Reloading new brass?

[Phil Rizzo]

OK, I'm gonna question all you "resizers". Have you ever seen reputable virgin brass be oversized? I've not. So what does resizing virgin brass do aside from working the neck brass once before its ever been fired?

I tend to
1) Look at the flash holes. Put them all in a block and shine a light from various angles. If you see disparity, you will have handy reference brass. But honestly, the quality brass tends to never need work. But a quick check is sensible.

2) I've tried deburring flash holes, even ones that looked fine.. Seems not to have changed accuracy in brass that is looking all uniform to start with, but I tend to spend money on quality brass. If you must deburr the flash holes, remember that you need to trim the cases first, AND, first firing will affect case length variably as the case grows to match your chamber. Last thing you want to do is take uniform factory flash holes and make them variable with your deburring tool.

3) Double check case length on 5-10 rounds. Its always short but better safe.

4) Deburr and chamfer the necks, before mandrel. But if they are obviously dinged then I mandrel them first (and again later.) I keep the mandrel in a press while prepping and pop any case that's deburring unevenly into the press to get straightened out.

5) Run a mandrel through the necks. Using graphite neck lube. Nice because no cleanup needed. I like to mandrel at the end, as I feel it "cleans up" the debur just a tad before seating the bullets.

Then you load and run. But bear in mind that the first firing can often be wierd. And no amount of resizing will ENLARGE a case that is small to start with . You gonna have to blow it out to your guns chamber.

All you who say to re-size. Elaborate what I am doing wrong and why?

Expander mandrel following a trip through the neck bushing gives me uniform neck tension. I value that.

 

[nralifer]

I bought 500 brand new brass once and had always just loaded it up and things were great until one day it wasn't, I loaded up 200 of the 500 new brass and not one of them would chamber correctly, dropped them in a case gauge and sure enough they didn't fit correctly, ended up resizing every one.

I agree that most of the time the new brass is smaller in dimensions than once fired, but I full length size all new brass fot 2 reasons. One, it assures it will head space and stops resizes brass that may be too long as you observed in your post. Second, is to be sure the case mouths are round before chamfering. Lately I also have gone to testing neck runout as well. Surprising how much there is even on some presumed high quality brass.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Yes.

X2

 

[C-130 Dude]

I have some new ADG brass for my 6mm creed. Should I resize it before I load it?

Always.

 

[TXTrained]

I have some new ADG brass for my 6mm creed. Should I resize it before I load it?

It depends I never resize mine.I run it all through my Fireforming barrel first at 85% of my OCW.Then I check its OAL and trim to meet my barrels measurement.Deburr flash holes, case mouths inside and out..I use a Drill Press and jig.
Be careful not to trim too shirt.That is a big contributing factor in carbon rings.

 

[Beluebow]

Normally I would say never, I would just run it through the expander mandrel and load. The first batch of ADG WSM brass I received was either zero headspace or +1 so the shoulders had to be bumped back.

 

[RockyRandy]

Over the years I've found 2 brand new out of the bag cases without flash holes. I check everything on new brass. Machines and people screw up.

Me too

 

[Muddyboots]

I always do to ensure all is consistent. Why? To satisfy my OCD.

Expander mandrel following a trip through the neck bushing gives me uniform neck tension. I value that.

X2!
New brass is an OCD conundrum for me as well. I look inside every piece to make sure no debris which I find even in premium brass, measure headspace, chamfer mouth, basically set brass to my liking not whats in box or bag. You have your own steps to reload so why wouldn't new brass be part of it?

 

[RockyRandy]

I always do. I was at a long range shooting school 3 weeks ago and one of the other guys there had showed up with 250 rds of 6 Dasher that was new and he had just loaded them using only expander mandal and didn't debur them and after 5 shots he couldn't get them to chamber and had to use a school gun for the next 3 days of shooting.

 

[jraulsten]

Definitely resize but before you do, run a 3-way cutter on the case mouths. ADG is good brass but I think they cut it off at the neck with a hack saw. Not something you would expect from top tier brass, but it will last a long time if run at normal pressures.

 

[sw282]

I have some new ADG brass for my 6mm creed. Should I resize it before I load it?

OK Shooter. You can answer this yourself. Take 10 unprepped new cases. Load them and shoot 3 groups of 3 shots each.
Now, Take 10 more new unprepped cases. Full length resize them, trim to length, chamfer inside and outside of each trimmed case. Debur flash hole. Square primer pocket. Load these 10 PREPPED new cases with the same components you loaded the first 10 unprepped new cases. Shoot 3 groups of 3 shots each. Compare unprepped groups to the 3 groups you just shot and report back here..
282

 

[TXTrained]

X2!
New brass is an OCD conundrum for me as well. I look inside every piece to make sure no debris which I find even in premium brass, measure headspace, chamfer mouth, basically set brass to my liking not whats in box or bag. You have your own steps to reload so why wouldn't new brass be part of it?

Is OCD Contagious? I noticed mine when I started reloading..lol

 

[Tommo64]

I would. The one time I didn't bother I ended up getting misfires. I suspect due to excessive head space.

 

[sw282]

OFF TOPIC
l have learned MUCH this year preparing for a prairie dog shoot that got canceled due to wife's illness. My groups show it too. Even @ age 77 l am still learning. l have continued to shoot and load in spite of the missed trip. This past month the groups got SMALLER