Brass Life? .243 Win

[Rmitch223]

I'm a new hand loader and I'm getting ready to load my once fired Remington brass. How many firings will this brass last? I'm currently FL sizing but will be neck sizing in a couple weeks.

How long with this Remington brass last while FL sizing it every time?

When do you guys discard it? Once it fails/cracks? Or do you reload it a certain amount of times?

How much longer would Lapua brass last me? Is Lapua brass worth the money? What makes it so much more superior?

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[nvbroncrider]

Well its all relevant to a number of things. First of all I discard brass with cracks and loose primer pockets and stretched at the web. FL sizing will reduce your brass life. Then if you anneal your brass it will last longer as well. Also your brass will last longer if you shoot mild versus hot loads. Different brands of brass will have different life spans dependent on how hard or soft it is. On top of the variables I've already mentioned. It is not uncommitted to get 10 loadings before discarding though.

 

[DrMike]

Brass for your 243 will last easily for ten reloadings, provided you don't load it hot and/or your chamber is within specs. You really gain no advantage in life with premium brass over cheap brass. What you do get is consistency and less need to prep the brass before loading for the first time when using premium brass contra cheaper brass. As an aside, I reserve my new or once fired brass for hunting loads. That which has been shot more times is reserved for load development.

 

[theseeker]

Pressure signs will be apparent; case head expansion, unduly neck streaching, primer pockets will open to the point of the primer being loosely seated, which is not advisable to reload, which will allow gas to escape and corode bolt faces.... which can happen after one very hot load.


Remington verses Lapua, which I have of both, last just as long as any other brand.
I've got great accuracy with all brass brands. Lupua has higher QC when manufacturing thier brass, but doesn't mean it's better in my experience.

Don't be fooled to believe that hot loads are the most accurate or needed to hunt with, that's just pure non-sense. Hot loads or max loads are what people want not nessesariy what we need, as per Sierra bullet tech. once told me. I would advise yuo to thoroughly read through a reloading manual to be familiar with the basics of handloading.

 

[DrMike]

theseeker,

Welcome to the forum. It is good to see another added to the roster. May I encourage you to give us some insight into your interests? Perhaps you will start another thread, telling us what you're loading for, where you hunt (maybe even a few pictures of your hunts in the past couple of years) and some general interest info. Again, welcome to the forum. It is good to have you aboard.

 

[Oldtrader3]

It is hard to know what you will get for case life. With Remington brass, I would expect that you can get as many as 7-10 reloadings with moderate loads. Better brass like Norma or Nosler might double that, again considering moderate loads.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[jimbo88mm]

When do you guys discard it? Once it fails/cracks? Or do you reload it a certain amount of times?

I don't keep track of how many times each piece has been reloaded. I just inspect each case and cull the ones that are not up to snuff.

To date I have never seen any of my cases develop cracks. Most of my cases get dumped due to loose primer pockets or thinning at the case head.

With the primer pockets, if I come across a case where the primer goes in with little or no effort, I'll mark the case with a sharpie and discard it after it's fired one last time.

The thinning near the case head can lead to case head separation which is something you don't want (hot gas and particles getting blown back into your face). I made a little tool from a paper click and check all my cases before I start the brass prep phase. Any case the feels like it has a valley in there gets discarded. I put up a quick video showing how I do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDClnQcsMQ&feature=plcp

In regards to 243.. as long as you are not loading them hot.. you should get several loadings at least.

 

[Guy Miner]

This excellent article on the .243 Win may be of some interest:

http://www.6mmbr.com/243win.html

 

[theseeker]

As Jim said... keeping track of the number of loadings isn't nessesary. But inspection is... measuring the case head will indicate excess pressure, or will show streach marks, and warn us either to back off or discard. Lights loads, inmy experience, have not expaned case heads to cause case head seperations, and I do not shoot enough to see a seperation. I've seen it once with a .303 british case.

 

[Guest]

theseeker,
Welcome to the Forum. You will find a wealth of knowledge here and it's deep with Knowledgeable experts as well. Help us get to know you better as Dr Mike suggest. Again, welcome.

