new brass

[tipiguy]

If I buy a bag of new Winchester brass do I need to measure the length and size them?

Thanks.
Tipiguy

[Carl l.]

Tipiguy, I have had no trouble with the length, But I have to neck size the new cases. I never had to neck size when the cases came in 20 to a box. Now they come in bulk and it seem they get beat up some. I check every case. Happy reloading. Carl L.

[Questor]

The only preparation I do with new brass is to use the chamfer tool on the case mouth, and I inspect the brass to see whether it looks good and doesn't have any obvious defects.  After a few reloadings I measure the brass and see whether it's still in spec, then make a judgement call as to whether I want to discard it or trim it.

[KN]

Most of the "experts" will tell you to run them through your full length sizing die when new. That ensures there are no out of round conditions, case mouth dents,etc when you load them. I know I would sure be ticked if I took a new box of shells out and they wouldnt chamber because I was too lazy to run them through my sizer first.  KN

[longwinters]

I think KN is on the money.  Although very new to reloading from all I have read, a person is very wise to full length resize and then ck for length etc.  I have never found any cases that are too long, but there is some variation in them.

long

[Jack Crevalle]

I just got some new Remington brass and the box had a warning that they might not only be out of round, but might have dents. I was going to F/L resize them anyway.

I would set your calipers to the max length ( not necessarily the trim-to length ), lock them down and then use that as a go/no go guage for checking the length of each piece.

[Guybo]

I treat all my brass the same new or old. The only thing i don't do to new brass is tumble. I measure each case then full length,chamfer, check primer pocket form, deburr flash holes and do anything else that i feel needs to be done. I'm somewhat of an accuracy nut though so as you can see i'm real finicky when it comes to reloading.

[redial]

I run new brass thru the die primarily to make sure the case mouths are round so I can chamfer them. Dented case mouths don't take a smooth chamfer for squat. Most of my loading is with moly bullets, so getting it right initially is important.

Redial

[jhm]

I like some of the others who already posted will run them thru the sizing opperation just to make sure the mouths are round again as you dont know what all that brass has been thru b-4 it arived at your doorstep   JIM

[HL]

Same here, I run all brass through the sizer and make sure all are trimmed to specs then chamfer the mouths.

This way every round is as close to identical as possible when working up loads.

[Ron T.]

Like Guybo, I am an accuracy nut, so I deburr the flash holes and “uniform” the primer pockets, then I trim all the cartridge cases to minimum length and load them with a moderate powder change and a bullet... and use the new loads for off-hand or other non-precision practice.

I recommend you always trim all your cases to the SAME length before reloading.  If you don’t, the cases with the longer necks tend to hold the bullets slightly “tighter”, due to the longer necks great contact surface with the bullet thus creating, in theory, a slightly greater buildup of chamber pressure BEFORE the bullet departs the mouth cartridge case.  This is NOT conducive to better accuracy.

For the bolt-action rifles, I fire-form the cases in the rifle’s chamber before I put any “serious” loads in the cases or attempt to “work up” new loads.  Once the cases are “fire formed”, I neck-size only for my bolt-action rifles.

Naturally, after the initial loading & firing, I full-length resize the rounds for my lever action, pump-action and semi-automatic rifles to insure they’ll fit in the rifle’s chamber regardless of how they’re put in the chamber.


Strength & Honor…

Ron T.

[Tom W.]

I ain't an "expert, but I'll do as HL describes. It's a pain in the extremities to trim each piece, but the results are worth it. It's part of the hobby and a safety consideration, also.