The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Decided to do a bit of analysis and see what was going on with my 30-06 loads. I use a minimal load and decided to see what was going on with the brass purely for my own information. Stuff I was shooting today has been reloaded two or three times without annealing, so I wanted to see how the thickness in the head area was. Pulled four random cases from the spent brass and ran them through the band saw and filed the rough edges down. Here's what I found:

Case 1-



Case 2-



Case 3-



Case 4-



Neck got mangled by the saw.

Physical examination of each piece concludes that each case could have been reloaded at least one, maybe two more times without risk of a head separation. I will now add periodic dissection of cases to my rifle reloading practice, particularly when working up new loads. The loads in this instance were all 178 grain Hornady A-Max bullets with Winchester Large Rifle primers and 39.8 grains of IMR 4895.

Just anneal the cases and keep the loads below full house, if they are commercial made cases there should be no problem for at least 20+ reloads and I have heard of many more loads than that. Use a micrometer to check for case stretch before each reload and keep careful count of any case trimming that is done.

Those were all Federal cases and I don't have any need to do a maximum load. Ought to label one container for brass to be trimmed and another for brass that's good to go. Containers are cheap and I've got plenty of space for storage. I need to get a second scale as my handgun cartridge reloading setup is at my folks place and my rifle cartridge reloading setup is at home. I've got two ten foot shelves and one side of the shop there. Half of the bench is dedicated clear area for cleaning and repairs and the other half is where the progressive press and case cleaning station are. Right now, the scale resides in a container and travels back and forth as needed.

Scales are not expensive and redundancy is good when it comes to measuring powder loads. I have two scales, one digital, one analog, plus I use one of Lee's scoops to start with. I always double check every now and then to make sure my digital scale hasn't had an electronic stroke and started reading incorrectly. Paranoia when dealing with things that can kill you if you get it wrong is a good thing. I also weigh finished rounds to be sure none are heavier than accountable for by small variations in brass/bullet/primer weight.

Weighing cases surprised me I found that the Feral '06 cases I was reloading were 17 grains heavier than the rest. Seems like a big dif to me.

Brass is heavy, a little can go a long way weight wise. I weigh empty cases in a lot just to see what the variation is. What you found is not uncommon.

I just load 'em until I see signs of inciepent separation starting......I have cases acquired 30 years ago that have at least 10 loads through them.