Depends on how hot you load them, if you full length size everytime like needed for an AR, i use lake city 5.56 brass so I have to swag the primer pocket to remove the primer crimp the first time i load them. As far as how many loads for .223 per case I have yet to burn through a whole batch one of my sets of cases has 6 loads and I have 82 of the 100 cases left in that batch of cases. I have been kicking around buying a .223 bolt action since I already load it.