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!

When its time to trim them for the 5th time,don't.They have stretched too much,the brass has moved from the head area of the case to the mouth.You may also be able to see a ring just above the solid head on the case body.Or the necks will split when you fire them,not all in one batch will split at the same time.But when some of them do it you can be reasonably sure the rest will the next time.If you pressure is a little to high the primer pocket will get to big to hold a primer.If you can load at the range you shoot at take one case and shoot it til it gives up.this will give you a good idea of what to look for.

Thats what I needed to check on, I have heard about the ring that forms just above the head. I have already reloaded these cases 5-6 times and some of those rings are starting to show up now. Obviously some are more visible than others. Primers still fit tight but that was one thing I have noticed that was different, that ring. Thanks for the info!

It depends on how you reload them, but I find after 3 loadings, the necks get a little brittle. So I anneal them then. At the same time trim and FL size. I usually get 3 more loads out of them. If I FL every time, then I might shoot them 5 times. I have never had a case rupture or pulled the rim off, knock on wood, but know my time is coming one day.I have shot pistol brass however until it started splitting.

I have had just 1 neck split that started. Everything else is starting to get the ring at the bottom. I do a full length size. I just got a Lee Collet die however that just sizes the neck. Apparently that extends the life of the brass. I only shoot from 1 rifle as well so the neck size only wont be a problem. I'm just trying to get a feel on how long the brass should last as this is my first batch of brass that I have used.

Collet die will really help.

Excellent. Since this I have 50 pcs of virgin brass, do I need to full length size them for the first run or can I use the collet die?

I usually have to run my new brass thru a FL sizer, cause its all dented up. Its hard to find new brass in good condition. Especially the mouths. I would run them thru the collet just to make sure the mouths are uniform, and then cycle them thru your gun to make sure the shoulders are not too long. If you can close the bolt easily, I would load them.

good advice. i've loaded for handguns for a long time....but only loaded 3006 for a year.....the straight walled pistol brass lasts for a long time. i always worry a bit about the 3006 brass. i've got a neck collet sizer on backorder but, i think i'll try loading the same few cases over and over to see how long they hold up.

I try and keep my cases sorted and together as a lot. I reload those until I've gotten 5 loadings out of them, or they start to exhibit signs of stress. I then toss them and start with new cases. The most obvious sign I used to see was the separation ring starting to form near the base. Since I've been setting the resize die to just barely touch the shoulder when FL sizing, I don't see this hardly at all anymore, but that's probably due to me pitching them after 5 loadings.