when is your 223 brass unusable ?

[rebs]

How many times do you reload your 223 match cases before you begin to loose accuracy ?

 

[Nature Boy]

I consider mine unusable when the primer pockets get too loose. When I start to notice less seating force I’ll measure them with a pin gage, a 0.175 (-) if I recall correctly (someone please verify that)

If the pin doesn’t enter the pocket I’ll keep using them and will watch them more closely over subsequent reloads. Once I get a case where the pin goes all the way in I’ll scrap the batch

 

[mikecr]

My cases never lose accuracy.
The only way I can think of cases un-recoverably loosing accuracy is for runout to reach well beyond chamber clearances.

 

[jepp2]

How many times do you reload your 223 match cases before you begin to loose accuracy ?

If you don't anneal, and depending on how much work you subject the neck to during sizing (if you size with a FL die that isn't honed, it seriously undersizes the neck normally), how much larger your chamber neck is than your loaded neck OD, etc, you will work harden the case neck. Annealing will correct this. Otherwise as the case neck work hardens your neck tension changes significantly.

As mentioned enlarged primer pockets, incipient case head separation due to excessive shoulder setback, and expansion at the 0.200 line are other causes of retirement.

 

[K22]

All bolt rifle here. I full size with a .001 to .002" shoulder bump leaning more towards the .001 area. I don't anneal.

On average I get about 16 to 17 reloads. I will get an occasional neck or shoulder split before I reach this amount of reloads however. As a matter of practice, I retire the cases after 17 reloads figuring I've got my money's worth.

For the most part the rims tend to give out before anything else especially in the Remington 700's and 7's which tend to chew up the rims.

I haven't noticed any decline in accuracy at 16 to 17 reloads.

 

[dstoenner]

For me it is when i full length resize the case and i cannot feel the resistance of the neck sizing button pull through the neck i call it done. It probably is close to incept case failure. It won’t have constant neck tension with the rest of the batch. For my lake city brass that was from 5 to 9 firings. As they got more firings at 7 is was not uncommon to have a 50% cull rate.

now my Lapua has 10 firings on it and still going strong. My Norma cases seem to be following LC to some extent

David

 

[PopCharlie]

I just tossed 75 pieces of Lapua Match. 223 and about 60 pieces of Lapua 6.5x47 brass. The .223 had 13 loadings. Max loads 7 times, lighter loads 6 times. The 6.5 brass had 15 loadings. The primer pockets on all of these were loose.

PopCharlie

 

[mikecr]

Folks, he's asking about ACCURACY LOSS (not the point of retiring cases for reloading issues).

 

[Uncle Ed]

How many times do you reload your 223 match cases before you begin to loose accuracy ?

When you reload the cases so many times the necks crack is when you lose accuracy.

If the primer pockets get too loose all that happens is it burns holes in your bolt face.

No rifles or brass were killed or injured in the filming of this posting.

 

[DukeDuke]

this bolt face needs a mask!

 

[M-61]

Title says 'when is your .223 brass unusable?'
Text asks ...when does accuracy get lost?.....
If the brass is determined to be unusable it should never reach the accuracy phase as it should not be reloaded in the first place.

 

[Ron Blain]

How many times do you reload your 223 match cases before you begin to loose accuracy ?

For me not so much I notice accuracy falling off. Typically I buy used GI brass in 223 Remington (5.56 NATO) and 308 Winchester (7.62 NATO) and when I buy it's normally several thousand at a time. During the Winters I clean and size. I use the brass five times and discard it. With the higher end brass like Lapua I look to get a few more firings like maybe eight starting with new brass.

Ron

 

[MGYSGT]

When I think the brass is done. I reload it one more time and put it in the plinking/war reserves box.

 

[Catfur]

No rifles or brass were killed or injured in the filming of this posting.

That bolt face (a rifle part, I assume) might object to that statement.

 

[Uncle Ed]

That bolt face (a rifle part, I assume) might object to that statement.

The person who posted that photo in another forum said he didn't worry about loose primer pockets. This same person said he just replaces the AR15 bolt when it gets bad enough.

So to answer the OPs question it depends on who is judging the brass.

 

[Bill K]

How many times do you reload your 223 match cases before you begin to loose accuracy ?

I feel that the brass has way less to your beginning to loose accuracy. More likely it will be the wear or variance on the load you have going, than the number of times you use a particular case. Could be wrong, but that is my thought.