New Winchester brass question

[blackhawk8]

I have brand new Winchester 270 cal brass, I always size it but am I waisting time, does the new stuff need to be sized ? what do you guys think, thanks

[mikld]

I like to size all my brass, even when new. Firearm cases are mass produced and out of the millions in a production run, there may be some that sneak through that ain't 100% right. Then there is shipping and handling dings. I like to start with a known good case...

[jepp2]

The necks need to have the expander run through them and the inside deburred. New brass does not need FL sizing. But if it makes you feel better, go ahead. I have better things to do with my time. YMMV.

[William T. Watts]

I start the sizer expander into the case mouth enough to round the case mouth to allow me to deburr/chamfer the case and call it done. I have never felt a need to full length size new cases, if they are that bad I don't need them.. I should add I think the quality of Winchester cases has suffered in recent years base on complaints and what I've seen recently with 307 Winchester cases, the new/virgin W-W cases I have are at least 10 or more years old. Most of the new cases I purchase now are R-P and I'm pleased with the quality. As with everything in life nothing stays the same. There was a time Winchester components were 1st class, I do not believe that anymore.. William

[Jimro]

Does it NEED to be sized?

No.

Should it be sized?

Probably.

Jimro

[Reloader2]

I've mostly just run the new brass over the expander ball and chamfer inside and out. I recently purchased some Remington 280 brass. It wasn't touching the expander ball so I ran them through a neck sizer before loading. I see no benefit in sizing new brass as a general rule, but I'm just looking to obtain hunting accuracy.

[T. O'Heir]

New brass is not ready to load out of the factory. Regardless of what marketing departments say. All new bottle necked rifle brass needs to be checked for length, trimmed as required, the case mouths chamfered and deburred and FL resized.

[Jimro]

New brass is not ready to load out of the factory. Regardless of what marketing departments say. All new bottle necked rifle brass needs to be checked for length, trimmed as required, the case mouths chamfered and deburred and FL resized.

Wait, if you are checking for length with a case length guage, what is the point of FL resizing? Bumping back an in spec shoulder?

Gonna have to explain that one too me.

Jimro

[RC20]

Chamber and empty shell and see?

[Longshot4]

Over the years I have seen plenty of flawed new cases. I always FL size cases after a complete inspection and prep. The prep would be Inside primer pocket debur, run primer pocket uniformer, case length trim to spec. and debur mouth. If at any time I am in a hurry for loads I just go to buy some.

[sawdustdad]

I just bought 100 Winchester 30-06 brass cases and 50 hornady 30-06 cases. The hornady all needed neck sizing because most were dented/out of round. The winchester brass looked perfect. I ran them all through the expander/neck sizer to make sure they were round. I gauged them with an LE Wilson case gauge, they were in spec, so I did not full length size them prior to loading.

[Snyper]

I size them all to make them all the same, then trim, chamfer and deburr, to make them all the same

I usually uniform and deburr the flash holes too.

I figure the more identical they are to begin with, the more accurate they will be

It may be overkill, but I still do it

[DAVID NANCARROW]

+1

[Jim243]

It may be overkill, but I still do it

Yes it is, but there is nothing wrong with doing that.

Jim

[243winxb]

100 new 243win brass get loaded right out of the bag after checking to see if 10 will chamber, then chamfer and deburr , load with 85 gr Sierra boat tail. Runs at 3/4" groups. Remington has to have the mouth fixed by bumping with the expander. Always check trim length on all. After fire forming, clean, uniform flash hole, fl size, trim, sort by weight. Groups now 1/2" or better with Bergers .

[Jimro]

I've loaded hundreds of 308 in factory Winchester brass, 0.75 to 1 MOA groups across lots without resizing or messing with primer pockets (1.5 to 2 inch groups at 200 yards). The ones with dinged up necks get a trip through the FL die simply to true the neck up.

My reloading goals are to duplicate issue loads, so once a load gets under 1 MOA, I'm good. If you are happy with the level of accuracy provided by factory brass, you probably don't need to worry about running each through a FL sizer. If you do FL resize it won't hurt anything.

Sounds like a good experiment to do, half of a lot FL resized out of the bag, the other half not. See if it shows up on target.

Jimro

[BigG]

The case mouths need to be chamfered inside and out on brand new cases. Overall case length should be checked and cases trimmed if necessary, also.

[jmr40]

I used to. After loading hundreds of rounds and seeing zero difference I no longer waste my time. I prime and load new brass right out of the box. Shoots just as well as the ones I used to size.

This is one of those things that people do just in case it might make a difference. It doesn't.

The hornady all needed neck sizing because most were dented/out of round.

They will be perfect as soon as the bullet goes in the case mouth.

[Unclenick]

It depends on your purposes. When Winchester factory primed brass was available, I'd buy and load that for Service Rifle matches with no issues. I got the idea of doing that from one of Glen Zediker's books. He does the same. No self-respecting benchrest shooter would do that, though.

I use a Sinclair mandrel die body and run the mouths over a carbide neck turning mandrel to clear any neck dents.

Inspection is a must. The last time I bought bulk .223 brass (Winchester) two of the cases had no flash holes. That's an example of an error factory ammo can have that a reloader can't (can't RE-load what didn't fire the first time). But a handloader using new brass and who doesn't inspect it can get into that same kind of trouble. So, inspect. Use a case gauge if you want to. At the least, set your calipers to the maximum case length spec (check SAAMI drawing for your cartridge, but it is most often 0.010" over the trim-to length) and pass cases through the jaws to check length.

I didn't used to chamfer new brass, but my Giraud trimmer makes it too easy to stop myself from doing it. Whether you trim or not, I recommend you have a polished E-Z out (Bart B.'s suggestion, originally) or an oversize carbide mandrel with tapered nose running at slow speed in a drill press or electric screwdriver and burnish each case mouth with that. Otherwise use a Lyman M die to expand the case mouth. The idea is to avoid the sharp edge of a chamfer scraping the jacket metal. If you don't, you can sometimes see a thin ring of copper at the case mouth, just as happens with lead bullets, but to a greater degree. That Lyman die starts bullets into the case straighter anyway. You just have to remember to set your seating die up so the crimp shoulder irons out the expanded portion.

BTW, all the above applies to rifle because its inherently high precision makes it sensitive to errors. Every piece of bulk pistol brass I have ever bought has received a visual inspection because I prime it by hand at least the first time around the block. The expander step in loading handles case mouth dents. I don't think I've ever bothered to gage it.