Sorry for dumb question, but as a new reloader I am trying to learn from people with experience. I just bought some Winchester brass ( new ). Do I need to resize these cases before reloading them ? Does the neck need to be expanded ? It seems to be quite tight when I try to hand feed a bullet into it. Any help is much appreciated.
New Reloader
- Thread starter apapig
- Start date
I would just run the brass through an expander die to be sure the neck is the right diameter internally, and then be sure to chamfer the mouth inside and out for burrs and to be sure the inside of the mouth will not "bite" the bullet as you seat it.
I think this is what most folks do, at least most I have read from or talked to....
I think this is what most folks do, at least most I have read from or talked to....
This is what I usually do. Factory sized brass, or full length sizing brass with standard dies will usually give you a considerable amount of neck tension (as opposed to using a Redding Bushing Neck Die or Lee Collet die where you can adjust neck tension).
What dies are you using? I typically neck size every new piece of brass with the carbide expander ball and appropriate bushing. If the expander takes the neck out larger than the bushing, I size it once more without the expander. It the mouths are noticeably dented (as they usually are in a new batch of lapua 338 brass), I take a pair of needle nose pliers and stick them in the mouth like a mandrel and open it up before running it through the die.
I don't ever neck size exclusively, but I use the neck dies only to size the necks of new brass. Some people say to just load new brass unaltered. But I don't agree with this at all. I see no reason why a new piece of brass shouldn't be neck sized for known neck tension and concentricity. And yes, lightly chamfer and deburr too. Just don't overdo it.
I don't ever neck size exclusively, but I use the neck dies only to size the necks of new brass. Some people say to just load new brass unaltered. But I don't agree with this at all. I see no reason why a new piece of brass shouldn't be neck sized for known neck tension and concentricity. And yes, lightly chamfer and deburr too. Just don't overdo it.
Another thing too: if the mouths are round enough before you size, deburr the outsides beforehand. If you don't, the mouth will be forced in more than expected. If you are using an expander ball, chamfer the insides before you size,as the opposite can occur, giving you a wider mouth. Seating a bullet in a case that isn't properly chamfered will result in wide variances in measured neck tension.
To answer your question about resizing new rifle brass: you will probably be safe to just load the brass as is. I almost always just load from the box, just don't see a reason to put the extra wear of FL sizing on the new brass. In fact, I have shot some incredible groups with new Lapua brass. This only applies to bolt guns. For gas guns, like the AR-15 style guns, you should FL size new brass.
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I run all my new brass over a Sinclair mandrel, after lubing the neck with Imperial powder. Then I run them all through the Giraud case trimmer to cut them all to the same length and chamfer the inside of the case to make it easier to seat bullets. All Winchester 223 and 308 brass have worked fine in gas and bolt guns after this procedure without any sizing.
