Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters PREPPING NEW BRASS???

Hello. I've only been reloading about a year now and would like to know from the pros what steps & equipment they use in preparing new brass for loading. I buy either Lapua or Norma brass and load only .204,.224,&.243 ammo. The guns I load for are Kimber, Remington 700, & older model Sako's like L579 OR AII's. I've been using a Lee collet neck sizing die then deburing & chamfering with a VLD tool. I've been getting great run out numbers .001 or less but some of my bullets, maybe 1 out of 6, are harder to seat than the others and on these my ogive measurement is longer. Thank you for any help and for your opinions.
Jim D

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4104691/Hand_Loading_for_Long_range_1:#Post4104691

fixed the link

That link is for re-sizing fired brass, not prepping new brass.

To prep new casings after inspecting them I run an expander through the necks,uniform the primer pockets,and deburr the flash holes.

With new brass I make sure case mouths are round and trim brass to the same overall length.

Now the new brass is fire formed in the rifle it will be used in. After follow the described case prep procedures.

Any issues with the brass will be uncovered with this initial step.

Most new brass is .010 under in length, and the flash holes are mostly good.

I chamfer and deburr the case mouth and then do a sizing pass the eliminate out of round case mouth.
I always do a visual inspection while sizing as I have found cracked cases in new lots of brass.

I add a primer, fill it with powder, and seat a bullet.




Travis

You chamfer and deburr out-of-round cases?

I size, chamfer and deburr mouth and load 'em.

Sounds like your only problem is with the uneven neck tension on one out of every 6 rounds? I don't use Lee collet dies, but my understanding is, they size the necks on a mandrel, so that would seem to rule out any problems with variation in neck thickness? And you're chamfering, so that rules out another problem.

Are you lubing the inside of the necks? Have you measured the OD of the bullets to see if there's any variation?

Someone who uses Lee dies will be along shortly.....

I use the Lee collet die on several cartridges. I find if the neck thickness is as close to 0.000" the die works better.

To get even thickness skim turning the necks helps immensely, sure helps with lowering the ES.

gonesouth,

For most shooting, uniforming primer pockets and flash holes is a waste of time, since the neck is the "steering wheel" for bullets.

Unless there's some obvious reason to modify primer pockets (like not being able to seat primers) all I do is run the necks of new Norma or Lapua cases over the expander ball in the sizing die, then chamfer the mouth. With other brands of brass I usually measure neck thickness and separate the cases with necks varying more than about .001 in thickness.

The only cases neck-turned are those for my benchrest rifle, since the chamber has a .262 neck and they won't fit without turning.

Run them through the expander ball, prime, powder, bullet.




P

I prep according to what is needed. Lapua typically gets a pass over an expander. OTOH, I'm pepping some PPU that needed FL sizing to even up their head to shoulder datum lengths and knock them back so they chamber smoothly.

+1

Ive not noticed any difference in accuracy or performance however I do use only Lapua and Norma brass. It's great brass right out of the box. A quick visual inspection is sufficient.




Shod

That's all I do...

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the information.
Jim D

I've done the whole thing in the past, but with Lapua or Norma just a run over the expander and a chamfer. I have measured, trimmed to length, primer pockets, etc but with good brass it really makes no difference that I have seen. Just clean the necks up and reload.

In the past, I'd run them in just far enough to round out the neck, touch them with the hand trimmer, chamfer and load. For cartridges I have collet dies for, I run them into the collet die instead. I suspect it supports the case better. So far, brass prepped either way has chambered fine.

When I bought my .223 last Fall, I found some Nosler brass on sale. Try as I might, I couldn't find anything that needed doing to it, so I just gave up and started loading it. Gonna buy more when I can get it cheaply.