I'm a bit confused as to why I need to full length resize brass that wasn't fired from my bolt gun even though it will chamber without any issue. As far as i can tell it's not a safety issue neck sizing only, worst case scenario is the round just won't chamber? Am I way off base here or is my assumption correct? I have always read that if it wasn't fired in your chamber it must be full length resized. Currently I have two model 12 savages in .223 and have been keeping their brass separate and neck sizing only but recently got about 300 pieces from the local range and tried chambering them with 100 percent success in my bolt actions. I began full length resizing and found that it took a lot of effort on my part and the cases were being lengthened by about 10 thou which seemed like an awful lot. I only did about 10 then decided I should ask around to see if this is necessary to do and also normal during full length resizing?
resizing range brass?
- Thread starter iamacanadian
- Start date
Boolitcaster
CGN Regular
- Location
- Vancouver Island
I don't full length resize unless I am having problems with chambering.
Some of my brass has never been full length resized and reloaded many times.
If I had full length resized, I am sure I would have had more case failures.
However, I always resize range brass as I hate to have to pull apart reloads after finding they won't work in my gun.
Some of my brass has never been full length resized and reloaded many times.
If I had full length resized, I am sure I would have had more case failures.
However, I always resize range brass as I hate to have to pull apart reloads after finding they won't work in my gun.
Your chambering test of the fired brass eliminates the need to FL resize. You can partially resize the brass to your tightest chamber. This is an alternative to segregating brass and neck sizing - which is a PITA if you have several rifles of the same caliber.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
As long as the fired brass chambers, you're good to go, though I prefer to bump the shoulders to ease chambering. We have a couple of .30/06 rifles in our stable one with a chamber notably tighter than the other, and I load for others from time to time as well. Because I never know what ammo will be used in which rifle, full length resizing is my only option. But I consider ease of chambering more important than brass life in my hunting guns, so I would full length resize my hunting cartridges anyway. I do neck size for my .308 target rifle, but I still bump the shoulder slightly.