Don

 

[jmad_81]

I'm at 12 firings on my Nosler 243 brass. I did anneal the necks at about eight firings. I neck size only until they start to chamber tight, then I bump them back a bit.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I absolutely count the reloadings on magnum brass, especially like the .340 Weatherby or the 7mm Rem Mag or any higher pressure high intensity cartridges. I have a scheduled regimen developed for each of them with whatever brand of brass they use and follow that self discipline for replacing these cases on schedule.

 

[Win_94]

I've reloaded for 30-06 and 30-30 the longest, I've had cases last over 70 firings in both; and seem to be going strong. I wouldn't think the 243 would be any different.

I neck size only, anneal every 7 shots, and don't use hot loads.

Good luck!

 

[AzDak42]

I absolutely count the reloadings on magnum brass, especially like the .340 Weatherby or the 7mm Rem Mag or any higher pressure high intensity cartridges. I have a scheduled regimen developed for each of them with whatever brand of brass they use and follow that self discipline for replacing these cases on schedule.

I'm with the fine gentleman quoted above.

I've had really good results with inexpensive Win .243 brass. At $21/50I just reload them 5 times and then chuck them into the junk brass bucket. I store all of them by their reload count and when it gets toward the end, I start looking for another sale on Winchester brass. With this cycle, It's only costing me just under 8 1/2 cents in brass per shot. The cost is trivial, and, since my mantra in reloading is consistency, all the brass in a particular batch, ends up being at the same spot in it's case life.

It does lead to a big damn pile of freezer bags in my brass bin, but it's easy enough to manage.

Oddly enough, on my rifle, I haven't seen any improvement when I've run up a similar batch with Lapua brass. I'm sure the case life of the Lapua is probably better, but and there are probably a lot of shooters out there that can get the fractional improvement from using the better brass. But with Win brass, I get 1/2" groups using 95g Sierra's, and that's about as well as I can shoot.

 

[DrMike]

I always segregate my brass on the basis of manufacturer and number of shots. I also inspect before reloading to ensure there is no incipient case head separation or obvious flaw in the neck. It has avoided a lot of trouble for me. I usually retire my brass after ten loadings. Brass that is virgin or which has been fired only once, is reserved for hunting loads.

 

[257 Ackley]

Brass for your 243 will last easily for ten reloadings, provided you don't load it hot and/or your chamber is within specs. You really gain no advantage in life with premium brass over cheap brass. What you do get is consistency and less need to prep the brass before loading for the first time when using premium brass contra cheaper brass. As an aside, I reserve my new or once fired brass for hunting loads. That which has been shot more times is reserved for load development.

Part of the inspection process will be to clean the brass prior to inspecting. Cracks in the neck may not show up due to fouling around the neck. Annealing will increase the life of the brass. I anneal every 3rd firing (this started about 2 years ago once I understood the properties of work hardening better). The type of die you use to resize the brass. Using an S-type bushing die without the button doesn't work the brass as much. I bump the shoulder back .001 using this type of die. As others have said, if a primer slips into the pocket too easy...discard the brass.
Dr Mike mentioned the chamber being in spec...this will definitly shorten brass life if the chamber isn't to spec.

I am using Remington brass for a .243 that has been fired about 6 times with fairly hot loads behind R17 powder. There have been about 10 of the original 50 that have been discarded. The rifle is a cheap XS7 Marlin that shoots better than it should. I do keep track of the number of times brass has been fired, trimmed, etc... I also have dedicated brass for each rifle, even if they are the same caliber. My .223 gas gun will never see my Lapua brass that I use for the Tikka T-3. You should full length size the brass the first time if you are using brass that has been fired in another rifle of the same caliber. After that you can set your die up to only neck size until the bolt becomes difficult to close. At that point you will need to play with how much the shoulder needs to be bumped back to have the bolt close easily. This will extend brass life some. Good luck and have fun with the process. It is a great hobby that you will always learn from.