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Starline brass life (Has anyone ever counted no. of cycles?)


Mustang Gregg

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Reloading Pards:

 

It seems that Starline's revolver brass is about the most economical for revolver calibers.

And I reckon it is drawn here in the USA. B)

But we have not used it near as much as Remington, because we had a really BIG lot of RP brass when we started out in SASS-ing years ago.

Does it last as long as Rem, WW, Federal, etc., before it finally splits?

 

Much obliged,

Mustang

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No. Never counted the number of cycles. Never counted the number of cycles for any of my brass. My only account for amount of use is about 20 years. I have brass I've been loading for 20 years. I have had Nickel plate brass that hasn't lasted 2 years. Some Nickel that only went for two loadings.

 

Understand, this doesn't answer the question. It's just cold outside and I'm bored.

 

Coffinmaker

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Starline has a life that, with .45 Colt or .38 Special, exceeds most brands, including R-P. Slightly better than Winchester. Even in sloppy .45 Colt chambered rifles, I usually get about 25 cycles. In .38 special, too many cycles to even try to count.

 

The only Starline cartridge case that fails fast for me has been Cowboy .45 Special. I don't think they have the case annealing right on these, as they only run in revolvers about 5 times before a split at the middle of case, running half the length of the overall case length, develops. I get life more like 10 cycles from a used .45 Colt case trimmed down!

 

There are a few nickel plated Starlines around. I don't try to count cycles on them because there are so few in my herd. But I have better life with their nickel cases, too, than I do any other nickel plated cases. Just not as good as the unplated brass cases.

 

Good luck, GJ

Edited by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708
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Starline is my go to brass. Winchester has the shortest life for me. The others last longer than Winchester, but not as good as Starline

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I use W-W brass in .44-40 for CAS. I don't know what the life is as I have reloaded most of my brass at least 20 times and still going. The only losses occurred when my Rossi '92 would catch the mouth of the case on the extractor cut in the back end of the barrel, causing "pitcher-mouth" that sometimes couldn't be ironed out. Some passes with a needle file smoothed the sharp edges, and I don't have that trouble anymore. The only other losses occurred when ejected cases landed in tall grass and couldn't be found, or at a "no pickup" match where you couldn't retrieve your brass! :(

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My .45 Colt Starline brass seems to never wear out. Been reloaded so many times I've lost track. 44-40 seems to last around 15 or so reloadings before I start to see splits. .45 CS about the same. Just putting 3,500 Cowboy Specials into circulation with the intention of tracking the # of times it's been reloaded. Easy to do - in principle. Call me in 5 years & I'll let you know how that worked out :lol:

 

CR

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My .45 Colt Starline brass seems to never wear out. Been reloaded so many times I've lost track. 44-40 seems to last around 15 or so reloadings before I start to see splits. .45 CS about the same. Just putting 3,500 Cowboy Specials into circulation with the intention of tracking the # of times it's been reloaded. Easy to do - in principle. Call me in 5 years & I'll let you know how that worked out :lol:

 

CR

 

The most successful brass trackers seem to rely on a physical mark on the case rim to record the count of uses. Like a notch filed with a jewelers triangular file each time you load it. Hard part is finding those marked cases every time they come in to be loaded. Perhaps some brass blacking on the head, or a stripe up the case?

 

Good luck, GJ

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I tried to count my 45 colt brass once, after about 33 I think I lost count, and I bet some of those are still in my collection. I've been using starline 45 colt for about 4 or 5 years, and I think I have had only 2 split in that time. That is for matches and practice on the home range, with both full black powder loads and smokeless loads. As another has said, I think I have lost more simply for not seeing them on the ground, and you could step on the 45 Colt brass and it laughs it off. My 44-40 on the other hand, I've had 1 split in the just about 2 years I have been using them, but crushed so many more due to the nature of that specific case. Never did try to count how many times loaded, but I will say I have not purchased any more starline brass than the original 250 I purchased when the supply was short when I got that rifle. I should probably get some more in case this post just jinxed me. :mellow:

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I certainly lose more than I split. I've been loading 44-40 in smokeless and BP for 3 years or so. I bought 500 new Starline, probably loaded them 3-5 times each. no splits. I noticed that

my brass box was getting low, so I ordered another 500 rounds last week.

 

I mostly load 38sp, I have a variety of cases, about 10% nickel. I find way more split nickel cases than I do brass cases. I have about 2500 cases, I've probably loaded them on average 10 times each. I have noticed over the past couple of months that I've had a few more split cases, so may be getting to the end of that batch of brass' life. I have another 2500 ready to go!

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On one batch of Starline brass it was one. Bought 2000 pieces of brass and loaded them all up. On the first firing one out of two split. Kinda weird they did not split at the case neck. They split right in the middle. (Lengthwise not around the circumferance.) Called Starline and they said they weren't properly heat treated. They told me to put them in the oven for a few hours. (I forget the temperature.) Rather than insist on returning the brass I tried to work with them. Biggest mistake I ever made. Ruined a stainless steel turkey pan and the brass stayed crappy. Starline replaced half. I had mixed the crap brass into my other ammo so I still get a random split when shooting that ammo. ANYONE can have a bad batch of product. Almost ALL brass cases will last a long time with the low pressure loads we shoot.

