270s aint 45acps: How many reloadings?

[Questor]

How many reloadings can I use my 270 brass for full power hunting loads? I was planning to discard it after about four reloadings. What's a realistic service life that gives a very low probability of case failure in these high pressure rounds.  

(with 45acp I just keep them until they fail or until I lose them, but I don't want to do that with high pressure cases.)

[Mikey]

Questor:  I don't really know how many times you can reload a high pressure rifle cartridge.  I think your practice of limiting a caase to four full house charges is a good safe practice.  Some brass will begin to fail early on, after one or two firings.  If primer pockets start to get loose or you start getting a shiny ring around the case web or have a hard time resizing them, it is time to toss them.  

I'm one of those guys who most usually sticks to one bullet weight and one powder charge, and I don't prefer to go to max charge weights, usually dropping one half to a full grain under.  Still though, the average case I use starts out as a factory round and gets reloaded anywhere from 3-4 times, depending on pressure signs.  Now, that's for pressures in the 45-60K range.  For something like the 45 acp, I've had cases go for up to 25 reloads, at factory sepcs and pressures, before they start getting too stretched out or the primer pockets too loose.  Hope this helps.  Mikey.

[Graybeard]

Dunno. If I ever wear one out I'll let ya know.  

Seriously I don't load for the .270 Win. much anymore since I gave the rifle and a few hundred rounds of loaded ammo to my oldest son Bobby. But if you load within the SAAMI specs on a modern round like the .270 Win. it is not unreasonable to expect cases to last you 8-10 firings before they must be replaced. If the chamber of your rifle is excessively large or has excessive head space or if you otherwise over size the case or abuse it by exceeding SAAMI pressures it will fail sooner. Some might anyway.

For hunting use locally I don't worry about it. I examine cases and if they look fine and load fine I use them. For a distant hunt with big bucks riding on it use once fired brass.

GB

[Questor]

Thanks guys. By the way, I'm in the habit of checking for incipient case head separation before each reloading. My technique is to feel around the inside of the base of the case with a sharpened and bent paperclip.

[Graybeard]

A gun/barrel either has a headspace problem or it don't. Not likely to develop over a short period. Once you've checked several cases thru say a half dozen or so firings it is unlikely that problem will crop up with that gun/barrel any time soon. Still not a bad practice to develop but generally unnecessary once a gun/barrel proves itself to you.

I've owned several Contender barrels that seemed to need constant checking.

GB

[Leftoverdj]

My rule is "trim twice". If I do a light trim to even up new cases, I don't count that one. Third time a case needs trimming, I throw it out.

Might get six shots from a case, might get 20. It all depends on the rifle, the load, and the brass.