Velocity variation and Case life in .41Mag

[rimfire]

Chronoed my Smith 41 yesterday with my standard load of 21 grains H110, 210 XTP, CCI 350 primer, heavy crimp with LFCD

Saw extremely consistent velocities with Federal brass.  R-P brass gave consistently higher velocities [60+ fps], but spread was 80 fps slowest to fastest, versus 20 fps spread with the Federal brass.  Both lots of brass had been fired multiple times.

Various conclusions I have debated...

1. Use R-P brass for practice only. 
2. Buy some more Federal brass [currently have a little Federal brass and a LOT of R-P...of course!]
3. Learn to anneal the casings to deal with possible work hardening
4. Pitch all old brass and redo experiment with new R-P brass......once fired...twice fired...etc.
5. Try some Starline brass...just cuz I can and have heard good things

How many rounds should I expect out of a heavily crimped straight wall pistol load before the brass is work hardened enough to affect my velocitiy variation and accuracy significantly?  Should I set aside brass for practice only after one firing...two firings...?

Appreciate your insight.

Barry

[stimpylu32]

Barry

First off , how did they shoot ? were you able to see a big diffrence in group size ? I have some 45LC brass that i know have been loaded over 15 times with a heavy roll crimp with no problems .

I just never got overly that concerned with the speed diffrence in handgun cases were a .1 or .2 grain could explain the diffrence . aside from case cap. between brands , there are other things that could explain the gaps .

stimpy

[Luckyducker]

I only use Remington brass in my 41Mag 6.5" Blackhawk with a load of 20.5 grains H110 and a 210 Rem JSP lit with a Win large pistol primer.  I have chronographed it three different times and it is always 1335 ft/sec at muzzle plus 10'.  The velocity is so consistent it is almost spooky. 

[rem2035]

rimfire
I started reloading the 41 mag back in the early 70'S. Got married and divorced. Didn't load for 20 yrs.
Just started back with on the 41 with 30 something year old  brass and never had a problem with it. I don't know how many reloads this brass has been through.

[Dand]

I don't know about these days but in the 80's 41 mag brass by Winchester had less capacity than Rem brass.  Ken Waters writes about it in his Pet Loads series.  He had some case separations with Win brass when he tried switching from near max  loads developed in Rem brass. 

Not long after the article was published, a friend had exactly that problem and for the same reason in his SW 58.  It was a real pain getting the case walls out of the cylinders.

I have been careful ever since and segregate my brass by maker and work up carefully when approaching max.

I have had long case life with either brand when making mild to medium heavy loads. Eventually case mouths crack and primer pockets get a bit sloppy. I'm sure some of my brass has been loaded more than 15, maybe 20 times.  I try to cycle out old brass now and then and buy new.

I'm much more careful with max loads using the heavy bullets of 250 gr and up.

Haven't done a comparison with Fed or Starline brass - don't have a lot of it.
It does seem that the nickel plated stuff tends to crack quicker.

I don't worry so much about velocity as I do pressure and safety for me and my guns.