Since everybody's facing ammo issues...

[KentuckyLevrgunr]

Everybody, especially reloaders, is having trouble finding ammo and components and getting it at a fair price. I was reloading .44 Mag the other night when I realized I'd gotten 10 firings out of a set of factory loaded cases with no noticeable sign of wear or stress. So here's the question for yall- which recipe of yours leads to the longest case life? What's your most economical recipe? So anyhow, .44 Mag is all I reload right now, but here's mine:

.44 Rem Mag
Winchester cases
Winchester WLP primers
9.0 gn Unique
240 gn SWCGC

I plan to order some 200 gn cast bullets because they're cheaper and set the 240s aside.

[AJMD429]

I have some .44 Mag cases from the 1970's loaded several times with 20 grains or so of 2400 and 240 grain JSP's. Dunno how many 'several' is, though...maybe half dozen, at least, probably some a dozen or more.

[Hobie]

That load is my load in the .44 Mag S&W 629. I've only a couple of boxes of the Remington SJHP factory load left and a couple of boxes with 300 gr. barn burners for the Contender carbine.

[O.S.O.K.]

You can reload 45ACP brass almost indefinately. I once shot informal steel plates with an old gent that had 40 year old brass that he was still reloading!

[Sixgun]

The 44 mag. is a very thick walled case and the guns that have been chambered in it are all strong with tight tolerences. The loads you are using will probably last until Obama is a faint memory. Won't be nothing to load those 30-40 times. ------------------------Sixgun

[two bit okie]

I got my first super blackhawk in 1972, yup last year of the 3 screw. I bought cases for several years there after amassing 2000. and then stopped. I mean what the heck, 2000 cases for one gun.

Fast forward to sons graduating college. How many of you fools have made the statement, " Ya, son's name, when you graduate from college this is yours." In my case, the afore mentioned super and a boxed mod 29-2.

the long and short of it all, gave some to kids, bought some new once fired, ect, ect. back up to 2000 with 100 hornady 185 gr XTP ahead of 2 pounds, or there abouts, of 296. and 100 318 gr hard cast. and the balance 6 grs of unique behind a 200 gr. I know a wussy load, or at least sounds like wussy load, (arthritas is gaining on me).

I will look for once fired 44s again, and try to start to maybe replace some of the 70s brass.

[Malamute]

That's my favorite 44 recipe also, even to the 200 gr bullet as an alternative. Makes a nice small game or plinking load in the 44 carbine, about like the old 44-40 load I believe. I've been loading some of my cases with that load off and on for 30 years. I have no idea how many times they've been loaded. Some get set back for reserves, many get fired and loaded quite a bit. 38 spl cases seem to last about forever too. Every now and then I get a crack in one. Been working on a couple hundred 30-30 brass for a long time also.

[JohndeFresno]

...
.44 Rem Mag
Winchester cases
Winchester WLP primers
9.0 gn Unique
240 gn SWCGC

I plan to order some 200 gn cast bullets because they're cheaper and set the 240s aside.

That load is my load in the .44 Mag S&W 629.

+1 for my Taurus .44 Mag Stainless Mag and Ruger Super BH 10.5 in. silhouette gun.

I prefer CCI 300 primers; but since they are scarce, will now use Fed 150's of which I have a good supply.

The mild .44 Mag load is my favorite handgun load of any caliber for plinking and target. With its accuracy, I'm going to stay with the 240 grainer rather than save a few pennies by moving to a different cast bullet round.

[Warhawk]

The only revolver cases I've ever lost were some .38 Specials that split. These were in a big mixed lot of brass that I had, some of that brass came from commercial reloads that had recycled brass from a police range, and had been loaded many, many times from the looks of them.

The only big bore revolver cases I ever remember losing were ones that I crunched in the press.

[adirondakjack]

If ya don't overwork the brass in the press, tumble brass and clean dies once in a while, brass lasts a long time. Folks over-bell cases, leading to early splits. Tickle that bell until you have JUST enough to keep from shaving lead and brass will last a lot longer.

[Modoc ED]

Everybody, especially reloaders, is having trouble finding ammo and components and getting it at a fair price.

You'll never again see ammo and components at what you consider a fair price to be.

[stretch]

Kentucky, you might expire before the brass does using that load.

I have a friend with some 45 ACP brass that he's been loading since before
I was born. Some of the stuff goes back, according to him, before
the 2nd World War. Headstamps are no longer readable on some of
the cases - they've been reloaded many, many times.

As other folks have said, don't overwork your brass. Bell and crimp just
enough to get the job done. (On heavy loads, that "just enough" crimp
might be significant, of course!)

-Stretch