Brass Usage - What is your preferred approach?

[TheNimble1]

Curious about approaches to brass usage. Not sure there’s an empirically right or wrong answer, but I am interested in learning about how people approach this. There are certainly more than two approaches, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m proffering two options here for consideration.

Assumptions:
6 Dasher
New Alpha brass - 500 pieces
New Brux barrel

Option 1: Shoot the brass 1-500 and keep cycling it in that sequence. After 2,000 rounds you’d have 500 pieces of brass with 4 firings each.

Option 2: Shoot a single 100 piece batch 20 times and at 2,000 rounds you’d have 100 pieces with 20 firings and 400 with zero firings.

Which option do you prefer? Is there a competitive advantage to one option or the other? Is there an administrative/brass management advantage to consider? Thanks for your input.

Note: To capture as many points of view as possible, I’m cross posting this here and on FB. Apologies if you end up seeing this twice.

 

[60723]

Depends on the main use of the rifle. I shoot matches that require about 40 rounds twice monthly. Therefore I work with 100 pieces of brass for the life of the barrel. Some F-class shooters that travel and shoot 2 or more matches before returning home carry 300 rounds or more.

 

[K22]

I prefer to dedicate a manageable number of cases to a specific rifle, rotate their use so all cases receive the same number of firings and sizing's.

For my current purposes, paper punching, that number is now 50 cases. When I hunted, the number was 100 for my varmint rifles and 50 for my big game rifles.

 

[cdgaydos]

I’d say it very much depends on your use/needs. How often you shoot and how many rounds you shoot per outing…

Then figure how long it takes to process the brass (whatever amount you work with).

For example…. Assume you use all 500 in one lot and like to process your brass lots at the same time. In this scenario you would load and shoot all 500. Then you would be tasked with prepping and loading them all again. Is 500 enough to shoot what you intend to shoot? Can you get 500 processed in time between outings/matches.

I prefer to have one lot to shoot and one lot being processed. For 223 (where I work in lots of 1000), I have one I’m loading and shooting, one ready to go, one I’m processing… where “one” is actually 2 or 3 lol.

 

[Webster]

Curious about approaches to brass usage. Not sure there’s an empirically right or wrong answer, but I am interested in learning about how people approach this. There are certainly more than two approaches, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m proffering two options here for consideration.

Assumptions:
6 Dasher
New Alpha brass - 500 pieces
New Brux barrel

Option 1: Shoot the brass 1-500 and keep cycling it in that sequence. After 2,000 rounds you’d have 500 pieces of brass with 4 firings each.

Option 2: Shoot a single 100 piece batch 20 times and at 2,000 rounds you’d have 100 pieces with 20 firings and 400 with zero firings.

Which option do you prefer? Is there a competitive advantage to one option or the other? Is there an administrative/brass management advantage to consider? Thanks for your input.

Note: To capture as many points of view as possible, I’m cross posting this here and on FB. Apologies if you end up seeing this twice.

Do you want to make 1 buy for $650 or 1 buy for $2600.

 

[wkdickinson]

I use "Option 1", but shoot and process them in 100 rd. lots - but I would shoot all 500 once. Then cycle through all 500 twice, etc.

 

[searcher]

I know some of the absolute best shooters use only maybe 50 pieces (loading between relays) until it is toast. In respect to target rifles, I personally keep no more than 200 pieces in rotation on a particular barrel - but that is mostly because I'm not at the highest echelon of competitive shooters - and I pre-load a lot of ammo, maintaining enough ammo to maintain rough tune through practice and enough to shoot a match. If I didn't practice much and loaded on site, I'd keep much less in rotation. If you expect to get, say, 1,500 rounds out of your barrel for top accuracy, that is only 3 shots per each piece of brass when starting with 500. If you then changeout your barrel, are you going to use that brass in the new chamber - or discard/sell it? Neither are optimum as opposed to continued use in the same chamber. Figure a box of 100 Lapua or other high-quality brass, used over and over, will outlast the accurate life of most barrels in some target calibers.

When I'm loading for varmint rifles - all that is thrown out the window. I'll have in rotation and load as many as 1,000 rounds per barrel in advance of a long-distance squirrel shoot. As I expect to get at least 5,000 rounds on each varmint tube (in the calibers I shoot), and because I'm not using ultra-expensive brass, I simply start with a new batch of brass when a new tube is installed. I have had as many as 2,500 pieces in rotation on a tube, which results in only a few firings per barrel - and I would use that same brass after annealing in a new tube. Not going for world records there - just 1/4" to 3/8" MOA, ideally and changing the brass from one chamber to another didn't adversely affect anything enough to do what I expected of it, though I prefer to not do that on my target rifles.

