Rossi Rifleman

I'd decided that my Starline .357mag brass might be getting worn as I have 4 loadings with it and H110 and 1 loading with Lil'Gun so I called Starline Brass this morning and talked to their Tech Support. After explaining that I used the brass in my 2 Rossi leverguns, we talked about brass life as I've seen the hard life .357mag brass gets with full power, H110 powder loads (a primary reason I switched to Lil'Gun).

His answer was at the same time surprising and not as I had known about the issue but thought about it from only an accuracy point of view, not brass life. In short, the issue is this and he sees it a lot in leverguns.

As most leverguns lock the bolt from the rear (unlike bolt and semi-auto actions that lock from the front) there is still some slight play in the bolt even when the action is fully closed and locked. I knew about this issue and thought about it in terms of degrading the accuracy in my rifles. However, it's not the only issue this causes.

This slight play in the bolt is especially hard on straight walled pistol cartridges causing them to stretch and eventually fail via a case separation just above the extractor grove. This happens in leverguns with less cycles than a necked caliber or in a rifle with the bolt lugs in the front like a bolt action or semi-auto.

He cautioned that shooters who use .357mag, .44mag, .41mag, and 45 Colt brass with heavy loads should keep track of the number of firings and measure the brass length after firing as it grows over time. If one has a rough chamber, a slightly oversize chamber, or a poorly locking bolt, the situation can be exacerbated. Calibers like 44-40, 38-40, 38-55 don't exhibit this issue to the extent that straight walled calibers do but they deserve watching as well.

Thought I'd pass on the information to you all. I'm now thinking of retiring my .357mag brass and buying some new brass as it saw 4 cycles of full power H110 loads. I'm thinking that it might just be cheap insurance in the long run.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering how many times I can reload my brass. I just purchased .38sp+p starline brass as well. I would think the brass life may be the same when using reloads with starline brass in revolvers as well.

Zee33 wrote:Thanks for the info. I was wondering how many times I can reload my brass. I just purchased .38sp+p starline brass as well. I would think the brass life may be the same when using reloads with starline brass in revolvers as well.

Actually, he said that it's much longer in revolvers than in leverguns.

Good info, Steve. Thanks.

I enjoyed a factory tour at Starline a few years ago. Good people and a fascinating operation.

An old friend who loves to play with wildcat cartridges has some sort of Dial Indicator/Plunger setup that lets him see the change in case thickness at every point along the wall.
He does this “after” resizing, so that any “difference” is on the inside of the case. He has a remarkable collection of records showing very close to exactly how many reloads he can get out of a particular load. And he does use Starline exclusively.
He’ll also be the first to tell you that unless you know every single aspect of the life of the case, all bets are off. I’m sharing this in case any of you would like to explore this method, and admitting that I have not myself.
Anyway, I was happy to read this Steve, and thank you for sharing it! I don’t get bothered about the occasional case separation in my 9mm’s or .45acp’s, for I “know” that “my” guns can contain it. But hotter revolver cartridges starting with your beloved .357, well, I’ve seen people on the side-lines get hurt a bit.
Thanks again!

As this information pertains solely to leverguns, not revolvers, I don't have a worry either as the action remains closed and the 'issue' is simply getting the remaining case barrel out of the chamber.

I called them about the same thing about two years ago. I wish the guy I had talked to had been as nice of the fellow as your contact. I had noticed a very short life cycle with my leverguns, guns I've never had problems with using other brands of brass. For example, using Winchester brass with the 45 Colt and 454 Casull, I arbitrarily tossed it after ten cycles. I could not get three cycles with the 45 Colt and experienced head separations with the 454 on the second shot. The necks on my 32-20 brass were cracking after the second or third shots.

I just ended my use of Starline brass. I sold or gave away everything I had and went back to Win. I've gone back to Winchester brass save the 480 Ruger, which I had been using Hornady. Despite it being "my reloading problem" (according to the person I spoke with), all issues with brass in my shooting cycles have ceased.

Not all brass is the same, I think Starline's alloy is too brittle.

Now that is an interesting thought. Too brittle could be an issue. I use Starline brass in my 10mm and 45 Super with no problems. Maybe I'll give Winchester brass a look though.

ETA: Wow! Winchester is mighty proud of their brass! Best price I could find on 1,000 pieces (10 bags) was $192 delivered. That compares with $141 delivered for 1,000 pieces of Starline brass. That extra $52 is a 36% premium over the Starline price.

COSteve wrote:Now that is an interesting thought. Too brittle could be an issue. I use Starline brass in my 10mm and 45 Super with no problems. Maybe I'll give Winchester brass a look though.

ETA: Wow! Winchester is mighty proud of their brass! Best price I could find on 1,000 pieces (10 bags) was $192 delivered. That compares with $141 delivered for 1,000 pieces of Starline brass. That extra $52 is a 36% premium over the Starline price.

I ran into the same issue with the 9mm Makarov. Starline is about the only way to go. With all my other semi-auto pistols, I run Privi Partizan. PPU makes the Makarov brass, but it does not appear to be available in this country. I have 5K cases of SL for this cartridge so I suspect that will be enough to get me to where I'm not shooting any longer.

In the 25, 32, 380, and 45 Auto plus the 9mm Luger; PPU has run at least a penny a case cheaper than Starline and I feel it is much better brass. With my bolt action cartridges, PPU is my brand of choice followed by Win then Hornady.

A couple of years ago I bought a whole load of new Starline .357 brass as the primer pockets on the old ones were getting a bit loose... but its not surprising, as my original brass (also Starline) was over 30 years old, and probably been reloaded 30-40 times...!!

However, I will say that my reloads were always light target loads... I use .357 brass to prevent any problems in the chamber...

They had been used in my S&W 686, then when we lost pistols they were used in my Marlin underlever.