Does new brass shoot differently than fire-formed brass?

[lancetkenyon]

Shooting elk is like shooting a huge piece of plywood.

Yeah, but KILLING ELK is like shooting a paper plate. That is sometimes moving. With your heart beating out of your chest. And adrenaline coursing through your veins. Usually in the freezing cold, with bad lighting. From an uncomfortable position. Through trees. With a short time limit.

 

[wbm]

Does new brass shoot differently than fire-formed brass?

Yes.

 

[Rardoin]

As most posts have noted, you will likely have some charge variation in new vs fired brass for a given velocity. But, it will likely be close. In example I developed a fireforming load for 7 Sherman Short mag/190gr A-tip that was precise enough at 1000yds to win some very competitive F-class matches...shooting High Master scores and setting a range record. My fully formed load charge weight was .2gr different. That's all. This is blowing the shoulder forward from 30 to 40deg and taking 80% or so of taper out of the body in the process of fire forming; that is much more case capacity change than you will experience by a long shot. I think you will find a load quite easily that is very close to virgin brass assuming the neck were expanded in the same degree when prepping. As far as loading in advance....there a lot of talk of 'cold welding' of the bullet to the neck. If you ammunition is kept in an environment that has humidity control and reasonable temp control you can load it months in advance. The U.S. F-class National teams that compete in the world championships load many months in advance in order to have ammunition shipped out to the host country and cleared through customs well in advance of the matches. I have loaded up .270 ammo for a caribou hunt that sat in a pack in the back of a closet in my home for 12 years. I found it, tested it at 100yds and it shot the same as it initially did. My father has a .338 WM that was his father's. He also had the original box of 200gr ammo that was purchased with the rifle that was used once on a moose hunt in the Yukon in the late 1950's. About 4 years ago he shot a 3 shot group at 100yds that was very close to .75" using that ammunition. This ammo lived in 4 different homes in the interval but was always in a controlled environment.

 

[Rhino55]

Good info here! I'm fireforming 260 Remington Peterson brass into 260 Rem IMP "30 degree shoulders". I have done 250 rounds so far with 250 more to go. With the virgin brass. I'm holding a .280 5 shot group.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

All good advice on "Virgin vs Fire Formed". I personally anneal, neck turn, fire form twice, trim, weigh then measure with a Redding Instant Indicator with Dial to set up my Full size die. You can get very consistant velocity SD when all your cases are the same.

 

[Vettepilot]

Regards the "cold weld" possibility. I don't really know for sure if it is a true phenomenon, but I believe it is as I have had older ammo exhibit much increased neck tension.

I am going to load up a good bit of ammo for "backup/rainy-day" storage. Might sit for a long time. Is there a neck lube or other process or treatment one can use to eliminate the possibility of "cold-welding"? (Not interested in moly coating, or other high tech, possibly questionable bullet treatments. Don't care to go down that particular "rabbit hole" at this time, if ever.)

Thanks!
Vettepilot

 

[parshal]

I dip the base of my bullets in RCBS dry lube if I know they're going to sit for a while.

 

[Vettepilot]

Would it hurt to dip the projectiles in graphite, or perhaps mica dust just prior to loading? (I am sure one would need to initially develop your load doing it as well.)

Vettepilot

 

[Rhino55]

Does Lake City Ammo Plant do anything about this "Cold Wield"? never heard of it.

 

[parshal]

Would it hurt to dip the projectiles in graphite, or perhaps mica dust just prior to loading? (I am sure one would need to initially develop your load doing it as well.)

Vettepilot

See my post directly above yours. That's exactly what I do.

 

[chariotdriver]

Seat the bullets long then bump them to your desired COAL before shooting. The LC plant used to seal their ammo with a tar type of material.

 

[Rhino55]

Seat the bullets long then bump them to your desired COAL before shooting. The LC plant used to seal their ammo with a tar type of material.

I remember that ammo well!

 

[JMW67]

Yeah, but KILLING ELK is like shooting a paper plate. That is sometimes moving. With your heart beating out of your chest. And adrenaline coursing through your veins. Usually in the freezing cold, with bad lighting. From an uncomfortable position. Through trees. With a short time limit.

Man that paper plate just got real small

 

[parker33]

In my experience virgin shoots a little slower with the same charge. I have had good luck matching the muzzle velocity of the virgin with the fired brass with a slightly higher charge.