smk's. Primer pockets were lose and accuracy fell off after 3-4 firings.

    My load is now 42.5 and hopefully will allow for better Brass life.

    I anneal every firing.

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  • I got 4 firings out of my FGMM brass. I started getting split necks. I'm sure the majority of the brass could have kept going, but I really used it as an excuse to upgrade to Lapua.

    I only have 1 firing on the Lapua. But running 42.8 grains of powder should let me get lots of use out of the brass.

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