New Brass - How to Prepare?

P

Phil3

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 13, 2008
402
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San Ramon, CA
#1
I read the informative sticky posts on reloading, but it starts out with fired brass. I have new brass. Should new brass be used as, resized, trimmed, etc.? How does the brass preparation change with new brass? As an aside, I do have about 50 rounds that were fired from the weapon I will be reloading for, but have 500 new Winchester cases in 223 Remington.

- Phil
 
#2
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

I run my through a FL sizing die to remove any dents and case mouth deformation. I then run it through my 3 in 1 case trimmer which trims, chamfers, and deburrs in a step. Seat a primer, charge, seat bullet, fire.

Josh
 
#3
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

^ what he said. i also deburr flash holes and uniform primer pockets. if you are using lapua or norma brass, these steps can usually be skipped. ive seen some pretty poor flash holes in winchester brass though
 
#6
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

I have loaded new brass many times without resizing. You get pretty good results, but you lack the consistency that you get when you fully prep the brass.

Usually with remington brass they are all sized pretty close to the same to start with and have always fit in my chamber without full length resizing. I use a neck sizing die though to make sure the necks aren't squashed or dented.

Here is a good new brass prep set of steps:

1. Neck size or FL size (your preference)
2. deburr flash holes
3. uniform primer pockets
4. Chamfer inside of case mouth
5. deburr outside of case mouth

This sounds like a lot of steps, but once you reload for awhile you realize the benefit of each step. You can also decide on removing steps to make less work based on how stingy you want to be with your brass.
 
#7
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

I neck size with a cheap Lee Collet die to uniform case mouths (dents and neck tension), chamfer inside and out then load. Once I've fired I then size (neck or full up to you), trim all to a standard length and chamfer the primer hole.
 
#8
#9
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grumulkin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Have ya'll every tried just loading up new brass without all the resizing, flash hole deburring, etc? If you did, I think you'd find that all your agonizing doesn't get you anything on paper. </div></div>

I use Lapua 308. there are bound to be dents and out of round case mouths no matter what. I always FL resize every loading. I do not own a neck sizing die for 308. Say what you want, but it works for me and I get 10+ loadings out of it (that is a conservative estimate). I don't mess with the flash holes because I never find burrs in the Lapua stuff. You always need to chamfer the case mouth before seating bullets to keep from scraping the jacket.

Trimming, chamfering, and deburring may sound like a lot of operations, but when it is done in one operation on my Forster trimmer it makes perfect sense. Plus, I know that my brass is consistent on those operations in every reload cycle. I am definitely looking hard at a Giraud.

This is what works for me and those are my reasons above. I don't expect everyone to do it that way or even agree with it. Just providing a little more explanation.

Josh
 
#11
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mordamer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This sounds like a lot of steps, but once you reload for awhile you realize the benefit of each step. You can also decide on removing steps to make less work based on how stingy you want to be with your brass.</div></div>

Well, I started reloading a bit over 40 years ago and came to realize the lack of benefits of several steps.

With new brass:

1. Neck sizing is unlikely to make any difference.

2. Deburring flash holes is pretty much a waste of time as is uniforming primer pockets.

3. On new brass, chamfering the inside of a case mouth may be needed if you're seating flat based bullets but never if seating boat tailed bullets. Deburring the outside of a case mouth on new brass is never needed.

By the way, I would go through as many steps as I though necessary to make good loads but don't feel like wasting time for something of no or minimal benefit.
 
#12
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

if im using quality brass i uniform primer pockets, debur flashholes, champfer and debur case mouth and load them.

i fugure if i have new brass im usually early in the load development process and dont need it to be 100% perfect yet
 
#13
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grumulkin</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mordamer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This sounds like a lot of steps, but once you reload for awhile you realize the benefit of each step. You can also decide on removing steps to make less work based on how stingy you want to be with your brass.</div></div>

Well, I started reloading a bit over 40 years ago and came to realize the lack of benefits of several steps.

With new brass:

1. Neck sizing is unlikely to make any difference.

2. Deburring flash holes is pretty much a waste of time as is uniforming primer pockets.

3. On new brass, chamfering the inside of a case mouth may be needed if you're seating flat based bullets but never if seating boat tailed bullets. Deburring the outside of a case mouth on new brass is never needed.

By the way, I would go through as many steps as I though necessary to make good loads but don't feel like wasting time for something of no or minimal benefit. </div></div>

What he said!!
 
#14
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grumulkin</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mordamer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This sounds like a lot of steps, but once you reload for awhile you realize the benefit of each step. You can also decide on removing steps to make less work based on how stingy you want to be with your brass.</div></div>

Well, I started reloading a bit over 40 years ago and came to realize the lack of benefits of several steps.

With new brass:

1. Neck sizing is unlikely to make any difference.

2. Deburring flash holes is pretty much a waste of time as is uniforming primer pockets.

3. On new brass, chamfering the inside of a case mouth may be needed if you're seating flat based bullets but never if seating boat tailed bullets. Deburring the outside of a case mouth on new brass is never needed.

By the way, I would go through as many steps as I though necessary to make good loads but don't feel like wasting time for something of no or minimal benefit. </div></div>

re: #2 & #3...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 42769vette</div><div class="ubbcode-body">if im using quality brass i uniform primer pockets, debur flashholes, champfer and debur case mouth and load them.

i fugure if i have new brass im usually early in the load development process and dont need it to be 100% perfect yet </div></div>

confuseder and confuseder all the time....

btw, vette, I'm only about 35mi from liberty. goingto shoot you a PM...

-Slice
 
#15
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

Truthfully I would say it really depends on what you are shooting them in and what you expect of the loads. I would say fully prepping brass cases, new or not, is of greater benefit the farther you are shooting and the more precise/accurate your gun is. Since we're talking .223 I am going to assume 600 to 800 yards max is your distance?

I see no reason the full length size new brass. How is FL sizing going to fix a dented case even if it was dented in shipping? Neck sizing? Okay, if they are/were dented.

Trimming to length, chamfering inside & out? I can see the benefit at longer ranges but I would just load and fire talking .223 as I pretty much use 90% boatail design bullets. Primer pocket reaming/uniforming and flash hole deburring I find to be a waste.

I think you'd find more utility in weighing cases and sorting by weight than you would with a lot of unnecessary prep on new brass. For something like an AR15 I load my new brass and go shooting. I worry about chamfering only after I have the need to trim for length.
 
#16
Re: New Brass - How to Prepare?

The main reason that I reload is to make accurate ammo,and mine is usually better than factory,any factory.I do case prep on my competition and hunting ammo for this reason.It only takes a little time,and if it helps any at all,its worth it to me.I guess it depends on what and how you shoot,if I was still shooting highpower and my rifle was damaging and losing my cases,I probably would not invest as much time in case prep. Pete
 
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