I have some new Winchester .257 brass and was wondering if I should bother trimming it before reloading or if it should be in spec. The reason I'm asking is I don't have a shell holder for it and would have to order one and wait or if I can get away with using it I can start to load some fire forming loads. Thanks in advance.
Trim new brass?
- Thread starter KDX
- Start date
Farlsincharge
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan
It will not be over max oal, but it also will not be a uniform length.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
With new brass the minimum you should do for case prep is FL size and trim. Then for fun you can uniform the flash holes, weigh and sort cases and even measure neck thickness. But the minimum is FL size and trim.
Winchester brass is excellent but I've found that it need to be fully prepared 100% of the time!
Variations in case length was very high but probably not dangerous.
The cases mouth absolutely need to be chanfered if you want to be able to seat a bullet clean.
What you need to do:
It might be possible to simply reload them but from my experience with 223 Rem, 243 Win, 308 Win and 270 WSM Winchester brass, you need to prepare the cases.
Alex
Variations in case length was very high but probably not dangerous.
The cases mouth absolutely need to be chanfered if you want to be able to seat a bullet clean.
What you need to do:
- Full length size your brass
- Trim them to uniform recommended case length
- Chanfer the case neck
It might be possible to simply reload them but from my experience with 223 Rem, 243 Win, 308 Win and 270 WSM Winchester brass, you need to prepare the cases.
Alex
I personally do not see much point in trimming before first firing.Cameron SS
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ground Zero
Trim before AND after.
My experience with new cases is that they will definitely need to be trimmed. I've had some cases well under spec, some that are well over.
Even though the first load is just a fire forming load, I still use it as a training opportunity, and try to be as accurate as possible, and therefore, I trim, atleast to make the case mouths square. Often they aren't.
After the first firing is when you will get the most case stretch, so regardless of if you trimmed first or not, you will need to trim afterwards. Its up to you how much work you want to put into your brass.
Remember, when it comes to handloading, you are your only quality control.
My experience with new cases is that they will definitely need to be trimmed. I've had some cases well under spec, some that are well over.
Even though the first load is just a fire forming load, I still use it as a training opportunity, and try to be as accurate as possible, and therefore, I trim, atleast to make the case mouths square. Often they aren't.
After the first firing is when you will get the most case stretch, so regardless of if you trimmed first or not, you will need to trim afterwards. Its up to you how much work you want to put into your brass.
Remember, when it comes to handloading, you are your only quality control.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
I see so many dented necks in a bag of new brass that you have to size them. Once you FL size them, why not take the opportunity to uniform the length, chamfer/debur and uniform the flash holes? I handload to maximize the accuracy of my rifles. You can't do that with shoddy case prep. Of course, some gusy insist that they get equally good results by either weighing or dropping charges, even using extruded powder. So my money goes on a fair number of our brethren being boastful liars, ambivalent about the end result, plain lazy or a combination of the three.
