How many reloadings should I expect in semi-auto 223s before tossing the brass?

Hellgate

Hellgate

Active member
I almost never shoot factory ammo in any of my guns. I've been reloading for family & friends since high school back in '68. I am currently reloading for 3 different semi autos so I full length resize so the ammo can be shot in any of the rifles. I have plenty of scrounged military brass (mostly LC & Federal) sorted & bagged for future use. I don't want to get head or wall separation while shooting in a match or worse yet, at a running coyote. How many times is a prudent number of reloadings before tossing the brass? Is there a safe way of marking how many times a case has been loaded? Neck splits don't bother me when they happen other than the case is toast. I check the insides with a scratcher for wall thinning on cases that have stretched and haven't detected any yet but have had one case separate and it jammed the rifle. Fortunately it came out when I ejected the next round that wouldn't fire. I toss any case that that has indications of high pressure when working up loads. Any pointers?
 
I've lost most my semi auto brass before I fired it enough times to get wrecked.

I started shooting some local competitions with an AR and I bought Lapua brass, I would dig through snow with my bare hands to find that stuff. I annealed the cases every 3 firings and it was good to go.

Most of the Lapua cases I lost to loose primer pockets after I lost track of reload count, I would have to trim them down a decent amount so I know I was losing brass there, but I still run into a couple of my original Lapua 10 year old cases in my pile of LC brass I use now.
 
Same as a bolt action. All depends on brass prep, kinda.

Semi-auto is a bit harder on brass because of the possibility of being over gassed. That causes the bolt to open a bit early and causes case rim to get torn.

If the gas is right, it all boiles down to headspace and die setting.

What kills brass life, generally, is excess headspace and full length resize. Where the brass grows a little to much at firing then is pushed back at the shoulder to far for the chamber size in the resizing.

Anneal that brass at least every 3-5 firings, trim when needed and you will lose more in the weeds that from case failur.
 
get a good brass catcher if you're gonna be reloading for an ar, especailly if you're going to be in an area where brass pickup is tricky.


also as noted - anneal. it'll make the life as long as possible assuming you dont have other issues that would cause premature wear like an out of spec chamber. Paired with a brass catcher to keep ahold of your hard work, you will be seeing the best brass life combo possible.


if you're shooting in competition, the price of a basic automated annealer is going to offset itself rather quickly due to the volume you shoot.

I've got one of those annealeeze machines and it does the job rather well imho. I'm getting well beyond the 2000 cases on a 1lb propane cylander the manufacturer boasts - i'm closer to double that! - and it really does a nice job of chewing through the brass.

i did have one minor hiccup, but i never did determine if its a design flaw, or a user error. what i experienced was bridging with 308 cases where the wheel would just pass under the stack of brass in the hopper without picking another one up. however i was trying to keep the hopper right at max capacity - and possibly stacked outside of the intended load range. Simply reducing the quantity (and therefore the weight) of the case in the hopper, my feeding problems went away and never returned. with 223 diamater cases i could load the hopper with every peice of brass i could stack on there without it falling out and it never gave me any trouble.

i dont share it to disparage their product in any way - i'm just hoping my oops will prevent anyone else from dealing with it in the future
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I'm a very very happy customer with the product i own - especially at the price point compared to most other automated feed machines.
 
When I started loading for AR's and full length sized cases as opposed to just neck sizing (bolt guns) I realized quickly that I had to trim before most every loading. Also was getting only 4 to 7 loadings per case. I started backing out my sizing die to only bump the shoulders back .002 to .003. This has almost eliminated trimming and outside of the occasional split neck I mostly only lose brass to loose primer pockets now and in .223 have gotten up to 14 loadings on some cases so far. I try to anneal every 5 or 6 loadings and do it the old school way with a drill, socket and propane torch. With .223 brass being so inexpensive and available I just cannot justify the cost of a nice annealing machine although I would really like to have one.
I should add that I normally run medium to just under max book loads in 223. In 6.8 I run well over book loads and usually lose primer pockets in 5 or 6 loadings.
 
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If you can find an accurate load with low to moderate pressure, you should get at least a dozen firings from decent brass after you initially trim the brass after the 1st firing.

If you are loading on the top end all bets are off, as resizing practices and annealing will come into play big time and primer pockets might become your downfall.

If you're contemplating purchasing an annealer - you might want to think about obtaining one of the very best annealers on the market and start up a small business for shooters that want their brass annealed correctly but don't want the hassle, expense or room to anneal their own brass. If you are young enough and have the expendable income, I would highly recommend this particular annealer (https://www.ampannealing.com/) which will cost you about $1,200 to get set up correctly but if you offer your services to other shooters on several shooting forums and locally - I would think you could recoup your costs in 3 to 4 years and that annealer would last a lifetime and provide the best annealing performance available.

You might also think about utilizing either a Redding body die or Redding's type S match 3-die set in your reloading activities. Proper set-up is the key.

Included within the Redding type S match 3-die set will be a body die, which will perform like a normal full length resizing die but lacks the de-capper pin and expander ball. The Redding body die will restore the body taper and bump the shoulder back. Depending on your press you can adjust the shoulder height using the usual die on press adjustment but if you don't have enough adjustment space you can use the Redding competition shell holder set to set your shoulder to minimum headspace for your rifle's chamber.

I'd recommend, if you go this route, to just purchase the Redding type S match 3-die set and be done with it. The type S match bushing full die set allows you, in a single operation, to coaxially perform a full length body resize and still retain full control of your neck sizing operation using Redding's neck sizing bushings.

Getting the most out of your cases can get expensive, depending upon the level of performance you're seeking. All I can say is buy right the first time and that equipment will give you the performance you desire for an entire lifetime.
 
4 to 5 times if a person doesn't anneal. Depends on how hot you like to push the bullets. I'm lucky I keep finding good LC brass for 223 at the usual spots so I don't worry about how long it will last. I full length resize & trim every time because my sons shoot AR's. I don't anneal because of the volume of 223 brass that I find. Rudy
 
Thank you guys for taking the time to help. I have maybe 3000 once fired military and seem to pick up 30-100 each time I get to the range. I mostly only need to trim on the first loading as the hulls seem to be made long but I check the length every time after sizing and end up trimming maybe 1 in 15 cases. I was about to collect about 200 brass strewn on the concrete at the range from a couple guys until they said it all had been loaded 4 times so they were trashing it. I don't think I will anneal the necks since I now have plenty of brass.

How do I set the die to only bump the shoulder back .002-.003? I have a set of feeler gauges so how much does a standard set of RCBS dies set back the shoulder? I.E. how much clearance should I have between the shell holder and the die to minimally FL size the cases? I recently ran it up to contact the die but now I'm thinking that was a mistake.
 
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What he said. Feeler gauges are worthless thanks to tolerances in chambers, dies and presses. The Hornady Head Space tool us excellent though you can do as well with a fired case that slips over the case neck.

Greg
 
A lot of good advise here. I tend to lose some to loose primer pockets and others to split necks if I don't anneal. A couple years ago I started to anneal when the case needed to be trimmed as I don't keep track of how many times a case has been loaded. I use a paper clip to check for case head separation, so far no issues. Because I don't use high dollar 223 brass I don't worry about how many times I can load it, Clearly some will last longer than others.
 
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