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The plating process impregnates hydrogen into the base metal, That makes it slightly more brittle, they split sooner than unplated brass. The baking process relieves some of the hydrogen, therefore less brittle. That said I have a lot of Federal nickel 357 brass that has been heavily loaded over 30 time over a period of 30 years. I too loose more to tall grass than splits. I do not keep RP nickel brass because it has been my experience that it starts to split in just a few reloads. i have had great success with Starline in .38, ,357, ,44 colt and .45 acp. Love it, wish I could afford 5000 more of each.

my$.02

Imis

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The most successful brass trackers seem to rely on a physical mark on the case rim to record the count of uses. Like a notch filed with a jewelers triangular file each time you load it. Hard part is finding those marked cases every time they come in to be loaded. Perhaps some brass blacking on the head, or a stripe up the case?

 

Good luck, GJ

My plan is to stockpile the empties into a bin marked with the number of times they've been reloaded. Once fired in a bin until I need to reload, then segregate the twice loaded until I need to work them into the rotation. After the once fired are all shot and the bin is full, they get reloaded and go into a twice fired, and etc.

 

We'll see ...

 

CR

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How much belling and crimping of the mouth you do can negatively effect the life of brass.

Most of it. In .45 Colt chambers, Marlins (and others) tend to have generous dimensions. This stretching and resizing can be hard on brass as well. I have to resize, because they get reused in both rifle and pistol. I'll be that if you only used them in the larger chamber and did not do any more than resize the neck that you'd see longer life in the shorter lived cases.

 

CR

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My plan is to stockpile the empties into a bin marked with the number of times they've been reloaded. Once fired in a bin until I need to reload, then segregate the twice loaded until I need to work them into the rotation. After the once fired are all shot and the bin is full, they get reloaded and go into a twice fired, and etc.

 

We'll see ...

 

CR

 

 

Yep, that can work too. Prepare 50 bins. :lol: But it also means you have to track the loaded cartridges with a label, too.

 

The bookkeeping may make you depressed. Have some Christmas Cheer! I'd buy you one if I were in Illowa! GJ

 

 

 

But then, I am an Illdianatucky native myself. Winter depression seemed the norm when I was back there.

Edited by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708
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Yep, that can work too. Prepare 50 bins. :lol: But it also means you have to track the loaded cartridges with a label, too.

 

The bookkeeping may make you depressed. Have some Christmas Cheer! I'd buy you one if I were in Illowa! GJ

 

 

 

But then, I am an Illdianatucky native myself. Winter depression seemed the norm when I was back there.

We'll be at GOP, Fire & Ice, & Winter Range. Bar is always stocked!

 

CR

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If I have a high primer, I would estimate that 90 % are old winchester brass. If I disassemble the round and run it thru again, the primer is flat. Wonder why?

 

Winchester's primer pockets are often just slightly tighter than other US made brass. I've seen the same on .45 Colt and .38 special. The second time, you are paying a lot more attention to seating that primer firmly. That time, it goes in.

 

 

Good luck, GJ

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Went to the "Dark Side" in about '05-'06, got approx. 1800 Starline cases in 38-40, lost about 2 doz. to split necks over the years. Wait 'til I'm down to about 4-500 then reload everything. Brass is washed after each shoot, then about 3-4 batches are cleaned and dried and put up to await reloading. Gotta' make that Dillon 650 pay for itself. Pretty good record I'd say. Do get some other headstamps mixed in now and then, very seldom though.

Isom

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Much obliged, SASS Pards.

I appreciate sharing your findings.

 

I will be ordering another 10,000 Starline [yellow brass] .44 cases again.

They are about 10% to 15% less money than WW or RP.

 

Merry Christmas,

Mustang Gregg

Edited by Mustang Gregg
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What I've learned for pistols that is.....Just shoot, shoot and shoot when you find one that's cracked

chuck it and continue shooting and having fun. In the rifle I do watch what I load as it could ruin your

day.

Happy trails :)

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:FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm:

 

Much obliged, SASS Pards.

I appreciate sharing your findings.

 

I will be ordering another 10,000 Starline [yellow brass] .44 cases again.

They are about 10% to 15% less money than WW or RP.

 

Merry Christmas,

Mustang Gregg

If these are for your own use, you'll never need to buy again in your lifetime unless you reload 'em 5 times a year. If that's the case, then all you have time for is shooting and loading :P

 

CR

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CR:

 

It's mainly just load for he wife and me. But our son, his wife, and brother-in-law and his wife all use the same caliber and same load in ALL of our revolvers and rifles.

So we always pack extras!!!

I counted my stash of .44 brass last night [and it's all loaded now]. B) I have 2600+ rounds. The relatives probably have a similar number if you tallied all of their's up.

We don't go as many shoots as we used to. But we like to get to about 6 Sunday shoots and 2 or 3 two day shoots anymore per year.

 

Merry Christmas,

Mustang

Edited by Mustang Gregg
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:FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm:

 

CR:

 

It's mainly just load for he wife and me. But our son, his wife, and brother-in-law and his wife all use the same caliber and same load in ALL of our revolvers and rifles.

So we always pack extras!!!

I counted my stash of .44 brass last night [and it's all loaded now]. B) I have 2600+ rounds. The relatives probably have a similar number if you tallied all of their's up.

We don't go as many shoots as we used to. But we like to get to about 6 Sunday shoots and 2 or 3 two day shoots anymore per year.

 

Merry Christmas,

Mustang

Its a good feeling to have enough on the shelf to know you can pack up and go shoot without thinking about ammo. When all the ammo for my wife and myself is loaded it comes to close to 20,000 rounds. Hard to believe that later in the year I sometimes need to start loading again!

 

Enjoy the time you are able to get out - Merry Christmas to you as well.

 

CR

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