sizing brass w/ different feel

[Cvarney]

I have aroudn 4-500 once fired cases from my rifle. About half and half of FGMM and some LC12 head stamps. I was going through and FL sizing it all this evening and noticed some cases seemed much hard to size than others. Appearence wise they seemed to have sized the same Just something I was noticing while going about it. Some took almost no effort, most took a moderate amount and then some were mcuh harder.

I'm very green with reloading. All I've got are some rounds I put together for an OCW test, I was wondering if this is normal. I'm assuming it is but I can't really figure out the reason behind it. Just sparked my curiousity. Ya'll got any info on this?
Thanks guys.
C

 

[Rookie]

That's normal. Some cases swell more than others but more than likely its the amount of lube on a particular case that makes it feel different.

 

[DIBBS]

I'm guessing the LC cases were harder to size than the FGMM? It's probably hard to tell if you're mixing your brands of brass. You should segregate by headstamp and see if the effort to size is more consistent. Also for your OCW test, you want to use one brand of brass, not mix your headstamps. Then you may have to adjust slightly to get the same results when you change to the other brass, maybe not. My $0.02

 

[bigedp51]

Lake City and civilian contract military cartridge cases must be made to higher quality milspec standards. The brass must be harder in the base web area to better withstand larger diameter and longer headspaced military chambers. On the flip side Federal commercial cases are known for having softer brass. Either of theses can effect resizing effort but as stated above even a slight difference in case lube can effect the resizing effort.

Also note Lake City 5.56 cases are not thicker they are made harder and the cases are some of the lightest in weight and have more case capacity than any other .223/5.56 cartridge case.

 

[Cvarney]

I'm guessing the LC cases were harder to size than the FGMM? It's probably hard to tell if you're mixing your brands of brass. You should segregate by headstamp and see if the effort to size is more consistent. Also for your OCW test, you want to use one brand of brass, not mix your headstamps. Then you may have to adjust slightly to get the same results when you change to the other brass, maybe not. My $0.02

They were sorted by brand. I just had some free time and went through boths lots of them. ALl in all the brass felt about the same between the two. Between the couple hundred of each maybe 10 or 15 were "harder" by feel.

 

[Cvarney]

That's normal. Some cases swell more than others but more than likely its the amount of lube on a particular case that makes it feel different.

That makes a lot of sense. In reality I wasn't to concerned with it but it had me wondering. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Cvarney]

This all brings another question to mind guys. I'm using Imperial sizing wax. Basically just swiped my finger over it and ran it around the brass. I FL sized this time as I didn't have my rifle with me (reloading stuff is in another building I own). Will the different feel or even later on if I start just bumping thr shoulders back affect accuracy? Such as is there a difference in POI between FL sized brass and shoulder bumped brass?