How many reloads?

[Roebuck9]

Today I received a Lee classic loader in the post. The instructions say I could expect up to 100 reloads. That sounds an awful lot to me, hence the question.

As has been said the cowboy pistol rounds, straight sided cases .375/.38s you can expect that sort of reload numbers but not your usual centrefire cases which are tapered.

 

[Bowland blades]

depends on your chamber tolerance if its moving further to seal the chamber on firing that amounts to more work / stress and the reverse with a tight to tolerance. i have always gone with 12 firings as a rule of thumb but better quality brass or poorer ,no hot loads or running the redline is going to have a big impact . I don't anneal and when i competed there where very few who did , Besides in hunting you will loose a few cases each batch fired you will be playing with a depleted amount after those ten firings in the field . Dont mix batches of old brass and new or brands and inspect for cracked necks and thinning of the base .

 

[timbrayford]

For a centrefire rifle at 55,000 plus psi its about 10 plus or minus 3 or 4.

Lots of variation between brands, between calibres and between reloaders.

Key pointers towards end of life are splits in the neck or cases getting thin above the case head.

Apart from the PPU issue that I mentioned just about every other case I've discarded has either been down to neck splits or incipient neck splits, also it pays to keep everything in like for like batches, generally I start off with 50 cases and when the remaining number falls to around 15 or less I'll junk the sound ones too.

 

[Twodogs]

FYI, .303 is known for headspace issues leading to head separations.

Head space issues on a .303 Lee Enfield will not cause head separation, The .303 being a rimmed round head spaces on the rim. The reason for case head separation is, amongst other things, because the rifle was cut with a battle chamber to allow it to operate with half a battlefield in it, being cut long, this allows for a lot of forward expansion of the brass on firing. The Enfield and the corresponding brass was never designed to be reloaded.

I have come across brass that shows signs of incipient head case separation after one firing, but have never managed to reload more than three times.

 

[mike243]

In 243 around 7 or 8 with federal, Winchester etc, up to 20+ with lapua. With ppu in 270 no more than 4 before dangerous neck separation. I'd probably get a bit more if I annealed but I'm crap at metalwork so don't bother.

i bought 100 Lapua .243 new cases a year or so ago, i'm still on my first reloading, so 20 reloadings will see me out, i also bought 100 once fired Lapua .308 cases several years ago, which i have reloaded twice, so happy days