The age old question answered, how long does brass last ?
The question is how many times can brass be loaded ?
The answer is....
I've had 06' split necks on the 2 firing from factory, of course I have a couple lots with 20+ loads .
I've had another that split before it was ever chambered , age induced.
I have 45 Colts with 40+ loads and 9mm with the head stamps almost peened out .
I've even had head separation on 22-250 factory ammo in a rifle that you could feel the shoulder bump when you closed the bolt .
After 40 cycles the the Colts has grown too short . Fortunately there's a shorter cartridge I can run and if they split in 10 cycles then I'm only out the time I spent trimming them down to 45 Schofield.
The secret of long case life is ;
Don't size it more than you too.
Anneal it before the first one fails .
If the case has a design pressure that isn't raised by later cartridges running higher pressures then running it to the walls isn't going to be useful for case life . 70s and before 30 Rem and 6.5 Carcano come to mind . New production running in the same plant with 6.8SPC , 40 &10mm are likely to be more durable in respect to pressure wear out .
Ultimately brass lasts until it cracks , won't hold a primer , won't pass your QC , or gets too short to load or form into something else.
