Resize new brass?

N

NorthBorder

New member
When you buy new unfired brass do you have to resize it? I recently bought a bag of new Winchester .270 brass. I thought I would just prime it first, but then I noticed the case mouth on just about every piece was either dented or knicked up. One piece was even torn at the mouth. I am still in the learning stage of reloading and have never bought new unfired brass before. Thanks
 
Right or wrong, I usually FL resize new brass to get the "kinks" out of the neck like you found. I also chamfer and debur the casing necks and debur the flash hole. Most of my rifles have custom barrels and resizing, etc., is my insurance that the casings will chamber in my rifles.

I recently purchased 200 Lapua 22-250 casings and found many of the casing mouths to have a slightly flat side. The Lapua brass is very uniform in weight and length, but I would never just prime, put powder in them, seat bullets and go shoot. Those rough necks would rip the sides of the bullets so they all got the full treatment from me.
 
I re-size new brass unless it's lapua, those seem to be perfect out of the box. But Win, RP, Fed get re-sized, trimmed and chamfered. Some de-burr flash holes and uniform primer pockets also.
 
I too FL size new brass before loading. I also uniform the primer pockets and deburr the flash holes, which is probably overkill. That's okay, I'm anal that way and it gives me something to do while watching the toob instead of yelling at the talking heads.
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Originally Posted By: pahntr760I just bump the mouth on the button to ensure its god and round...no actual sizing.

This is what I do.
 
I never full length resize new brass. If the mouth has a dent, I will just run it into the die enough for the expander ball to straighten it up. I then try a few in my rifle, if the bolt closes easily, I will call it good and load them. It's NEW brass, baring shipping damage, it's the same brass they use in their loaded ammo. Do you pull the bullets and resize that? Your full length resizing die will only work the neck and possibly bump the shoulder. The body should already be smaller than what the die will work. I would lightly chamfer the neck inside and out and load them. I also de-bur the flash hole. Give them all a good visual inspection, as quality control might have missed something.
 
Originally Posted By: TheshedhunterOriginally Posted By: pahntr760I just bump the mouth on the button to ensure its god and round...no actual sizing.

This is what I do.

Yep.
Me too.
If you don't want to get the dies off the shelf just run a center punch or needle nose pliers lightly inside the neck to round it out.
Load, shoot, repeat.
 
I don't FL size them. I do use a mandrel to round the necks. I use a neck turning mandrel so I don't increase the inside diameters. The 0.002 under sized shaft seems to come out just right for me.

I chamfer all of them prior to loading plus do the flash holes if it is non-Lapua brass.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: ninehorsesI never full length resize new brass. If the mouth has a dent, I will just run it into the die enough for the expander ball to straighten it up. I then try a few in my rifle, if the bolt closes easily, I will call it good and load them. It's NEW brass, baring shipping damage, it's the same brass they use in their loaded ammo. Do you pull the bullets and resize that? Your full length resizing die will only work the neck and possibly bump the shoulder. The body should already be smaller than what the die will work. I would lightly chamfer the neck inside and out and load them. I also de-bur the flash hole. Give them all a good visual inspection, as quality control might have missed something.

Pretty much my exact thoughts.
 
Originally Posted By: 204 ARI re-size new brass unless it's lapua, those seem to be perfect out of the box. But Win, RP, Fed get re-sized, trimmed and chamfered. Some de-burr flash holes and uniform primer pockets also.

Exactly
 
Originally Posted By: DesertRamI too FL size new brass before loading. I also uniform the primer pockets and deburr the flash holes, which is probably overkill. That's okay, I'm anal that way and it gives me something to do while watching the toob instead of yelling at the talking heads.
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The other posts got me to thinking that I should clarify. I generally set my FL to resize the neck and just barely touch the shoulder. So in essence, I'm pretty much just sizing the necks on new brass. No reason to work the whole body.
 
I full length size mine, trim, turn the necks, and anneal before using. Years ago I just loaded them right outta the bag. Just depends how tight of groups you like to shoot.
 
Greg what do you put the mandrel in/on to use to uniform the necks. I like the idea of checking New brass with my wilson case gauge and trueing the necks your way. Thanks Mike.
 
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I usually do, more of a why not than anything else. Although 1 badly sized piece can ruin a day. If I was doing 50k of them, might not. But since it takes about 5 minutes to do a couple bag it's no biggie.

Since the brass should be pretty close to correct, you're not really working anything. And if one does get worked, it needed it.
 
Originally Posted By: spotstalkshootGreg what do you put the mandrel in/on to use to uniform the necks. I like the idea of checking New brass with my wilson case gauge and trueing the necks your way. Thanks Mike.

I use a Sinclair mandrel set up for neck expansion. They are 0.001 below bore diameter. The actual neck turning mandrel will also fit in the body that holds the mandrel.

Greg
 
With win brass I f/l size trim champer and debur flash I've found win brass runs long out of the bag and this way they are all the same to start
 
I will either neck size the brass or run a mandrel through the neck like Rich says. Either of these two will help achieve more uniform bullet grip.

I do put a HEAVY chamfer on the case mouth, this is actually a bullet guide to help get the bullet started.
 
Well, I took the simple route and just ran the cases up into the resizer dye just enough for the expander ball to straighten them. But the feel of the case mouths shows I will have to do some chamfering and deburring. Thanks for all the great advice. It is really appreciated.
 


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