A friend recently loaded 50 rounds of 300 Savage with new PPU brass. Most of them would not chamber and he had to take them apart. Maybe he could have gotten away with neck sizing only but not wanting to take any more chances, did a full resize.
Should I FL Resize My New Factory Brass
- Thread starter waynewjw
- Start date
New Lapua brass can have tight necks so we use a TFC mandrel to slightly expand the necks which also uniforms the inside diameter.
It was mention that someone had new brass that would not chamber. This is a problem as new brass should chamber 100% of the time. Either the brass is not to spec or the chamber is too tight or short. Full length sizing in this instance will be only a temporary cure as the brass will expand and there will be chambering issues.
Regards,
Peter
It was mention that someone had new brass that would not chamber. This is a problem as new brass should chamber 100% of the time. Either the brass is not to spec or the chamber is too tight or short. Full length sizing in this instance will be only a temporary cure as the brass will expand and there will be chambering issues.
Regards,
Peter
waynewjw
CGN Regular
Took Potashminers advice today, setup my die with 1/8“ gap and ran all 100 rounds thru and did notice a number not totally round at the neck so this resize cured that. Also checked the length and all were exactly the same. Busy with life tomorrow but Friday I plan to run a few thru my rifle and will then get to primers and developing some loads.
Last edited:
If this is for hunting, then yes. For target shooting, I'd pick 25 and set the rest aside for future use. Neck size them ony, then fire form them. After that only neck size and bump shoulders back as needed to keep them uniform.
I tend to go along with this. However, if many of your new cases have "dinged" mouths, this needs to be corrected before loading. EE
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Yep - by and large I believe the case makers know what size they are supposed to be, and make them appropriately - is the handling of the cases AFTER they leave the production line, that can create problems to deal with. Although, as I posted above in Post #14, is not always the case, with this "new", "improved" stuff, that we are being sold now-a-days.
Same deal here, but by design, not sure I've ever had factory new brass that my FL sizer touched the body, usually undersized even to an FL die.
Lube inside neck, run through the FL die, then all the prep work, go shooting.
If it’s already smaller than the die then FL sizing won’t make it any smaller than it already is. And it won’t cause headspace issues because the die won’t touch the shoulder.
It will uniform the necks and the expander will iron out any dings.
FL or Neck - either way, new brass should be run through a die. If he only has a FL die, then the OP should still use it. In my humble opinion anyway.
False. Resizing make them uniform. Remove dents and make them all in specs. Since when sizing create headspace ? If you don’t know what you are doing and cannot adjust a custom sizing die it can - but a commercial - off the shelves sizing die - even touching the shellholder will do nothing more than make the brass SAMI specs.
You accomplish nothing with a 1 inches gap. You want to make the base - the brass body all in specs. I don’t understand that folly to be afraid to full length size brass..sizing die are made for sizing brass not looking at it. Not a single manufacturers - reloading book authors - competition shooters will ever state to leave a 1 inches gap under a sizing die…crazy.
Neck sizing dies were made for Benchrest competitor shooting 6PPC and other Benchrest cartridge in the 70’s - 80’s. This was abandoned for full length sizing thereafter.
Even if you neck size - just a matter of a few shot - it will be need to full size anyway. Brass bulge at the .200 datum area and no choice to full length size it.
Learn to adjust your sizing die for .002 shoulder bump on most gun - semi- .004-.006 and you gun will work better without reloader induced problems.
Depends alot on what pressures you are running on how much brass is going to stretch.
Running near max yeah, won't take long before a neck size needs a fl size.
I have 7.5x55 brass that has been neck sized 7 times now and still chamber fine in a K31 which has minimal camming compared to a bolt gun. Load is pretty mild however running 150gr fmj.
I recommend getting a universal expander die, and expander mandrels of your chosen diameter. I own Sinclair and 21st Century expander dies and mandrels, and they work great. I really like the 21st Century choice of mandrels to customize the neck tension. My final step in reloading (regardless of number of firings), is using the expander mandrel.
