I have now owned (and still own) 243, 30-06, 7mm WSM, and 270 centerfire rifles. Seems a little odd to me, but anything that I have reloaded for (270 and 30-06) that is based of a 30-06 case seems to just keep on looking fine as far as brass life goes. I have brass that I know has been fired 8 or 10 times that looks just fine. 243 on the other hand, not soo long at all. 4 times is about the max. I have been using exclusively winchester brass in the 243 which may explain the short life, but has anyone else had good brass lif with the ole 30-06?
It may be partly the caliber but usually if the head space is right and the loads are kept within reasonable level, most all casings should have a pretty long life. I have reloaded for most all the standard calibers and most of the magnums. I had one 30-06 that went through cases pretty fast but on having it checked out I found that it has excessive head space. I went ahead and had it rebarreled to 280. I could have had it re head spaced but I wanted to try a 280 and at the time there were no LH 280's available.
Another consideration is how much your working the brass during preparation. Is your bore/chamber true to the action, what kind of dies are you using. All of which can and will play a part in what you describe.
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About your case life . I had an expirence with a mark X mauser in 22-250 . I was shooting up some Win 40 grn. 4000 fps factories . After about 8 or 9 I'm seeing gas leaks around the primers bright rings just above the heads stiff bolt . Down range all is as it should be ,3 in at 200 with 5 inside an inch . Repeat . Repeat . With new brass and some 55 grn fmjs turning around 3100 I had similar results . Checked case dim.s head growth all the normal ?????? No answers . Finally decided that the action/bbl was of such mass that it wasn't cooling and thus shooting "hot" powder . The factories and the handloads had head separation in brand new unfired Win brass starting at about the 6th rnd . The hand loads were middle of the road from Lyman . The 243 and 22-250 are close in a heavy action with a heavy bbl you could be seeing the same thing .
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Some lots of brass seem to be much softer than other lots, and this varies also from one make to another. For many years, Norma brass had a reputation for being soft compared to Remington and Winchester, and it would not permit loading to levels that the others would take.
Given brass of adequate temper and strength, case life is very dependent on the pressures to which it is loaded. I don't have a preference between Remington and Winchester like many people do, and I try to keep my loads to a level that will let me get as close to ten shots per batch of cases as I can with adequate accuracy, without giving up too much in the way of muzzle velocities.
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Some lots of brass seem to be much softer than other lots, and this varies also from one make to another. For many years, Norma brass had a reputation for being soft compared to Remington and Winchester, and it would not permit loading to levels that the others would take.
Given brass of adequate temper and strength, case life is very dependent on the pressures to which it is loaded. I don't have a preference between Remington and Winchester like many people do, and I try to keep my loads to a level that will let me get as close to ten shots per batch of cases as I can with adequate accuracy, without giving up too much in the way of muzzle velocities.
That goes for me too! If you stick with published numbers, 10 reloads or more is common. Try to beat the system and they only last one shot. It's Physics. Regards, Rick.
i trim my once fired cases, re-size them and reload them. For my hot handloads the cases are canned after two reloads.Cases used for my light and medium loads are canned after five reloads. This may be overkill but i have access tolots ofonce fired cases. All i have to do is take my discarded cases back to the range where they sell them for scrap.
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RE: 30-06 brass life
Are you certain you have your dies adjusted properly? A mis-adjusted die can have a tremendous effect on case life, as well as many other things.........
I am reloading Browning 300 win mag brass that is over 20 years old. They are loaded HOT,and are giving me no grief at all. I strictly neck size, and anneal when needed. Each rifles is custom trimmed to the chamber dimensions, which in turn, prevents unnecessary stretching of the case. If you full length resize after every firing, you are working your brass, moving the shoulder back,hardening it and shortening it's life considerably. You are also making it flop around in the chamber and this can and will be an accuracy wrecker. When you fire it, it will expand to your chamber specs, giving a good fit. Then, it's back to the bench and worked back to minimum specs again. Not good! Neck size it, and it will last a LONG time.
Was I specific in that my 22-250 was being shot in sequintial rounds an not in times reloaded ? I don't usually get more than 5 or 6 reloads from game loads normally around 10 to 15 in practice ammo .
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30-06 brass life
