Ascorbic acid and case life

[Trigger Guard]

I finally splurged and bought some Lapua brass and I found this comment under the reviews at MW. True or not true? Really worth the extra effort?

"Lapua .308 Win brass, over many years of reloading, has proven to hold up very well even fired from a dozen different bolt action and auto-load .308 rifles... and using full case sizing each time..if the Ammonia caused by the burned powder is neutralized by soaking the fired brass in a weak solution of ascorbic acid and water shortly after being fired.(vitamin C, 250mm x 6 in one quart of H2O) This keeps the brass from becoming brittle; annealing is needed only after 6 reloads and the Lapua brass will last for about 18 reloads."

Thanks

[GeoffLinder]

The part about 18x loadings would definitely be true for a bolt rifle where you only setback the shoulder a little if at all. For a semi-auto where you re-size the whole case, I would be skeptical about more than 8-10 loadings at medium to high pressure levels just because of the fact that brass stretches and the base is where the metal that you trim off the case mouth every few firings comes from. Case head separations are no fun in any rifle. Bolt rifles where you neck size only do not need trimming anywhere as often and the case metal is not migrated forward like it does when full-length re-sized.

Re-annealing is a good idea in this caliber after a number of firings to keep the brass from work hardening.

It is known (but somewhat debatable) that ammonia shortens case life. Acid will neutralize ammonia, so there you go.

[Trigger Guard]

Thanks, I will try the vitamin C soaking on one batch and later, I will leave a new batch deficient(so to speak).

[bohoki]

hmm should i use the flinstone vitamins or a kool aid packet?

[GeoffLinder]

Thanks, I will try the vitamin C soaking on one batch and later, I will leave a new batch deficient(so to speak).

Holding a few cases aside and running a longterm test with a control group of cases not processed this way compared to the rest with this processing done would be a good data point here.

18x firings from .308 in a semi-auto makes me very skeptical. 10-12 I would buy, but 15+ after full length resizing sounds like case head separation city to me :-(

I know that Vitamin C is supposed to have anti-oxidant properties in chordate organisms, maybe it helps inanimate objects live longer too

[killshot44]

"if the Ammonia caused by the burned powder is neutralized"

Whaaaat?