Resized brass vs new

Multi-Tool · Sep 5, 2021

I have been using new Winchester brand .308 brass for a long time, but my supply was running out, so I sent it off to have it resized, trimmed, and cleaned. After receiving the brass, I checked to see if would chamber and extract in my Rem 700 and it was fine. Today was my first loading session with the resized brass. After loading the first case, it shaved some jacket material from the bullet, a 175g SMK. After that I ran the brass through a Sinclair expander mandrel, and used my RCBS case prep center to chamfer the inside and outside of the cases. My recollection is that the mandrel expands the case mouths by .002". It appears that there is still some scraping of the jackets, but not as bad as initially.

Should I:

Be concerned that this will affect accuracy?
Try shooting it before worrying about it?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

spife7980 · Sep 5, 2021

You should get a set of calipers and case comparators and measure to at least actually see what’s what instead of blindly trusting what is now mystery brass.

acudaowner · Sep 5, 2021

loving my once fired used brass thou I am only on my 3rd reload with most of my brass new would be nice but not at 119+ shipping per 100 pieces for the cheap stuff and I am guessing even more for the better lapua or Peterson if that price holds replacing all my 5 thousand pieces of brass would be quite expensive So I offset buy getting what I can for free from people at the range that don't save there brass but shoot fresh ammo straight from a pristine factory box yea me . how ever you do decide to get your brass I do hope you find what you need to keep yourself shooting and good luck . Ive seen no difference yet with any brass I have collected and reused or bought and fired myself once I trimmed sized cleaned and all that good stuff it shoots the same at least to me .

FatBoy · Sep 5, 2021

If you’re not using a VLD chamfer tool, this may be why. Cut a good 14* in there.

Silly question, but if you can reload your own rounds, why are you not sizing the cases yourself?

Multi-Tool · Sep 5, 2021

FatBoy said:
If you’re not using a VLD chamfer tool, this may be why. Cut a good 14* in there.

Silly question, but if you can reload your own rounds, why are you not sizing the cases yourself?

Sizing and trimming are time-consuming steps in the process. I would rather spend time on loading and shooting. Thanks for the tip on the VLD chamfer tool. I will look into it.

sjmpcc022 · Sep 5, 2021

Where does one "send brass off" to be trimmed, resized and cleaned?

FatBoy · Sep 5, 2021

Multi-Tool said:
Sizing and trimming are time-consuming steps in the process. I would rather spend time on loading and shooting. Thanks for the tip on the VLD chamfer tool. I will look into it.

I’ve been using an old Holland VLD hand took for maybe 20 years now. Works fine, though I rarely trim. If speed is your thing I think you can get the VLD cutter heads for the prep stations as well.

I hear you on time. I miss the days I could buy primed Wolf brass. That extra .$15 per case was certainly worth the time and primer savings. That said, for match grade loading, I like the control. I at least mandrel virgin brass unless it’s ADG.

BuildingConceptsllc · Sep 5, 2021

sjmpcc022 said:
Where does one "send brass off" to be trimmed, resized and cleaned?

Theresa guy on here that does it for me. He has my 308 and 6cm right now.

@Dave_the_ss

sjmpcc022 · Sep 5, 2021

BuildingConceptsllc said:
Theresa guy on here that does it for me. He has my 308 and 6cm right now.

@Dave_the_ss

Interesting, I had no idea.

supercorndogs · Sep 5, 2021

You can, I have the VLD cutter on my RCBS prep station.

Multi-Tool · Sep 5, 2021

FatBoy said:
I’ve been using an old Holland VLD hand took for maybe 20 years now. Works fine, though I rarely trim. If speed is your thing I think you can get the VLD cutter heads for the prep stations as well.

I hear you on time. I miss the days I could buy primed Wolf brass. That extra .$15 per case was certainly worth the time and primer savings. That said, for match grade loading, I like the control. I at least mandrel virgin brass unless it’s ADG.

I agree that having someone else do it involves a loss of control of the process. I was willing to send off my Win brass, but NOT my once-fired Lapua.

Multi-Tool · Sep 5, 2021

sjmpcc022 said:
Interesting, I had no idea.

