Turning Virgin Brass into Once Fired "Options"

[IHFarmer07]

What is the best way to get once fired brass????? Get a bunch of cheap bullets and go shooting or do the corn meal with pistol/shot gun powder thing, what other options can I do? I'd rather not waste a bunch of supplies, because most time you don't get good accuracy or ES/SD with virgin brass.

Or try and get a good load with good accuracy and ES/SD with what components I plan to use with virgin brass and then go though the process of finding a good load again with once fired and so on??

Thanks, Eric

 

[Snuby642]

Shooting cornmeal does not sound like a lot of fun, waste of primers and time.

 

[Ranger188]

Your new to once fired brass can vary 30-50 fps
Using "corn meal" is a way to "fire form" brass.
Just down load it 10%, you will still use primers and powder and bullets,
but you have to "size" the brass to your chamber and get a little carbon buildup on the neck.
I'll run a bullet that I have the most of or a cheaper one.
Plus, if your breaking in a new barrel, you have to run a 100 rounds or so to settle it down.

 

[Supersubes]

You can still determine what bullet/powder it likes, and get a very close approximation of where max pressure is. No need to waste your time slinging junk.

 

[IHFarmer07]

Lol thanks guys, ya none of it sounds fun really.......I have one rifle, a bolt action Valkyrie that’s already broke in and I case prepped around 350 shells and I shot some the other day and the velocity was on the low side, kinda thinking to put a .1gr or .2gr up in charge weight to overcome the differences in virgin and once fired because I’d say it takes a bit of the power from the powder to fire form the brass.

I also have a pretty new 6.5 prc that I think I was going to go straight for the ADG brass as I’ve heard nothing but good reviews and I’ve read that if you want the most out of everything to just go with the better brass. I know Hornady brass has been good for ppl but I’d rather have the better quality, already sorted or already weight sorted(not into that anyway) but hey, it’s done for me so.
Anyway I’ll need to fire form that brass but with that rifle I can get actual data that can be good and break the barrel in more so with it.

Thinking of getting cheap seconds bullets for the Valkyrie but really don’t need to run ~350 rds down the barrel.

The PRC, all of it can be useful.

 

[ZiaHunter]

Shoot cheap bullets or culls with a full or near full load. Have a couple of older barrels that I keep on hand just for fire forming.

 

[Steel head]

You can still determine what bullet/powder it likes, and get a very close approximation of where max pressure is. No need to waste your time slinging junk.

this.

 

[IHFarmer07]

Shoot cheap bullets or culls with a full or near full load. Have a couple of older barrels that I keep on hand just for fire forming.

Lol great idea but I have never burnt a barrel out in my life time yet...... soooo, damn it

 

[918v]

I would get some cheap light weight bullets and shoot them over a case full of Trail Boss powder at about 2000 FPS. Zero recoil, forms the case nicely, quiet like a 22.

 

[LawnMM]

Why don't you load up ammo and practice and it'll all be once fired when you've fired it!

 

[stello1001]

Buy cheap factory ammo, or expensive, so long as it has the brand of brass you want to use.

Shoot said factory ammo.

Have a smile from ear to ear from all that shooting.

Pick up brass.

Repeat!!!

 

[Codiekfx400]

Virgin brass is very serviceable for any shooting besides benchrest imo.

 

[Rocketmandb]

Virgin brass is very serviceable for any shooting besides benchrest imo.

Pretty much this. When I fire form, I use the shots to practice. When I'm in need of more brass, I usually load up an extra 20 per trip until I'm back up to a number where I want to be.

 

[Steel head]

Why don't you load up ammo and practice and it'll all be once fired when you've fired it!

 

[.50 Cal Cow]

I'd rather not waste a bunch of supplies, because most time you don't get good accuracy or ES/SD with virgin brass.

Because all that factory match ammunition that shoots with good accuracy and good enough SD/ES was loaded using once fired brass???

I’ve good amount of experience otherwise to say you can do just fine with virgin brass. Does it require tweaking of powder charge after? Sure but never drastic enough difference to monkey around wasting time with that corn meal non-sense.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

Ummm, load it and fire it? Is this real life?

 

[isofahunter]

Go Outside and Shoot, spend less time on internet worrying about theories.

 

[Rocketmandb]

Go Outside and Shoot, spend less time on internet worrying about theories.

Go outside and play, you kids!

So to put things in perspective, I have to fire form for my 6mm BRA - here is a comparison of the brass:

For my 300 PRC, since only Hornady brass is available off the shelf, I prep and fire form 8x68S. Here is the comparison before and after:

There's a lot of brass expansion going in both, but especially the 8x68S -> 300 PRC one. Both are certainly going through much more than what happens when you shoot virgin brass actually made for your chamber. Yet with the 6mm BRA, when I practice with the fire forming loads, concentrating on trigger management, position, etc., I still get < 0.4" groups at 100 yards. Is it as good as fire-formed brass? No, but it's good enough to practice with. Now with the 8x68S -> 300 PRC, you'd think the groups would be crap, but I can do this at 100 yards:

And this at 1200, though this is a friend shooting my 300 - not me. Oh, and it's his first time past 850.



The moral of the story? If you want to go from something like 1/2 MOA to 1/4 MOA, then certainly once-fired (or more) is necessary. For practice? Just shoot.

 

[Ranger188]

@reubenski
You've proven time and time again you think you know everything about everything
without actually trying it. and then being proven wrong. Just because you ( the expert )
hasn't seen it doesn't mean it can't happen.
You an internet ass
Get out of your mommy's basement and shoot a little more and your mouth a little less...

 

[BCX]

I ran a test w virgin vs once fired w a 6.5 PRC. Weight sorted Hornady brass yielded low single digits.

 

[Precision Underground]

Load the brass and go shoot. I’ve never had virgin brass make much difference at all. If you are using a quality barrel and quality brass I think you will be surprised.

 

[Milo 2.5]

What is the best way to get once fired brass????? Get a bunch of cheap bullets and go shooting or do the corn meal with pistol/shot gun powder thing, what other options can I do? I'd rather not waste a bunch of supplies, because most time you don't get good accuracy or ES/SD with virgin brass.

Or try and get a good load with good accuracy and ES/SD with what components I plan to use with virgin brass and then go though the process of finding a good load again with once fired and so on??

Thanks, Eric

Like others have said, you are really over thinking this. Shooting new 6.5 creed brass in a 6.5 creed chamber, or any like situation, is not fireforming. If you think about it, unless you run high pressure loads, one firing rarely takes brass to full chamber size, and most of us bump the shoulder on once fired brass.
I really don't want to touch on new brass being accurate or consistent, but a friend just had a new 6x47 built, with new brass, 110 sierra, RL 16, 205M, we had a killer load in 24 rds, 2965fps, SD of under 5, just last week the barrel sped up, 3020fps, SD of 3, shooting better than before still firing new brass.
What if we backed up 30 yrs, and you were in the same situation, but all you had to learn from were 2-3 reloading manuals, and not all these internet theories, what would you do?
Disclaimer: I'm not advocating taking a step backwards here, lol

 

[lightman]

I'm another that says load them up and shoot them. Do your load workup and I bet you won't see any difference between virgin brass and once fired. I've used Cream of Wheat for things like making 375 Winchester from 30-30 Winchester. Thats not necessary for what you are doing.

 

[.50 Cal Cow]

Just to add, an example of today most recent experience using virgin brass that was loaded using same powder charge range I found when developing my loads for fire formed brass.

Top - 4 rounds at 400 yards
Bottom - 5 rounds at 100 yards