Ausman Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I looked thru out the FAQs and dug around in this forum.. but I could find no answer. I am fairly new to reloading.. however I have a very technical background.. so I am picking it up pretty quick. One thing that I cannot seem to get a straight answer regarding.. how many times can you safely reload 9mm Winchester brass? I am reloading with MG 124gr. JHPs, VV320 at 4.3gr. with a length of 1.140. This makes a PF of right around 135.. plus or minus. I have been inspecting the brass on fairly regular basis. The existing lot is on its 4th reload and I am noticing the lettering on base is not as defined as a couple loads ago. Also comparing it to a new box of WWB. Which by the way is what I collected after shooting 'em. over the last year or so... knowing that I was going to start reloading soon. The other question.. is the brass from Winchester White Box inferior to what you buy as unprimed new brass.. other than being shot once? If so.. any recommendations for a better brass? I am loving reloading.. shooting my X5 and getting ready for my first USPSA match this February! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 The existing lot is on its 4th reload and I am noticing the lettering on base is not as defined as a couple loads ago. Also comparing it to a new box of WWB. Which by the way is what I collected after shooting 'em. over the last year or so... knowing that I was going to start reloading soon. Reloading minor, you should be able to get 10-15 reloads easily. Just make sure that you bell the cases as little as possible to seat the bullet. That'll keep the splits at the mouth of the case down to a minimum. When you start getting around 12-15 loads (assuming you haven't lost the brass/shot them in a match and left them by then), check and make sure that the primer pockets are still tight. If they get loose, you might start to get some breacface erosion. I'm on a batch that had a couple/few loadings at major PF and about 4 loadings at minor. No signs of the brass letting go in any way. The other question.. is the brass from Winchester White Box inferior to what you buy as unprimed new brass.. other than being shot once? If so.. any recommendations for a better brass? Winchester brass is good to go. I think many consider it to be the best to reload. There is absolutely no reason to spend the $ on new brass. If you have to, Starline would be my choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcracco Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) I purchased 5,000 rounds WCC (Winchester) once fired military brass. I go through an extra step of decapping then cutting the primer pocket crimp out before reloading normally on my Dillon 1050 (which includes primer pocket swagging). I'm shooting about 400rounds/week so it will take 3-4 months to cycle through that bucket of 5,000. I pick up all my brass from practice so once the original 5,000 are used I will start on my once fired bucket skipping the first step of primer pocket reaming. Bottom line is I should cycle though my batch of 5,000 rounds 3-4 times/year. I expect to get at least 10 reloads so this batch of brass should last 2 years. A little extra work up front but the benefit is I have a very consistent batch of brass that is of all the same manufacture. Edited January 25, 2012 by mcracco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapemeister Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I usually reload mine about 10 or 11 times. Usually at about the 10th reload I start getting splits; maybe one in every one hundred. After that I reload them a couple of more times, and then I start over with a fresh batch of brass. Winchester is very good brass, but for my practice brass I use just about all brands. I only load my match brass once, and use the same kind of brass for the consistency in all the measurements of the brass. I'm sure most folks would say that's totally unnecessary, but I’m anal like that. To protect the innocent I won't go into what I do with Q-Tips, and cotton gloves when preparing the match brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RePete Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Dunno, I lose it before it splits - usually. I still using stuff from 25 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drysideshooter Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I agree with what al503 said about not belling the case mouth any more than is needed to seat the bullet without damaging the case. That will probably prolong your brass life longer than anything. For my son's 9mm minor loads, loaded to about the same PF that you are loading to, I try to keep my brass sorted by the number of times it's been fired, and I only reload Winchester brass for 9mm. My wife is great about keeping the big pretzel containers and things like that from Costco once they're empty. I put a piece of tape on them that shows how many times the current batch in there has been reloaded. Once I start to see some splits, and like another poster said, it may only be on a very small percentage, I figure that all the brass in that lot is probably getting a bit tired, and the case neck tension may not be even for the whole lot anymore. I may load the good cases up and use them at a lost brass match (where you can't pick up your brass), or load them up for practice rounds. 