I am working up hunting loads for a new Weatherby Vanguard S2 in 7’08 Rem. I have loaded this brass (R-P) four times now, and I am beginning to wonder if that is too many times to trust in its safety? If it were for me I wouldn’t be concerned, but this is for my son. Thanks

Measure for excess length, drop into a case gage. How hot are they loaded. RP brass kinda soft. Are they annealed

I ran .270 RP brass through 12 reloads without annealing and it was fine. Finally scrapped it even though it probably would have gone a few more.

Overworking the brass and hot loads could lead to failure as soon as four reloads.

Scrap any with loose primer pockets and check for potential case head separations with a sharpened paper clip.

I usually see rifle brass start to crack in the neck area first. Once I see the first neck crack, I throw that whole batch away. You should have several more loading before you have any issues.

It depends on how you resize the case. With belted mags, many will full length size & you will get shorter brass life as you let the headspace be on the belt, which is wrong. You want to set your dies up to partial FL size & headspace on the shoulder, just like non belted cases. 10X reloaded with case trimming is easily done, even with top end loads.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
It depends on how you resize the case. With belted mags, many will full length size & you will get shorter brass life as you let the headspace be on the belt, which is wrong. You want to set your dies up to partial FL size & headspace on the shoulder, just like non belted cases. 10X reloaded with case trimming is easily done, even with top end loads.

On reloading Fred is considered to represent Gospel.

It really depends on your reloading technique. Bumping shoulders only .001-.002, I may be able to bequeath some of this 30-06 brass to my grandkids. Conversely, I’ve had some Norma .243 brass split necks on the second loading. Go figure. I’ve somewhat become an “excessive annealer” for that reason.

If you aren’t trimming a ton off your brass, then you are probably safe. Trimming a lot = something’s wrong. I really like the L.E Wilson chamber gauge. It’s inexpensive, and it really helps you set up your dies quickly. They even make an adjustable gauge for belted magnums.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
It really depends on your reloading technique. Bumping shoulders only .001-.002, I may be able to bequeath some of this 30-06 brass to my grandkids. Conversely, I’ve had some Norma .243 brass split necks on the second loading. Go figure. I’ve somewhat become an “excessive annealer” for that reason

If you aren’t trimming a ton off your brass, then you are probably safe. Trimming a lot = something’s wrong. I really like the L.E Wilson chamber gauge. It’s inexpensive, and it really helps you set up your dies quickly. They even make an adjustable gauge for belted magnums.

+1 on the Wilson gages. Have them for my pistol calibers.

I shoot bench rest. I have over 15 firings on some. They've been anealed twice. They are a little stiff and spring back is starting to happen.
As long as the primers are not lose I'll keep using them for sighters and practice. I have new brass for competition.

quote:

Originally posted by buggsboy:
I am working up hunting loads for a new Weatherby Vanguard S2 in 7’08 Rem. I have loaded this brass (R-P) four times now, and I am beginning to wonder if that is too many times to trust in its safety? If it were for me I wouldn’t be concerned, but this is for my son. Thanks

I have a friend who has been using the same brass since he started shooting F-class. He's been a High Master for a couple of years now, at Long Range, not just mid-range.

He estimates he's got 35+ firing on his cases.

I usually stop at 8 firings, when I start a new barrel, but I will probably stop doing that now. I'm at 5 firing on my brass.

These are not warm loads, they are hot.

The key is to use properly adjusted bushing dies and toss the expander ball into the garbage. Regular (non-bushing) dies overwork the neck and it will split at some point. I haven't used one of those dies on match ammo since 2007, and never with .38 brass.

Please note the caveat about properly adjusted dies. If you reload for more than one rifle, and they have porky chambers, you will not get many loadings. If you load for a specific rifle, set the die to push the shoulder back only .002 or so and have at it. If you push back the shoulder too much, the case will lengthen and you will get case head separation at some point.

Primer pocket expansion is what I was going on as my indicator of case life, but with small primer .308 brass, (Lapua Palma,) a tight chamber and a small base bushing die, that seems to be under control.

I find the primer pockets enlarge to the point of making some cases useless long before the necks give out.