Please send me his contact info. Thanks!

BuildingConceptsllc · Sep 5, 2021

sjmpcc022 said:
Interesting, I had no idea.

Yup. Another guy did it for a long time, but he's unable to continue to do it for folks, and so @Dave_the_ss picked it up and is doing it now. He will basically do as much or as little as you want. (Priced accordingly). It's well worth it to me. I just don't have the time to process brass and load, and shoot. I can manage 2 of the 3 sometimes, and so that's a pretty easy choice for me.

BuildingConceptsllc · Sep 5, 2021

Multi-Tool said:
Please send me his contact info. Thanks!

PM him. @Dave_the_ss

918v · Sep 5, 2021

Multi-Tool said:
Sizing and trimming are time-consuming steps in the process. I would rather spend time on loading and shooting. Thanks for the tip on the VLD chamfer tool. I will look into it.

Sending off your brass to be sized is a great way to induce casehead separation.

BuildingConceptsllc · Sep 5, 2021

918v said:
Sending off your brass to be sized is a great way to induce casehead separation.

All depends on who's doing it then I guess.... For me, there's a big difference in some company doing it vs a guy you know who shoots and loads and understands what it all means.

918v · Sep 5, 2021

BuildingConceptsllc said:
All depends on who's doing it then I guess.... For me, there's a big difference in some company doing it vs a guy you know who shoots and loads and understands what it all means.

How does one know the latter if he himself doesn’t have a clue?

BuildingConceptsllc · Sep 5, 2021

918v said:
How does one know the latter if he himself doesn’t have a clue?

I guess the same way other things are done here... based on what others say from their experience with the processor.

Steel head · Sep 5, 2021

I use a VLD chamfer exclusively.

Do you know how far your cases are being sized?
If you have a generous chamber and it’s resized to typical new brass dimensions I predict you may meet the case head separation fairy soon.

Steel head · Sep 5, 2021

I’ve resized brass for others before and I have the pertinent fired case dimensions and final sized dimensions for each chamber along with my own rifles.

FatBoy · Sep 5, 2021

Steel head said:
I use a VLD chamfer exclusively.

Do you know how far your cases are being sized?
If you have a generous chamber and it’s resized to typical new brass dimensions I predict you may meet the case head separation fairy soon.

@ Steel head . I’m sure you know this but for new-to - reloading readers..

That really depends on the brass and how much headspace is being introduced in the sizing process. I have some Lapua 308win brass that has over 17 firings with .003” HS and a small base. I stopped counting at that point. Winchester may not fair as well, but old blue bag or WCC brass is pretty damn good.

In the end it depends on what you’re willing to lose control over OR if you guy will size to your Datum request. The later, you take on some risk of stiff bolt closure and possible some extra force needed for primary extraction as not all datum tools are the same, but for slow fire it’s not an issue generally.

I have shot quite a bit if prepped/primed 5.56 and have never had an issue but back then I just left the shit at the range as I was buying volume by weight.

BuildingConceptsllc · Sep 5, 2021

Steel head said:
I use a VLD chamfer exclusively.

Do you know how far your cases are being sized?
If you have a generous chamber and it’s resized to typical new brass dimensions I predict you may meet the case head separation fairy soon.

Yes, I do. It's not like you just send it in and hope for the best. You talk to the guy and figure out what works for what you want and think that will vary for everyone.

918v · Sep 5, 2021

BuildingConceptsllc said:
I guess the same way other things are done here... based on what others say from their experience with the processor.

Lol

Steel head · Sep 5, 2021

FatBoy said:
Winchester may not fair as well, but old blue bag or WCC brass is pretty damn good.

I had 200 old blue bag Winchester 243 cases necked up to 260 kill two barrels and almost a third.
Most of it still held a primer at the end but I finally had a case head separation so I retired the rest of that lot.

I currently have 50 of the new stuff as a test and so far it’s doing well.

FatBoy · Sep 5, 2021

I found the red/ black bag Winchester to be horrible. I ended up tossing probably 20-25 cases for splits right out of the bag. I’m glad it’s working for some but it burned me.

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