Is my brass wearing out?

[kingfamous]

I have been reloading for a couple of years now and have been loading some lapua brass for my .308 bolt gun with the 175 gr smk's. i have around seven or eight reloads on the brass and the last time out i noticed that the usually tight groups were opening up. Is this a sign of the brass wearing out?

[Bill Steele]

Groups opening up is not a sign your brass is wearing out.

Loose primer pockets, failing the paper clip inspection of the inside of the brass down by the head, cracks on the neck or other places, etc. are signs of worn out brass, not groups.

Have you been annealing the necks?

What type of sizing are you doing?

[hk91666]

I have been reloading for a couple of years now and have been loading some lapua brass for my .308 bolt gun with the 175 gr smk's. i have around seven or eight reloads on the brass and the last time out i noticed that the usually tight groups were opening up. Is this a sign of the brass wearing out?

My observation on reloading 10yrs +.
Have you measured your cases. You might have too long of cases, they grow or flow after firing. You have to trim them every 5-8times number depends on how hot your loads are. The necks maybe getting soft and need anealing. Hard to say without seeing them. Look at what I wrote and comment. Pay attention to loose primer pockets, split cases, and soft necks. These three are important to observe.

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[kingfamous]

I measure and trim when needed. I neck size only until the bolt gets hard then i full lenght size with a body die. All brass looks good i inspect every piece before prepping. About annealing, i have not annealed this brass before. I have been afraid to because i have heard that if you do it wrong you can actually do more damage than to not anneal it at all. If i tried it it would be be hand, not wi a machine. Any tips would be great.

Hk- i thought that the brass gets hard as it gets worked and annealing softens it, correct me if im wrong.

[Bill Steele]

I measure and trim when needed. I neck size only until the bolt gets hard then i full lenght size with a body die. All brass looks good i inspect every piece before prepping. About annealing, i have not annealed this brass before. I have been afraid to because i have heard that if you do it wrong you can actually do more damage than to not anneal it at all. If i tried it it would be be hand, not wi a machine. Any tips would be great.

Hk- i thought that the brass gets hard as it gets worked and annealing softens it, correct me if im wrong.

Yes, you are correct it work hardens, this is likely why your groups are opening up. Some guys get fancy annealing setups. I just use a propane torch, put a 12mm (for 308) deep socket on an electric drill shank. I place the case in the socket and start it turning with the drill motor before I hold the neck/shoulder in the flame. I use 10-12 seconds depending on headstamp and then just drop it into a stainless pan to cool. I anneal about every 3 sizings (I pretty much only neck size).

[hk91666]

I measure and trim when needed. I neck size only until the bolt gets hard then i full lenght size with a body die. All brass looks good i inspect every piece before prepping. About annealing, i have not annealed this brass before. I have been afraid to because i have heard that if you do it wrong you can actually do more damage than to not anneal it at all. If i tried it it would be be hand, not wi a machine. Any tips would be great.

Hk- i thought that the brass gets hard as it gets worked and annealing softens it, correct me if im wrong.

Thanks for correction regarding annealing. My mistake.


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[Pete1979]

I've found that once the neck gets worked hardened, you can feel it and almost hear it squeak on the down stroke of the press. Once the expander ball has that resistance or squeak, I set the cases aside as the neck tension will no longer be consistent in that batch. If the cases aren't stretched too bad, have someone anneal them or start on a new batch.

[Ahhnother8]

the usually tight groups were opening up. Is this a sign of the brass wearing out?

Is the barrel shot out? Has the throat moved?

[kingfamous]

So after checking them really well I found that there are several that I can push the new primer in by hand, this would be loose primer pockets. Does this hapen because the load is to hot? I do not have any other signs that the load is hot. Im using 43.7gr varget with lapua brass. rifle is a savage fcp-k.

[Bill Steele]

So after checking them really well I found that there are several that I can push the new primer in by hand, this would be loose primer pockets. Does this hapen because the load is to hot? I do not have any other signs that the load is hot. Im using 43.7gr varget with lapua brass. rifle is a savage fcp-k.

The primer pockets are loose because they are worn out. Time to chuck those cases. My number one reason for eliminating brass from the rotation is loose primer pockets.

Unless you are shooting some seriously heavy bullets, 43.7gr of Varget seems fine. It is less than I load in everything up through 175gr SMK's.

[Ahhnother8]

So after checking them really well I found that there are several that I can push the new primer in by hand, this would be loose primer pockets.

All primers are NOT the same size. That is expensive brass, so just use a bigger primer. CCI BR2's are the biggest. Lapua brass should last at least 20 firings.

Send it on over if you don't want to use it anymore.

[Bill Steele]

All primers are NOT the same size. That is expensive brass, so just use a bigger primer. CCI BR2's are the biggest. Lapua brass should last at least 20 firings.

Send it on over if you don't want to use it anymore.

Good point, I missed the eight loadings. I also load Lapua and I get more than 8 out of them, but I don't get 20+. I haven't liked CCI BR primers in the past, but maybe I will have to retry them... good tip.

[kingfamous]

Ok so I checked them all out with the CCI BR and the pockets are all good. So I will attempt to aneal. At what stage in the brass processing do you anneal? Im due to full length size, so do I size first then anneal?

[Pthfndr]

Ok so I checked them all out with the CCI BR and the pockets are all good. So I will attempt to aneal. At what stage in the brass processing do you anneal? Im due to full length size, so do I size first then anneal?

Anneal first, then resize, then trim to length.

[thmpr]

I am surprised how easy it is to anneal brass - Giraud Annealer. I should have done this a long time ago! The savings alone could have paid for the annealer in no time - 6.5 Grendel, 308, and 6.8 SPC.