How many reloads per rifle case are you getting?

Over time I seem to lose about 10% of my brass on average due to loss at the range, damage during firing/ejection, or resizing, trimming, and seating during reloading.

What I mean is that if I fired 20 cartridges and lose or damage 2 (10%) then I have 18 available for the second reload, 16 available for the 3rd, 14 available for the 4th, 13 available for the 5th, etc. so that if this were carried out in isolation (post TEOTWAWKI) I would eventually be down to a single piece of brass and it too would finally be damaged beyond use at the 190th firing from those 20 cartridges.

The 10% attrition that I have allowed in my head for years seems too high. I know that when reload a box of 20 cartridges, I often don’t lose a single case during the process, but by allowing for 10% attrition I’d get 9 reloads from each piece of brass and that seems unreasonably high.

I can’t help but wonder if anyone else has kept track of how many reloads they have been getting per case.

I'm talking about bottle necked rifle brass, fired without high pressure from semi auto rifles and full legth resized.

Thanks for any info!
Mike

Interesting question. I don't own a gun so I can't offer any answer but I have been contemplating getting my FID card so I'm curious about reloading myself.

There are several factors that determine how many times you can reload a case. First is are you loading that caliber for one gun, or multiple guns. If multiple, you will need to full length resize and that will shorten the case life because the brass is worked more. In this case the average is about 10 to 12 reloads.

Second, if you are loading that caliber for just one gun, you can neck size which just reshapes the front and neck area. This takes a special sizing die, but you can double the amount of times you can reload the brass since it isn't being worked so much.

If you are loading hot, high power loads, you will cause the brass to flow more than it will with a standard level load. This will cause more wear to the case and shorten the life as well.

I keep a lot of brass for every caliber I reload on hand, and when I shoot at a range that doesn't allow reloads, I make sure I am buying ammo that has reloadable brass, so my supply is slowly replenished as I lose some or find damage to it.

With my rifles, I full length resize, and I have been averaging about 15 reloads per piece of brass with 223 and about 10 with 308.

With straight wall pistol casings, I have some brass that I have reloaded 20 or more times, and it still looks and functions well.

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Thanks, so my 10% rule of thumb does not seem to be an unreasonable estimate. That would average out to 9 reloads per case if you lose 10% each time. Thnx.