New to reloading. Separate brass by firings?
- Thread starter GcG166
- Start date
If you are loading and shooting for accuracy purposes, for sure, don't mix them. Also if they are not all the same brand, sort them by brand. Ideally, I would shoot the 1F until they are 5F, and then you could mix them, while keeping the brands separated. Then you should really anneal the necks of them all.
After you size the 1F if they were not fired in your gun, check to make sure they actually fit your gun.
If you are just plinking and not shooting for accuracy, then all of this doesn't matter so much, other than making sure the 1F actually fits your gun.
I'm beginning to shoot for accuracy in a savage bolt action.all the brass is winchester but I haven't annealed brass before.
Another thing I would like to add to this; the last time I resized the brass (full lenght) I was often getting dents just below the neck. I couldn't see anything to cause that. Could it be excess lube on the case or in the die?
Another thing I would like to add to this; the last time I resized the brass (full lenght) I was often getting dents just below the neck. I couldn't see anything to cause that. Could it be excess lube on the case or in the die?
Quite possible, yes, if the brass goes into the die straight and comes out dented. You might want to dismantle and clean your die.
BTW, I separate my brass by brand and number of firings, too. Mostly so that I can re-use the "once-fired" before re-using the "twice-fired" brass and so on.
If you do not plan to anneal the necks then keep them separate, your 5 times fired cases will have harder brass in the neck and shoulder area.
This also effects sizing the cases and brass springback, meaning the older cases with the harder brass will spring back more after sizing and effect you shoulder bump and bullet grip.
New cases and freshly annealed cases will have softer brass in the neck and shoulder and your sizing die may need to be adjusted for new and older cases.
That being said my 5.56 Lake City cases used as blasting ammo in my AR15 rifles are never annealed and only sorted by date head stamp. The label on the plastic ammo box are marked with the amount of firings.
The more times the case has been full length resized the more the brass has been worked and this effects case life and the chance of a case head separation. Meaning inspect your cases after each firing for thinning in the base web area. And keep your shoulder bump to minimum to help prevent case stretching and thinning.
Bottom line, keep your cases separated by the number of firings, and inspect them after each firing to see how they are holding up.
As a side note I have 30-30 cases over 25 years old and they only die of split necks from not annealing. Meaning the higher the chamber pressure the more stress on the brass and the faster they wear out.
I use a home made spray lube of lanolin and alcohol and this only applies a very thin coating and no dented shoulders. Your cases are tapered and when full length resized the excess lube is squeezed and forced upward toward the case neck. This builds up at the shoulder area in the die and causes the dents you are having.
If you use Imperial sizing wax or Hornady Unique you just rub it on with a finger tip dipped in the lube and it is applied in a very thin coat with a dab inside the case neck.
You will develop a "feel" for applying the lube, too little and you have a stuck case, too much and you have dented shoulders. And if the expander sounds like your dragging your finger nails across a chalk board you forgot to lube the insides of the case necks.
Yes, excessive case lube is most likely the cause. Use just a thin coat, and clean your dies out every so often.
You may also be pushing the shoulder back too far with the FL sizer, but typically that does not cause dents. Hornady sells a Headspace Gauge to measure the base to the datum point on the shoulder. You may want to consider getting one, so you can set your FL die to only bump the shoulder back about 0.002".
The parrot strikes again repeating what he just read, seems strange you didn't put this in your first posting. And you forgot to tell the OP any excess lube on the case shoulder will bump the shoulder back further. And the reloading manuals tell you to wipe the neck and shoulder off before sizing.
And Ron AKA I'm going watch you here and at Accurate Shooter and playing a Parrot at both sites. You should change your screen name to Ron AKA the talking parrot. But some of us are very tired of your squawking parrot act.
