Originally Posted by
Patrick Chadwick
Edward, thanks for the endurance test info. Those cases all lasted very well with full-length sizing. It would interest me to know how long a case can last with neck-sizing only. My experience suggests very, very long indeed.
I have a large number of RWS/Geco 30-06 cases that, after first firing, have only ever been neck sized and fired in the same rifle (M1917) with the same orientation. Initially, I was going to dutifully mark ease case each time it was fired. I have now lost count and given up marking, as those cases look as if they might outlast my active shooting life.
The rifle was arsenal-mint (i.e. dinged from being shunted around, but internally as-new) and has a head clearance of about 0.006" on fully-formed new cases. I reckon the working of the body of the case after first-firing is within elastic limits, but presumably one day the neck will fail. Does anyone have an idea when that might be? 30-40-50 neck sizings x 500 cases? I shall probably never find out.
Patrick