Chamfer - Deburr: Important?

[03psd]

I am wondering how many here bother to chamfer and deburr following trimming of brass in general and if it matters what gun you are reloading for, ie cheap reloads for an AR versus single stage precision reloads for a bolt gun.
It seems that more often then not brass I get advertised as fully processed and ready to reload is trimmed but not chamfered. I am trying to determine whether I am putting too much emphasis on this step or if my brass sources are simply skipping it in the name of expediency.
See the pics below, clearly no chamfer. When seating the bullets there is some occassional shaving of the jacket. Is this a problem? I dont like it but again looking for more seasoned advice/opinion on whether I should sweat it or let it go. Thanks

 

[03psd]

Pics added

 

[Howland]

Yup, shure looks trimmed but neither chamfered nor deburred. Where did you get this"fully processed" brass? Headstamp?

The chamfer to the inside of the neck is important for the bullet to align and seat smoothly without scarring. The deburring to the outside of the neck is important for reliable chambering.

For strictly plinking ammo, you could probably get away with skipping both but I don't skip either step for anything I reload.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Chamfering and deburring is an important step in my opinion. For me, using a Giraud Trimmer simplifies and speeds up the process.

When I was doing this process by hand, I would skip it for my plinking (AR) ammo to save time. No noticeable impact to accuracy. I got tired of cleaning the shavings off my press.

 

[spife7980]

If you care about where the bullet goes then I would chamfer it. If youre just shooting rocks with a red dot who really cares.

 

[ken4570tc in WY]

In my RPR build I'm working the prep for 500 pieces of new brass. All needed deburred and chamfered. I was getting frustrated with the ten different brands of hand tools I had as they seemed to role the wire edge instead of make a clean cut. Even the two new tools were performing the same way. So I did a little research and found a tool for doing fuel and brake lines from Eastwood. Wish I'd gotten this twenty-seven years ago. With little pressure it cuts cleanly every time and removes a minimal amount of material. I agree that we don't want chips and shavings in our firearms or reloading equipment nor do we want to shave bullet jackets when seating. None of which are going to help accuracy. That being said, it probably only needs to be done after length trimming.

 

[03psd]

Yup, shure looks trimmed but neither chamfered nor deburred. Where did you get this"fully processed" brass? Headstamp?

The chamfer to the inside of the neck is important for the bullet to align and seat smoothly without scarring. The deburring to the outside of the neck is important for reliable chambering.

For strictly plinking ammo, you could probably get away with skipping both but I don't skip either step for anything I reload.

Picked it up not far from here <wink>. Headstamps are LC 14. I think I will take the time to run them all thru my case prep station. If I am going to spend the money and time to add 4064 and a 175gr SMK then I want it to go where I intended.

 

[Howland]

Sounds like your project is similar to mine. .308 w/ H4895 (I have and will also test IMR 4064) but I chose 178g ELD-X and new IMI Match brass. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[pugnado]

I just finished running my first 200 pcs of 6.5 Creedmoor brass through the Trim-It II chocked onto a drill clamped into a bench vise.
They didn't need to be length resized as most were within SAAMI spec and once-fired, once resized, but I did it anyway to put the inside chamfer in so that the bullet will remain centered and unscarred going in. I checked with calipers every 10th piece or so and did a great job. Brass shavings inside the unit indicated it was doing something...

 

[19dsniper]

I definately do all of mine. How aggressive depends on the projectile. Sometimes I get away with just a twist from a hand tool, and then other times I break out the Franklin armory power case prep station. With my hand loaded 62 grain Fusion projectiles, I actually have to use a VLD trimmer and get a little aggressive with it or it will shave every time I seat a bullet. I have shot a bunch of those and accuracy definately suffered if I didn’t trim correctly. However, on other projectiles, the Boat tail is long enough and tapered enough to not need very much of a chamfer. So for me, it depends on what projectile I’m loading. My process is a painful one, but I actually prefer it over my previous process because of the quality I’m able to produce now. Currently I rinse and then oven dry any really dirty brass if it’s really nasty and I’m afraid of messing up my dies. Then I lube, resize, trim, chamfer outside, then inside, rinse to remove as many brass shavings as possible, tumble in SS media, oven dry, prime, and load. If it’s new brass I lube, size, chamfer outside first then inside, rinse with degreaser, then oven dry.
It’s a long process, but I actually enjoy the reloading process when I just can’t get out to the range.

Just a heads up, on your .308 if you haven’t tried it, the Federal Gold Medal Match load data is 41.75 grains of IMR 4064 with a 175 SMK (this can be swapped with a 178 if you prefer). Since your using LC you will want to drop it by 1 grain and start there. Just be careful on a gas gun as this load doesn’t like Winchester standard LR primers. FED or CCI would be your best bet.

 

[pugnado]

This is my 'Abbreviated' Process now for 6.5 Creedmoor 147g Hornady ELD Match, AR10:


Pop Spent Primers (Handheld Lee Press)
Clean Primer Pockets (Rotary Tool)
(1x) Flash Hole Uniform / Deburr (Rotary Tool)
(1x) Anneal ( 12mm long hex socket in drill, fast 10 count in blue flame.)
Tumble #1 3 Hours (Walnut Media - Up to 200 Cases...)
Lube (One Shot)
Full Length Resize (.003 smaller shoulder than fired form. Eg 1.530" -> 1.527" )
- Use .288 bushing for .002" neck tension.
Trim/Chamfer/Deburr (Trim-It II in drill in vise vertical.)
(1x) Neck Turn (Optional)
Tumble #2 3 Hours (Walnut Media - Up to 200 Cases...)
Prime (Large Rifle Primers CCI BR2)
Powder (40.1gr RL17)
Seat Bullet to 2.800" (SAAMI) for MagPul Mags or 2.863" for ASC Mags COAL

The Trim-It II condenses the trim/chamfer/deburr step down to a fast-count 10 seconds on the end of a drill and done.
Better than any 'station' with a bunch of rotating bits and oh crap did I press that last one too hard? etc...