.223 fl or neck size possable once fired from my rifle

[misfits]

ok so here the scenario, when i first got my rem 700 in 223 i bought win ammo and shot it then i started reloading, i keep a bag of brass once fired from my rifle and pick ups. well i need to make more ammo now and needed more brass i dumped the bag and pulled all the winchester aside and i can tell by the hit on the primer that it came from my rifle. now with that being said .223 is a very popular round and so is the remington 700, i usually just neck size my cases but they were 100% out of my rifle, these could or could not be from my rifle. So the question remains should i just full length size these and start off like they never came out of my rifle? or do i neck size these cause the second time around they will for sure be out of my rifle? (now i do reload for accuracy and always want the best accuracy hence the neck sizing)

Your thoughts please

 

[LUTNIT]

If they chamber in your rifle, neck size them.
If they wont chamber in your rifle, full length size them.
Doesn't matter who's rifle they were shot in.

When FL sizing you want to size as little as possible so they'll chamber but not overwork the brass. I usually adjust the FL sizing die back maybe 1/4 turn at a time once it touches the shoulder and try them in my rifle after each sizing with each turn. Once they chamber easily I lock the die down and size the rest the same.

 

[kawicrash]

I had a hard time following this, but from what I could understand, you're not sure if all the cases came from your rifle? If so, full-length re-size them. I have read arguments for both neck and full-length sizing producing the best accuracy.

 

[bigedp51]

Full length resize all your cases, I'm not a big fan of just neck sizing because variation in brass thickness and distorted fired cases.

Below Kevin Thomas of Team Lapua USA and he knows what he is talking about.

Full length resizing humor....."The cartridge should fit the chamber like a rat turd in a violin case" meaning a full length resized case is supported by the bolt face in the rear and by the bullet in the throat. And any distortions in the body of the case can not cause bullet alignment errors with the bore. And many competitive shooters are now full length resizing for better accuracy.

Example below, this Remington case has .004 neck thickness variation and it extends into the body of the cases. When fired this case expands more on the thin side and causes the case to warp and causes bullet alignment problems with the bore. If this type case is just neck sized your group size will be bigger than a full length resized case.

Below even neck turning does not fix this problem when neck sizing because the body of the case is forcing the bullet out of alignment with the bore.

Bottom line, a full length resized case gives the bullet a little wiggle room to be self aligning with the bore and a neck sized case does not. Too much of what benchrest shooters do filters down to us with standard off the shelf factory rifles and the vast majority of us do not have custom tight chambered rifles and sort through hundreds of Lapua cases looking for 10 or 20 perfectly formed cases.

 

[LUTNIT]

bigedp51, does this only really apply if the bullet is jammed, or very close, to the lands? As in maximum COAL?
In non-match loads where the OAL is significantly shorter due to magazine feeding, and the bullet isn't touching anything in the throat, what is centreing the cartridge in the chamber?

I'm just curious. I neck size because I'm lazy and don't like cleaning lube off of cases. I also doubt I'm good enough to notice a difference due to an alignment problem.

 

[misfits]

very interesting!!!! Thank you!!!!

 

[BadAsMo]

Never mind the naysayers dude.
When you work you brass you work harden your brass.
The lets you work it the better for brass life.

On the other hand it does depend on how well the gun shoots. If the gun has a hard time holding 1.5 inches, just FL resize and rock on.
If the gun shoots better than 1.5 inches at a hundred yards, (for real) then go for it and just neck resize.

You get the most out of neck resize only when the rifle has a tight neck chamber, which it doesn't sound like you have.
If you have a tight neck, the benefit of neck size only is the reduced opportunity to induce runout between the neck and body which poopoos the above negative.
The less you need to resize the neck, the less it can get off center. This is why bench rest and F-Class shooters so often run tightish necks. The reloads are nearly perfect with almost zero elevation variance out to 1000 yards in the calm because the brass doesn't need to expand at all when the pressure builds.

If you don't have a tight neck rifle, then try to shoot the brass with the thickest necks.

 

[misfits]

I have had smaller then 1.5 at a hundred yards with this gun i will test again. I will see how they fit in the chamber and go by that. I was always told that n/s was the best for accuracy and brass life. Maybe i'll necknsize half and f/l size the other half and see what is more accurate, more undecided then i was when i began lol

 

[bigedp51]

bigedp51, does this only really apply if the bullet is jammed, or very close, to the lands? As in maximum COAL?
In non-match loads where the OAL is significantly shorter due to magazine feeding, and the bullet isn't touching anything in the throat, what is centreing the cartridge in the chamber?

I'm just curious. I neck size because I'm lazy and don't like cleaning lube off of cases. I also doubt I'm good enough to notice a difference due to an alignment problem.

Remember a full length resized case is supported by the boltface in the rear and in front by the bullet in the throat. The throat is very close to bullet diameter and the body and neck of the case is not touching the chamber. The ejector is pushing the cartridge forward in the chamber so the shoulder of the case is the only thing touching the chamber.

Now look at line "G" on the reamer chart below, the Clymer .223 reamer has a throat diameter of .2245 meaning the bullet has .00025 wiggle room on each side of the bullet before engaging and centering in the lands. Now if you look at the neck sizing illustration I posted before the bullet alignment error is ten times this amount. Full length resizing greatly reduces any misalignment effects the case can cause with bullet alignment with the bore.

It is the warped neck sized cases that can cause the biggest problems and increase group size.

 

[LUTNIT]

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for the explanation.
I neglected to think about how tight the throat was in most rifles. I guess in rifles with shot-out throats it wont work but rifles with barrels in that condition tend not to shoot too great anyway. It makes sense; let the case expand anyway it wants during firing so long as it isn't causing the bullet to be at an angle relative to bore alignment.

 

[misfits]

F/l sized all my brass after reading all your comments i am gonna be loading with the same powder and same weight bullet but different type bullet.