Quality brass

[cdschoonie]

I’ve gotten quite a bit of once-fired and range brass, this pandemic has eliminated my preference of new brass. I am sure some brass is better than others, but which ones? I guess my question is, are there certain brands that are ‘shoot em once and trash em’, or no more than 1-3 reloads?

My other question is on annealing…I’ve read many times, only necked cases and not to worry on straight wall? On the necked cases is it needed after every reload, after every other, every 3rd maybe? Also, is it ok to do the annealing with a torch and water, the ‘heat and tip over’ method?

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

I don’t think any brass is shoot once and trash unless it mysteriously splits…

I have no input on annealing. Never done it.

 

[Rez Exelon]

Sometimes brass quality depends on the caliber. I've got some things I load for that Lapua and Norma take the prize, and I've got others where it seems like Hornady wins, and still others where (fill in the blank) does best. I've not noticed a great difference in the number of reloads I get out of a piece of brass that isn't attributable to the load I put in them. I will say that in general I personally like Lapua for a lot of precision stuff, and do likes me some Starline. I just got a few thousand pieces of Lake City/Federal for a project too.

As far as annealing --- I'll give my input but I'm NOT the expert. From what I've read and looked into, the way to maximize the benefits from annealing comes when you are full length sizing every single time. The reason is that when done right you get the same neck tension on the bullet every single time as well. I do my annealing without a fancy machine so there's a cost/benefit thing that I have to do to account for my time. I'm sure as heck not annealing common calibers like 9/223/300, but am working through a process on precision rifle stuff.

I'd love to get an AMP but have through justifying the 4 figure price tag. Something like the Annealeeze maybe. There's a few good choices out there and all the ones I've seen have had some pros and cons. There's a guy out of Fort Smith that makes a little contraption too if you wanted to keep money more local. Personally, I do a lot of case prep on a mini lathe so while I've got the case chucked in, I'll hit it with a torch if it's time. I'm running some experiments right now to see how much of a difference it makes to the life of my cases, but I probably won't know that answer for a year since I don't get out to shoot enough.

 

[Jcann]

As far as brass quality there is a difference from brand to brand. Lapua is excellent brass when compared to other’s but you’ll give up case volume in the Lapua due to thicker brass walls. This may not be a big deal to some but generally you won’t be able to achieve the same muzzle velocity with it as say Remington brass if you’re pushing the pressure limits. I have rendered Lapua brass useless after one firing pushing the pressure limits (loose primer pockets). Brass life is dependent on how hard you push it and how loose your chamber is. A loose chamber causes the resizing process to work the brass more in which case you my need to anneal more often. Peterson is another fine brass manufacturer and has replaced Lapua in my books.

I have Winchester brass (7wsm) with 12 loadings that are still in great shape and I have pushed them relatively hard throughout their life. I neck size only for two loadings then I anneal and case body resize. I use a bushing die to resize the neck. I anneal with a hand torch with the brass chucked up in a drill. I let it air cool on my bench.

 

[Rez Exelon]

As far as brass quality there is a difference from brand to brand. Lapua is excellent brass when compared to other’s but you’ll give up case volume in the Lapua due to thicker brass walls. This may not be a big deal to some but generally you won’t be able to achieve the same muzzle velocity with it as say Remington brass if you’re pushing the pressure limits. I have rendered Lapua brass useless after one firing pushing the pressure limits (loose primer pockets). Brass life is dependent on how hard you push it and how loose your chamber is. A loose chamber causes the resizing process to work the brass more in which case you my need to anneal more often. Peterson is another fine brass manufacturer and has replaced Lapua in my books.

I have Winchester brass (7wsm) with 12 loadings that are still in great shape and I have pushed them relatively hard throughout their life. I neck size only for two loadings then I anneal and case body resize. I use a bushing die to resize the neck. I anneal with a hand torch with the brass chucked up in a drill. I let it air cool on my bench.

+1 on the Peterson. I scored a few hundred new Peterson 338 cases for like a buck each a while back and was thrilled by that.

 

[dennishoddy]

I’ve gotten quite a bit of once-fired and range brass, this pandemic has eliminated my preference of new brass. I am sure some brass is better than others, but which ones? I guess my question is, are there certain brands that are ‘shoot em once and trash em’, or no more than 1-3 reloads?

My other question is on annealing…I’ve read many times, only necked cases and not to worry on straight wall? On the necked cases is it needed after every reload, after every other, every 3rd maybe? Also, is it ok to do the annealing with a torch and water, the ‘heat and tip over’ method?

Don’t worry about straight wall. I’ve loaded 10’s of thousands of rounds of .40 for matches without annealing.
The only cracked cases I’ve ever seen was the occasional nickel case recovered after the match when harvesting spent brass. Oversized camber possibly?
I’ve never annealed either after multiple reloads of several calibers.
I know it’s needed after awhile, but not after every shooting session in my personal experience.
I have so much brass accumulated in the shop that it may be awhile before using the same brass twice.
Some calibers I’ll never use or own bagged up.

 

[swampratt]

I did a brass fail test in .308 All rounds were full length sized and NOT annealed.
Case length growth actually began to thin the case head and all cases died of case head crack.
Going by memory here Winchester went 18 reloads.
Lapua went 48.
Federal was about the same as lapua and 54 reloads from Remington cases.
This was in the lower accuracy node for my Savage 10FP rifle.
41-42gr Varget CCI 200 and 165 Game King Hollow point boat tail.
Very accurate sub moa for all cases right up to the point of case head crack and I fired them one more time with the crack that could be felt and they all lived.
SHTF test there.


If you are after bench rest accuracy you should anneal each time.
I anneal each time.
If you are a plinker of steel or clays or water bottles you can get by with less brass prep.
Especially if a flier now and then does not bother you so much.

I began a test of Neck sizing only to check case life and lost the case and supplies got high.
Some will neck size a couple times and then you get a stiff bolt closure and then they will full length size.

Well my bolt rifles will not shoot neck size and FLS the same so I pick one or the other.

Now I found after 5 times necksizing the .308 case that bolt closure did not get any harder.
In fact 20 times neck sized closed with the same pressure as 5 times neck sized.
I measured case length growth and the first 4 firings it grew at a rate of .0005" per firing.
After 5 times neck sized it slowed down to 1/2 of that.

I was getting .001" to .003" with FLS cases and that failed them quicker.

I would bet 100 reloads from a .308 neck sizing only with a low accuracy node load like the above.

 

[cdschoonie]

I think I’ll do some testing myself, as you did @swampratt by way of neck sizing 50, and FLS 50. I’ve heard so many approaches, since I’m still a newbie at only 2 years reloading, it was a little overwhelming. I knew I could count on you all to give me sound advice…Thank you guys!

 

[Rez Exelon]

I think I’ll do some testing myself, as you did @swampratt by way of neck sizing 50, and FLS 50. I’ve heard so many approaches, since I’m still a newbie at only 2 years reloading, it was a little overwhelming. I knew I could count on you all to give me sound advice…Thank you guys!

One of many of his videos I recommend, would be Eric Cortina talking about his sizing process. Pretty sound advice from a pretty solid shooter. His channel is worth a subscription on Youtube IMHO.

 

[cdschoonie]

One of many of his videos I recommend, would be Eric Cortina talking about his sizing process. Pretty sound advice from a pretty solid shooter. His channel is worth a subscription on Youtube IMHO.

I’ll check it out, thank you.