 

[jelenko]

As mentioned, it depends so much on your application.

In my case, I compete in 'cross the course' where we use 88 rounds in a match. But, I practice a LOT and send my brass to be processed by someone else => my 'lots' are multiple thousands and i go through all of them on a given 'firing'.

The same brass is used on multiple rifles - they are all chambered to ~ 0 to + 1.5. The brass is sized to 0 to -2. Our toughest targets are 1 MOA X ring and 2 MOA 10 ring so we don't have to worry about the brass precisely fitting the chamber. The load just has to be in/near a node and go bang when the trigger is pulled.

 

[TxBowHunter409]

Curious about approaches to brass usage. Not sure there’s an empirically right or wrong answer, but I am interested in learning about how people approach this. There are certainly more than two approaches, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m proffering two options here for consideration.

Assumptions:
6 Dasher
New Alpha brass - 500 pieces
New Brux barrel

Option 1: Shoot the brass 1-500 and keep cycling it in that sequence. After 2,000 rounds you’d have 500 pieces of brass with 4 firings each.

Option 2: Shoot a single 100 piece batch 20 times and at 2,000 rounds you’d have 100 pieces with 20 firings and 400 with zero firings.

Which option do you prefer? Is there a competitive advantage to one option or the other? Is there an administrative/brass management advantage to consider? Thanks for your input.

Note: To capture as many points of view as possible, I’m cross posting this here and on FB. Apologies if you end up seeing this twice.

For the sake of this discussion, I'm going to say Option 2. I generally use 100 pieces of brass at a time. Cycle them through so that all have equal firings. Then keep the excess new brass in reserve until I hit around 20 or so reloadings, or until the reloads start to demand to be retired.

 

[Timon]

I use option two, but I only target shoot. I use 50 pieces of brass at a time then shoot it out. This method has worked very well for me for many years. I like having all 50 cases cycling together throughout their lifespan.

 

[Allen Corneau]

I operate in option #1 mode.

I have ~1,200 cases that get used throughout the year. I usually clean/process in batches of ~500 and keep things separated enough to know what is X-times fired and what is X+1 fired.

I'm currently sitting on ~950 shot 5X-fired brass with the remainder ~250 4X-fired brass loaded for the next two big matches. I won't quite have enough for the last match so I'll need to process a batch to make up the difference. I'll keep track of which rounds are 4X-fired and what is 5X-fired.

My friend has around 2,000 pieces of brass and I think he can go a whole year before he has to process brass.

 

[dthomas]

In my f class rifles I use option 1. In my hunting rifles I use option 2. In my comp gun I process brass after a match and keep track of how many firings.

 

[kyotekiller25]

Option 2 here

 

[JMayo]

I do 200 at a time . That'll last a barrel or more.
I shoot competition only and some require 150 +.

 

[D Coots]

Interesting.

Would it be fair to say some of you fellas methods are determined by how many rounds you normally get out of a barrel??

 

[SKWERLZ]

100-200 pieces brass per barrel though often that brass is often used in the next barrel as well.
I usually get 10-20+ shots on brass in bolt actions.
My 150 pieces of 7 saum brass burned the first and almost the second barrel and is being used to check load in 3rd barrel.

 

[64Rambler]

I have 300 from the same lot. I started with 100 to learn on - - I'm slow (to learn), so I'm on the 7th firing of those. But I'm on the 3rd firing of the other 200 and am focusing on getting those to 7X fired, then I'll blend all 300 cases and that should give me better consistency for a longer period of time between starting the reloading process again.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

High volume varmints throw a wench in the brass organization plan.

 

[divingin]

I, like Mr. Mayo, have 200 pcs of brass per barrel. Allocated when the barrel is installed, and stays with it for its lifetime. It gets loaded, used and stored in 50 rd lots, kept in MTM caddies, and is tracked with # of firings, firings since last annealed and last full length resize. Usually the barrel gives up before the brass does. This is for recreational (as opposed to competition) 6BR; both slow and fast twist. So with a short and a long range barrel in use, I have 400 pieces of brass active at any given time (though half the brass is on the shelf, as the barrel is sitting against the safe.)

 

[Texas Solo]

I have 300 6 Dasher Alpha brass.
I have 2 large coffee cans, currently marked 4x and 5x. I pull from the 4x, load it and shoot it. When it comes home, it goes into the 5x can.