Virgin brass, or once fired!

[bigngreen]

And I believe I replied to the case length comment not headspace.

When we fire headspaced brass, especially new brass the base to shoulder or headspace moves and since our bullet jump when a bullet is seated of the lands is based on the shoulder to ogive we see a change in jump from one headspace to another, I've seen it change a fair bit on some rifles not much at all in others. Base to Ogive is a comparative measurement but not an actual reflection of the chamber unless you subtract your headspace measurement.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

I do my entire little process with new brass except of course no neck brushing. Mandrel for neck uniformity and flash hole deburring and chamfer (only do once for life of brass) length check.

I know this sounds opposite but I always regard the new brass to not be as accurate and wait till its chamber sized to my rifle from being fired to get into the real accuracy shooting. Not saying which works better for most, just my own experience.........also it could be because this is when I start weight sorting and collet neck sizing as well as the necks getting some carbon in them. The case capacity gets more uniform as well I believe. Or maybe its all in my head

 

[ButterBean]

I did not see that this thread was about into the lands loads, all I see is first firing vs second firing.
The base of the case moves the amount of headspace you have which changes your seating depth except maybe but not all the time in a jambed bullet situation

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What biggreen said, I've said this countless time and I doubt one more will help but I don't understand what has happened to this site, New Brass, vs resized results was the question but here we are, lands, no lands, seating depth, where to measure from, Y'all forgot to ask how his primer depth was, I'm just waiting for the 6.5 Needmoor crowd to say you don't have to worry about it when your slinging a Needmoor

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Don't look at me Bean......I addressed the question asked I also only use premium brass but still think the chamber in your rifle is the best sizing die you own.

 

[ButterBean]

Don't look at me Bean......I addressed the question asked I also only use premium brass but still think the chamber in your rifle is the best sizing die you own.

Your spot on Brother and I have a very strict brass work up as well but this last episode with the Nosler Brass has me rethinking a lot of things

 

[Mikecr]

Common, but doesn't matter what you get from new brass. Once it's fired, it is no longer the same.
So hold off on load development until the brass is fully fire-formed, and stable as sized per your plan.

Until then, you can do seating and primer testing.

 

[Beluebow]

I'll admit to going off topic slightly based off post#2, then someone else took to something different. That said....

If you have a great fireforming load that is accurate, shoot it and enjoy it.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I HUNT with new unfired brass, it has always given me the best & stable 5 shots.
For my LR/Comp rigs I fireform my new brass doing seating tests, primer and powder tests before I do full load development.

Cheers.

 

[338edge]

I've been reloading long range rigs for 20 years now and have found virgin brass out performs once fired brass every time. With that said I still go through the reloading process with good results. I usually load up enough virgin rounds for hunting and some more if I want to show off to the buddies. Lol

The attached target is virgin brass shot out of a 338 Lapua Weatherby accumark @ 100 yards of course.

 

[338edge]

This was with the same 338 Lapua

factory rig with virgin brass

 

[dxlbaile]

So, now you have me confused, are you all saying that because the shoulder moves forward on new brass when you fire it, that when you load it again even after shoulder bumping back that you are now shooting closer to the lands??
Clear that up for me would you?
Does that mean when you fire your brass the second time if you started at .015 off the lands you now need to be .020 to maintain accuracy.. ?????

 

[7stw]

I've been reloading long range rigs for 20 years now and have found virgin brass out performs once fired brass every time. With that said I still go through the reloading process with good results. I usually load up enough virgin rounds for hunting and some more if I want to show off to the buddies. Lol

The attached target is virgin brass shot out of a 338 Lapua Weatherby accumark @ 100 yards of course.

Nice looking target. That's what I have experienced, on two different rifles. The resulting groups from the once fired brass were impressive, but not as good as the virgin brass. Come to think of it, the brand of the brass was the same, (Nosler). Not so in your case, but same result. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[7stw]

This was with the same 338 Lapua View attachment 194754factory rig with virgin brass

Wow, that's impressive as well.

 

[ButterBean]

This was with the same 338 Lapua View attachment 194754factory rig with virgin brass

That's awesome, I just had similar results with virgin brass, I was amazed, nice trigger work as well