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Posted: 5/6/2021 10:21:44 AM EDT
I have reloaded 38special brass that is split at the case mouth but I wouldn't think of reloading a split rifle cartridge. How many times would you or could you reload 30-30 brass?
Link Posted: 5/6/2021 11:10:26 AM EDT
[#1]
Depends on a lot of factors.  If it's a homogeneous lot of brass, all of the same source, then things like mouth or body splits mean that your brass has work hardened and should be thrown out.  A lot of splits?  Throw out the lot.   Another factor is how heavy a load you've been loading.  A mid range load or maxed out?  The heavy loads are going to go much earlier than the light loads.  I have some 32 Special brass (pretty much a 30-30) that have been fired over 20 times with a lighter cast bullet load.  I never bought much of the brass when I bought the gun and didn't pass it on when I sold it.  Trim your brass.  Anneal it every few firings. Clean, size, trim chamfer and inspect it before loading and you will know when it's ready to go.

Link Posted: 5/6/2021 7:35:59 PM EDT
[#2]
I shoot bottlenecked rifle rounds five times then chuck them. I am unwilling to anneal or see how long before they wear out.

It's not unusual for bolt action rifles using the same brass over and over to get 20+ reloads. I load for a variety of rifles using the same caliber and resize the brass so it will fit in any one of them. I am confident my ammo will work in anyone's rifle. This requires more shoulder bump than ammo committed to a single rifle.
Link Posted: 5/7/2021 12:47:50 PM EDT
[#3]
i have 40 years worth of mixed 30-30 and so far I have reloaded 20 of them twice. Loaded with 150 grain flat points to between 2000 and 2100 FPS and some 100 grain plinker loads for coyotes.
Link Posted: 5/12/2021 12:56:14 AM EDT
[#4]
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Originally Posted By xtrastout:
i have 40 years worth of mixed 30-30 and so far I have reloaded 20 of them twice. Loaded with 150 grain flat points to between 2000 and 2100 FPS and some 100 grain plinker loads for coyotes.
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With a lever action 5 times without annealing should be easily doable as long as its not cheap brass. Like you said in the OP, don't load a split neck or anything else that looks problematic and you should be OK.

38spc will split the mouths because of expanding (sometime over expanding) and then roll crimping. It works the mouth of the brass more than say a rifle case using a Lee FCD to crimp.
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