Note: New brass needs lube inside the neck first time for using an expander mandrel, otherwise it will gall. I find after first firing, there is enough baked on carbon (even after case cleaning) that lube is not required for expanding.
Expander mandrels only expand the inside of the case mouth neck, and do not touch the outside of the case. Expander mandrels fix dented necks, and stretch overly tight neck diameters to your choice of neck diameter/tension, minus whatever springback there is. Expander mandrels provide a separate method to customize neck tension if you do not use (or remove) the factory or custom sized expander balls on your FL sizing dies.
I find new Lapua brass has very tight necks and sharp case mouths. After chamfering and de-burring, I expand the case mouth to desired diameter (minus springback). No need to FL size new brass as others have mentioned (its already smaller than your chamber), unless its defective (wrongly sized for SAAMI or CIP specs) from the factory, in which case you will have to FL resize it.
Cases going to fireform anyways. So after first firing and examining load workup results on target, you are going to have to reload and repeat to confirm anyways.
Reloading does not save money - you have to shoot way way more!
coleman1495
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Whitecourt
New brass- Just load and fire them as per usual
Once fired brass- F/L resize them being diligent not to bump the shoulder too much. Use a comparator tool and move the shoulder back 1-2 thou.
Once fired brass- F/L resize them being diligent not to bump the shoulder too much. Use a comparator tool and move the shoulder back 1-2 thou.
waynewjw
CGN Regular
Correction….should have read as 1/8” gap. Sorry this got a few of you off track, my bad. Upon inspection of each case I noticed quite a few of the necks weren’t round so took Potashminers advice and put them thru the die. Measured and all were correct length. Next steps are to prime, load and shot which will fireform the cases. From there after 2nd shoot I will anneal and start again. I setback at .002 which my rifle gives me the best accuracy, that was with the well used Federal cases.
Last edited:
- Location
- Western Manitoba
To clarify - over the years, I have had several cases "stuck" in a sizing die - most often due to me getting chintzy with case lube - therefore, I do not want case body to touch to the sizing die when I "re-size" it to make the case necks / mouths to be "round" - why I leave that "gap" between shell holder and sizing die - most all of the cases that I reload for have taper to the body. I know some will fuss with case lube for sizing just the necks - I do so when forming a neck to another diameter - like when making 9.3x57 from 8x57 brass - but for purposes of straightening out "new" brass, I think the die will size it down a smidgeon if the case is run all the way in - so that the expander ball can expand it on the way out - often I try to simply run the expander in and out, without re-sizing the case neck to be smaller - hence I do not use any lube at all for that maneuver - YMMV. Most often for that sort of "re-sizing" I will have the expander ball set to be much lower than "normal". As previously mentioned on CGN, I noticed that the last purchased bulk W-W brass required mostly all the way "in" to the sizing die - to reform the "new" brass to spec on outside dimension, and then also to pull out the expander ball, to get inside diameter to be suitable for bullet seating.
I am of the opinion that store bought "new" brass ought to be fit to reload as is - however, as per my Post above in #14, is not the case, at least any more. So, I will "make do". If I was someone who really depended on the new stuff - especially from W-W - to be "correct", I would be very disappointed - compared to that brand's stuff from 10 or 15 years ago. I suppose I will learn the same lesson about Remington brand, or Hornady brand, and others - but I do know what I used to be able to buy and what I would receive, compared to today.
Last edited:
Okaaayyyy .... I'm not sure what this has to do at all with what I wrote though. I'm not talking about the shoulder - I'm talking about uniforming the necks on new, unfired, fresh-out-of-the-bag brass (unless its peterson, lapua, etc, they're always dinged up, out of round, and not sized consistently). They should be run through a die (FL or Neck) and expander/mandrel to iron them out. I agreed with another member that FL sizing them isn't necessary when new, but if the OP only has a FL die, then he should use it, if only to correct any issues in the necks that occurred during shipping. New brass is already under-sized, so running them through a FL die won't affect headspace since they're already smaller than the interior of the die - it will iron out the necks though.
Last edited:
