Keep Your Cases In Tip-Top Condition
THE brass case provides a durable package in which the other components of a cartridge are contained. It is elastic enough to expand and cling to the walls of the chamber to seal the breech of the gun to prevent gases from flowing back around the case, yet springy enough to break that seal so that it can be extracted. Given a reasonable amount of care, it can be reloaded safely a number of times.
The case is the only component making up the cartridge that is not consumed or expended when the cartridge is fired and being able to reload the case a number of times is the principal source of savings on ammunition made possible by "rolling your own." Its tensile strength is high enough to withstand the high pressures generated in rifle cases when properly supported by the chamber and bolt. It can be formed by extrusion, milling and stamping for economical fabrication, but the quality of the brass case is what really controls the economics of reloading.
Cartridge cases don't have to be made of brass, they
