How Many Reloads For .45 Brass?

[Rob Bartley]

How many times do you reload .45 brass before throwing it out? Do you shoot it until it cracks?

[zhunter]

Rob

I don't count, but I also don't pick up brass at matches. So match brass is lost. I do pick up all practice brass, but in the big scheme of things it is not around long enough to bother counting.

[MichiganShootist]

I don't "count" either.. I deal with brass by:

1. Not picking up range brass from other shooters (other than once fired at indoor ranges)

2. Marking every round I reload so I know it's MY brass I'm picking up

3. Inspecting every case after they have been tumbled and after they have be reloaded

4. Buying single head stamp once fired from reliable suppliers

Edited March 29, 2007 by MichiganShootist

[GentlemanJim]

In 45 acp...lots of the people I know shoot it till it splits.

I have even seen them shoot split cases 1 more time and leave it on the range

They say you can do that with 45

I would not even dream of it in high pressure cals!!!!

I would keep track of how many loadings untill you see some split ...scrap it all and start over with once fired or new.

JMHO Jim

PS play safe

[Merlin Orr]

The other .45 shooters follow me around at matches and practice like 3rd world kids following a tourist. ALL of my brass lays where it falls.

........So I guess my viewpoint is that it's good for one firing.

[MichiganShootist]

If it's only good for one firing.... why reload Merlin?????

[Merlin Orr]

And the number one reason is..... I am a lazy b*st*rd..... Well...If I really have to tell the truth I do pick up .45 brass when at a practice session... But you still save considerable and end up with a tailored loading when you roll your own. Even with out picking up brass you come out well ahead.

Edited March 29, 2007 by Merlin Orr

[AustinMike]

In .45ACP, if the case will hold the bullet, I reload it. I'm cheap that way, I guess. I've cracked a number of cases with no ill effects.

[TonyT]

With the relatively low presssure calibers such as 38 Specail and 45 ACP, I use the brass until the mouth frays. With the higher pressure numbers, 9mm and 40 S&W, I discard the brass after 4 reloads.

[JFD]

If you're worrying about picking up brass at a match, you aren't concentrating on the match. When I started leaving my .45s on the ground it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

I shoot 20X that amount in practice, and that's where I pick up my brass.

I was testing .45 brass once and got bored after 17 loadings with zero problems using the same headstamp brass. The last I tested to that number of loadings was S&B, and it held up just fine. I'll never count the number of loadings on .45 brass again.

[BBoyd]

several years ago I read in a gun magzine of a straight wall cartidge which was reloaded 133 times before it split. If you are like me I reload once fired brass and try to pick most of it up after shooting, but I usually only recover 60=70 percent if that, and I reload this brass again, repeating the process. I do hand prime and handle each case when reloading and usually when seating a bullet you can tell when it slips in real easy, its usually cracked.

I think you could reload like this for a long time with a .45 without problems.

[Steve Moneypenny]

if you have time to separate and count how many times you load each piece of brass... either you aren't shooting enough or you have too much time on your hands... want to reload my ammo

seriously I don't count when it splits i toss it. I've never been able to tell when shooting the gun WHEN the case split exactly.

[LPatterson]

With a 45 the manufacturer of the brass will probably determine how many reloads you can get before it splits. As a result of people giving me back brass that was not mine, I no longer want brass back at a match except for my moon clipped Star. For practice I am working my way through a lot of 3000 once fired Federal and after cleaning & depriming I find 1 or 2 that are cracked.

[Carlos]

I have a loaded .45 case someplace around here that no longer has a readable headstamp.

Believe I loaded it w/ a 230 Zero FMJ over enough clays to make major and I'd shoot it in any of my guns without worry.

If it does not split, I'll be re-using that piece of brass as long as I can.

.45 ACP runs very very low pressure and it is a very forgiving caliber to reload.

[GmanCdp]

shootit till it cracks AND TOSS out any AMERC brand brass along the way...also some S&B brass seems to crack only after 3 or 4 loadings

[raz-0]

If you are jsut making major with it, you can shoot it a lot. I had no issues shooting range pickup brass making 172pf using titegroup (DIRTY). I'd jsut toss them one the case rims looked chewed up, the headstamp looked worn, the case mouth got a notch in it from whatever, or the case split at all after belling it. Oh yeah, and if seating a rpimer in it was too easy feeling.

Used maybe 2000 pieces of brass tops for about 10000 laodings with natural attrition and addition of random range pickup.

However, at one of our local matches, there seem to abe a bunch of .45 shooters who shoot factory and leave it. Scrounging after tearing down resulted in me cycling in a decent ammount of fresh brass.

I second ditching amerc. Never caused me issues while shooting, but mainly because it cost me primers by splitting when I belled the case after relatively few reloads.

[Rob Bartley]

I shoot 230 over 4.0 gr Clays. I have reloaded the same "set" of brass around 10 times. I reload on a Dillon SDB and find the primers go in nearly effortlessly. Cases are a mix of Win., Fed., and UMC. What issues will I run in to due to the primer pocket not being as tight as lets say a new piece of brass or one that has not been loaded that many times? What signs will I see?

[Singlestack]

shootit till it cracks AND TOSS out any AMERC brand brass along the way...also some S&B brass seems to crack only after 3 or 4 loadings

+1

[dirty whiteboy]

shootit till it cracks AND TOSS out any AMERC brand brass along the way...also some S&B brass seems to crack only after 3 or 4 loadings

+1

+2...if anyone likes using S&B and Amerc let me know, i'll send you all that I cull.

[plinker625]

I have some brass that I know is over 12 years old, and it has been loaded so many times with light plinking loads that you can no longer hardly read the headstamp. I sort brass according to headstamp. Fed and Win for 625 use and all the rest goes for USP use.

I usually score extra while at indoor ranges. One time I must have got clost to gallon zip lock bag full of Fed 45ACP brass, a few LEO had expended it.... SCORE!

I had one lot of som TZZ89 Match that was some good brass, it lasted for quite long time!

[et45]

I reload it untill it splits.I don't pick up brass during a match but if there is some around after I will grab it.

[lmccrock]

Generally, 45 brass is lost before it wears out. I wish I shot more with "I don't pick up 45 match brass" shooters.

No AMERC, but I will reload S&B. I can tell the first time it goes through the press because the primers are in tight.

Lee

[aerosigns]

Being a Revo shooter I ALWAYS pick up my brass. If I didn't the moon clip bill would get costly.

So speaking as a 100% pick up guy match or practice, I reload them if a bullet will still stay in the big end.

Some rules do apply though. I only shoot Remington brass. I have used Winchester but they don't accept the Federal 150 primers as well so I stick with Remington.

I shoot 2-7 matches a month, with practice scattered in between. Whenever I get home from shooting, I de-moon and tumble the brass. When I have time while watching TV I hand re-prime the cases. Then I dump them in a big bucket that contains about 1500 cases.

I know that I sent over 5000 bullets out the end of the barrel last year. The only brass I threw away were ones that got kinked, crushed, or dinged in the reloader.

Edited April 8, 2007 by aerosigns

[TBeazlie]

I load 'em till I lose 'em.

[lpspinner]

I load till it spilts. But then I have a few thousand that I rotate through.