ORIGINAL: eldeguello
ORIGINAL: jemrami9
Greetings, I have a brass question. Are there any subtle signs that I should look for that will tell me when its time to retire my brass? I am still kinda new at this and I reload for my 22-250. Any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Brass is "used up" when it fails - failure could consist of a split in the neck, a crack in the side wall, an incipient head separation, or a primer pocket that is stretched tothe point that it takes little or no pressure to seat a new primer. If any of these conditions is observed, "retire" that case!
I never arbitrarily throw out a cartridge case just because it has been reloaded "X" number of times. How long a case will last depends on how agressively you work the brass, how sloppy your chamber is, how hot a load you use, and perhaps several other factors as well.
Eld, one, your right, but how many times have you ripped a rim off? I have seen it a few times and tried to help getting the brass out. Its sucks. And don't you ever worry about feeling those hot gas's across you face? And lastly, my accuracy goes down with brittle necks.
All that said, your right, my starline brass seems to last 10-12 loads fine, but my same caliber hornady only 3-5 before splits.