9mm brass is inexpensive and readily available so I figure it's not worth pushing things too much. I probably go overboard, but I also use different color ammo boxes for match ammo and practice ammo. I gauge all of the match ammo, but not the practice ammo. As others have said, you should get 10-15 reloads out of Winchester brass shooting minor loads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcracco Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I only load my match brass once, and use the same kind of brass for the consistency in all the measurements of the brass. I'm sure most folks would say that's totally unnecessary, but I’m anal like that... And that's what I thought I would be doing too; using my best brass at a match and mixed junk for practice. But...I do not pick up brass at a match and I do pickup brass at practice. So I have a bunch of mixed brass loaded that I use only for matches. When it's gone I will buy more but the practice stuff stays separate. That's where the volume shooting is so I am more concerned with tracking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 My test is still ongoing. I keep using whatever I find/use myself. Only thing I stay away from is Major loaded brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 i load my 9mm (major) brass for about 5 or 6 times, after that i set them aside and when a match is comming up, i load this brass to leave it at the match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausman Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Thanks so much for all the feedback! Definitely helps me further my reloading skills. I have already become anal. Well actually I am just an anal kinda guy anyway! I have tubs for each phase of brass reloading. Tumbled, deprimed, sonic cleaned (ready to load). I also track the number of times each has loaded. Maybe since my Winchester brass should go a lot further than where I am at.. there is no need define the tubs by loads. I have also created a database of velocities, powders, primers, bullets.. and PF. After going thru a good selection of powder, bullets and primers and noting the results.. has lead me to where I am with reload components. Glad to hear that my choice in brass has been bourne out as a good one. I know I still have A LOT to learn.. so all the help that comes from the competition community is truly appreciated. Certainly I will more questions in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealio Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm not a big fan of the recent (last 2 years) batches of Winchester brass. I put it near the bottom of my list I run pretty much everything through my my 550 and the Winchester seems to resize the hard and the primer pockets seems to loosen fairly quick. Plus the primer pockets are off center sometimes. I would rank range brass I have used as follows: Starline (of course) R&P Federal and Blazer PMC GFL (Fiocci) Winchester S&B CBC MFS The last 3 size really hard, and the Winchester is 1 notch above those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausman Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 My plan is to move to Starline as soon as the Winchester brass that we have is used up. I just priced it and it really seems to be cost effective. I made mention that I was glad to know that I had made some good choices.. Winchester being one of them.. but I knew that my next batch of brass would be Starline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I too load my MAJOR brass several times. Some of it has been loaded well over 5-6 times and the pockets are still tight. 9mm brass is pretty tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan45kim Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 9mm minor I load till the brass splits or will not hold a primer I normaly loose the brass before those things happen I don't load major 9mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BENTNBROKEN Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Your suppose to keep track? I have a constent river of mixed brass flowing thorugh my 34. I just inspect and load and shoot, if a case looks suspect at all it goes in the recycle bucket, otherwise it gets loaded. I do notice a difference in primer seating between different brass brands, so in that sense Winchester is my favorite. But when my loading day is done my tray is a full mix of manufactures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I don't pick up brass from USPSA matches. I pick it up from newbies at my local range and when I shoot it in practice, I pick it up again. When a weekend match rolls around, I leave 150 on the ground. You can repeat this indefinitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_P Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 When it comes to minor loads, as long as the primer pocket is still tight, there's no splits and it looks good to go, then I'll continue to use it. No set number of uses in mind as I inspect it all prior to loading it and some manufacturers last longer than others. Major would be a totally different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotLoad Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Wow some of you guys must have to much time . I have buckets of brass in 9mm and use the same for practice and match. No telling how many times it has been fired. Most of it is range pickup. I do drop test and check all match ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
contactcole Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I run all range pickups. I dump all tumbled brass into buckets. I start with one bucket, empty it, then move to the next. Brass goes into the empty bucket and the process repeats. I add buckets as needed. The more brass I get the longer the duration between loadings. I figure I've loaded some brass 3-4 times and it's fine. And, I've had splits case mouths, too. I just toss any brass that does not look/feel right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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