To Size or Not Too Size

For the most part new brass is at minimum spec. It’ll probably never be that small again, because most FL dies wouldn’t take it down that far anyways. Thats a good thing because it cuts down on how much the case gets worked.

Why is that important on this topic? Well; it means that brand new brass is likely smaller than your sizing die and though you might think you’re FL sizing your new brass you probably aren’t even touching the body at all. You can usually run a bag through without lube. The necks do get sized, which rounds them out for chamferring, but you can do that just pushing the expander ball through.
 
Well if that was true the sizing die will not touch or barely touch the case. Your statement is false.obviously you do not size new brass or you will not say that. If new brass do not touch the sizing die..try a new case with no lube.will talk after.
Expander ball ? Common..a mandrel is the way to go to get uniform neck tension- adjustable neck tension.

New brass has already have tight neck - and this no matter the brand -..expander ball are stretching brass on it’s way in..sizing die squeeze the neck and ball again reform the neck on it’s way out. Call it working the brass much more that necessary. On top of it that sizing decapping rod that hold the neck sizing ball is far from centered to perfection - read crooked neck. Easy to check just loosen the top nut and see the rod wobbling in it’s tread. Some die have a floating carbide ball which is a bit better but still trap a reloader with a fixed inside neck diameter -fixed neck tension.

If a reloader is in precision and want to get the best of it’s reload - he must trash the neck sizing ball and use mandrels.
And yes..resize new case with lube !
 
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OP, it's really up to you and how fussy you are about accuracy, etc.

I find that even "premium" grade cases come with flaws, mostly uneven/wavy case mouths, and quite a bit of variation in case length.

For this reason, I always neck size only the case, then trim all of the cases to equal lengths.

There isn't any need to size the case body.

I usually only neck size after the first firing anyway, so no further adjustment is needed to the sizing die.
 
I FL resize, length check (and trim if necessary), and then set neck tension with a mandrel on every case I load except zombie 223 loads.
fresh brass has variable neck tension in my experience and the stuff I use most will occasionally have dented necks.
It is typically well under length tho.

I enjoy the process though so there's that.
 
I generally only neck size or run the expander through. If it's for precision shooting, development starts with 1f. Nothing sizes a case with the same uniformity that firing it does.
 
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Janeau said:
Well if that was true the sizing die will not touch or barely touch the case. Your statement is false.obviously you do not size new brass or you will not say that. If new brass do not touch the sizing die..try a new case with no lube.will talk after.
Expander ball ? Common..a mandrel is the way to go to get uniform neck tension- adjustable .
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I’ve ran literally hundreds of new brass through FL dies with no lube at all.
The thing thats obvious is you don’t know me.
 
Janeau said:
They should be sized. Most if not all have too much neck tension to start with. Case are mass produced - sizing to uniform them is consistency.
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For the most part the body of the case does not need to be resized but the necks should be, if one has a nso die a single pass thru the die is all that is necessary, debur inside and out after. It's always a good idea to have some cheap bullets on hand for fire forming before you get serious.
 
I now run new brass over a Redding neck mandrel, as unsized is usually heavy neck tension which can cause some light damage to the ogive
 
todbartell said:
I now run new brass over a Redding neck mandrel, as unsized is usually heavy neck tension which can cause some light damage to the ogive
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have seen that too, surprised at how narrow the contact area is
with new brass have had the bullet actually stick and left a significant mark, resized brass is better but still a tiny circle left on the ogive
Have a dremel stone on order to try and change the contact area
 
Yes, a veriety of answers here. My answer is, it depends…

Brass quality and intended usage makes a huge difference.

New Lapua, ADG, and Peterson brass just gets ID/OD chamfer. The way I see it, if Lapua can make competition ready ammo that is comparable to hand loads, then I feel their new brass probably doesn’t need any more prep…other than bevelling of the case mouth.

What are you loading for? For precision target shooting in competition, you’ll likely never use new brass but at a minimum, I’d suggest you’ll need to chamfer and maybe set neck tension (with re-sizing die, neck die or neck mandrel).

For hunting with premium brass, just chamfer and load. It not a bad idea to run each round through your rifle to ensure it chambers.

When using new economy brass, I’d suggest doing full prep (fl-resize, trim, chamber, etc) for everything!
 
Every piece of brass gets run through a mandrel die to uniform the necks, get rid of any dings and to reduce neck tension, regardless of whether its Hornady or Lapua. Then I chamfer, deburr, prime and load.
 
Picked up a model 70 featherweight in .243 from the 80's last week...Loaded up new Lapua brass right out of the box...Bore sighted and zeroed for 200 yards with 5 rounds...Been nailing the gongs at 400 and 650 yards ever since.
 
1340 said:
Some people feel virgin brass should be sized before first use.
I recently acquired a Tikka T3x UPR.
For a factory rifle is it even worth it to do that, or just fireform and start reloading?
TIA
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Brass that comes in a bag sometimes gets deformed and can benefit from sizing. Premium brass like Nosler, Peterson, etc you can get away with not sizing.

I’ve also found that some “pre-sized” brass has excessive neck tension, or not enough. Either way it’s different than what your die is going to do.

This is why I always size. That way you know it’s going to be the same every time.
 
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