1911Forum banner

45 ACP brass life

10K views 59 replies 39 participants last post by  Rifter 
#1 ·
How many times do you reload your 45 ACP brass before discarding? I reload about 4 or 5 time then trash them. I've been told I'm throwing away good money.
 
#50 ·
^^^^ so what about range brass that has been sitting for a few months. The stuff that comes out of the tumbler discolored on one side from sitting on the wet ground... I'm not talking the corroded stuff just the 'doesn't look pretty' do you reload that or just toss it in the bin??
 
#53 ·
I load my target rounds light for 45 ACP and 45 Colt so I load until they split.

And when they split, I would never throw them away. They go in a bin to sell the brass when I accumulate enough. Just the thought of trashing brass hurts.
 
#57 ·
The only Brass I would be careful of reloading until it splits would be ammo shot out of a Sub machine gun.... Sometimes those can be bulged so badly that the sizing die shaves off brass to get it to size. By shaving off brass you'd make it thinner and weaker there....But most of my friends that load .45 for sub-guns have special steps they take.
 
#58 ·
This has been a very interesting read for me also. I don't reload yet, but have been chasing my brass for about 5 mos or so. I don't have a lot yet. I've been buying reloads, so the number of times they've been shot is an unknown.

So, when I actually do take that step, I won't have to worry about the brass being too 'old', just watch for the split cases.

Thanks again for this info.

Happy shooting and be safe!
 
#59 ·
My sister had a friend in VA whose father was a certain Mr. Orlando. He was a Navy man and competed with a Colt Gold Cup.

I know this because when he died, his kids took the Gold Cup and sold it, leaving the box and a bunch of ammo and other "trash".

I got a call from my sister asking if I wanted it.

Well, upon receipt, I noticed an old GC box which went to a feller who once knew Mr. Orlando from the bullseye circuit. Mostly, though, there was ammo. Glorious surplus, match handloads, lots of .22, and a few gun parts such as grips.

I have no idea how many handloads were on that brass; a lot of it was headstamped from the '60s and '70s.

There is still some of that brass I reload. I've not managed to lose it, yet. But the man used it for his handloads and I continue using it. Not one has given up on me, yet.

I've cracked a couple nickel-plated cases, but even those seem to last for me. I use them solely as the top round in my magazines; the one that's chambered by hand.

Josh
 
#60 ·
Nobody mentioned it yet, so I will. If you, like me, use range pickup brass, one essential tool in your kit is a pair of heavy duty steel straight edges. If you get any cases that have bulges, you can usually rescue them for reuse by rolling them between the steels (carefully) or against some hard surface to iron out those bulges. Then you can resize them without problems.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top