Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Brass prep a waste of time?

Did you get the brass for free? I would have sent a sample back and asked for a refund.

Think of it this way, once you do the flash holes, you never have to touch them again. I treat the primer pockets kinda the same way, I use a cutter/uniformer on new brass but just run it in to take the radius out at the wall and bottom. Then, I use the same tool to clean the pockets after firing and it keeps them clean and you can feel if one is shallower than others.

Nope.

That would have gained nothing as I do this on all new brass anyway.

This bunch was a bit extreme and thought it might be of interest.

I'm assuming Al's point is dont assume just because its XYZ brand of brass or anything you better check. Assume everything is broke untill you check that motto sure helps keep surprises to a minimum.

Must be the time of the year. I’ve been prepping 30-06 brass for a week or so along with other brass and some rifle work.
The military brass I have dates back to 1942 (head stamp Den 42), but most are LC 76. I use the military brass for cast bullet matches only. I segregate by head stamp. I have been known to segregate by weight to try to get the last bit of accuracy.
I’ve been annealing necks and trimming to length now. I have not noticed oblong flash holes. Back when I used a lot of military 223 brass I measured the centricity of the flash hole, throwing away brass that didn’t have the flash hole centered - I don’t know if that helped for accuracy but off center flash holes did screw up decapping pins. I used a hammer and a punch to deprime the military 223 brass, then determined if the flash hole was centered. After that just used dies.
I used to have to have the brass shiny. I believe there’s only negative value in polishing the brass now, except for resale value. I used a nylon brush and brushed the inside of the neck with graphite in an attempt to avoid bonding/welding the bullet to the case each time I loaded the case, it also lubed the inside of the neck for resizing.
After reading a response here on the Fire or maybe it was an article by MD, I just stopped polishing and stopped using graphite. For inside neck lube I now use Hornady one shot, it’s faster.

It would be of interest if we knew which brand you were discussing.

i always prep my brass and check to make sure every hand loaded cartridge fits perfect and easy in the chamber of that rifle i will be using when in a match , hunting or doing some rifle accuracy ammo testing for a certain rifle . i have my own rifle range and plenty reloading equipment so for me a little time prepping my ammo only makes sense for having better more accurate ammo. Pete53

Does messing with flash holes actually make a difference?

No need to mention the name...that would just be throwing a good company under the bus. The main takeaway is to check stuff. Of course on this brass, you'd get a hint when the decapping broke or stuck after the first firing.

I got bored one time and decided to attempt to duplicate the original 6.5 CM 140 grain AMax factory load firing out of a factory box-stock 1st gen RPR.

I had one box remaining of the AMax rounds (version without the printed recipe on the box) so I set up at the range and let fly 10 rounds.
Measuring up the rounds before hand both OAL and BTO (sinclair) varied by 0.004". Results were Avg MV: 2,640 fps, SD: 27.3, ES: 76. The two 5-round groups were between 0.5" and 0.6"

I've kept my Hornady once-fired match brass and fired thru the RPR separate from others, so I went all OCD on a bunch of that brass. Flash hole, primer pocket, TTL, annealed, and neck sized. I then weight-sorted the brass and chose 20 to load.
Problem - the AMax bullet had gone away, replaced by the 140 grain ELDM. So, I sorted a bunch of those by BTO (sinclair) to ease seating to the original 2.810" OAL.

Federal 210 match primers, 41.5 grains H4350, and OAL to 2.810".

Then back to the range (100 yards) with 10 of those rounds, glass set to 20x.
Results: Avg MV: 2,602.1 fps, SD: 16.1, ES: 51.8. Group 1 (5 rounds): 0.174" Group 2 (5 rounds): 0.236"

Not too shabby given a stock factory rifle, but I 'aint going to go through all that work for the hunting rifle version of that cartridge.

The last 2 bags of Starline 6 ARC brass I got were so good I don't think I'll 'prep' anymore of Starline. 9.3x62 Lapua cases weren't this uniform. Starline is really good stuff.

If the flash holes are as bad as you say, and the brass chips indicate, I'd dubur them as well. I've had to dubur some, but most times, it isn't necessary. On a bad lot, as it looks like you got, it is indeed necessary. Something to be aware of, for sure, but something I don't think I'd ever start a thread about. Just do it, and move on..

^^^ Yes, you should only start a thread if you have pictures of lots and lots of paper targets with holes in them.
Everyone wants to see your paper with holes.

I detect a smidgen of sarcasm

Just a smidge.

sometimes

Have to conserve bandwidth for the ad nauseam target pics and the ever popular store shelf pics demonstrating extraordinary shopping skills.

Same here. If Starline offers a particular case I tend to buy it. Have also used a bunch of Peterson brass in the past few years, but Starline offers a wider range, and can be less expensive in the same cartridge.

(Might also mention that my .50-70 trapdoor averages 2" for 3-shot groups at 100, using Starline brass and cast bullets--which ain't bad for a 158-year-old barrel with the "issue" open sights. I suspect Buffalo Bill Cody would have been quite happy with that, as he killed most of his buffalo with a .50-70 trapdoor....

Just think how good your 50-70 could be with a fast twist. Ha ha

Good shooting.

IMO most brass prep falls under the category of "If it makes you feel good go ahead and do it." Years ago another Master class hi-power shooter and I carefully separated ammo into measured groups of of .001 runout and "everthing worse" loads and fire groups at 600 yards off sandbags prone at dawn when the wind was still as possible. Zero difference measured on target.