Once fired brass from different rifle

[bpwsm]

Question... With brass (and everything else) being hard to find. I've seen some once fired brass for sale and am thinking of picking some up. Brass is advertised as fired for testing, tumbled and inspected for damage.
In my experience once fired brass (neck sized) out of my gun gives me supreme accuracy but I question how different it would be using brass from a different rifle and only neck sizing. This is for a 7mm Rem Mag... so belted case.
Thoughts? Experience?
Thanks

 

[QuietTexan]

Depends on a lot of things.

I do it in my 30-06s all the time, roll my cases downhill from my nice 30-06, to my A-Bolts, to the Garand.

If this is an off the shelf rifle, very lightweight, very light barrel profile, shot mainly from improvised positions, or only used for short range, then the odds are brass dimensions are not the limiting factor on precision and it'll be fine. IMO you'd be better off taking a 1MOA load and shooting it more regardless of brass than trying to make the groups smaller.

If you're trying to wring out every last little bit of nitpicky tuning you'll end up frustrated using mismatched brass. It's frustrating enough using matched brass.

Peterson and Privi 7RM brass is in stock at Grafs right now.

 

[bpwsm]

The rifle was an off the shelf WBY Vanguard but has been trued/squared, trigger, stock etc. It shoots better than 1/4" at 100 with once fired brass (from same rifle)... about 1/2" to 3/4" with new. Always use Winchester brass and that is what the once fires I'm looking at are... Am I splitting hairs??Just curious if anyone has used brass from another rifle and if there were any accuracy discrepancies?

 

[victor3ranger]

I have a few 7mags and I get once fired range stuff when I can. I just full length size, check in case gauge, if good I trim and put it in rotation with all the rest.

 

[just_jon]

I have had good results by FL sizing and fire forming using the COW method.

 

[victor3ranger]

COW?

 

[Chadp82]

COW?

The cow method is a little messy and they are tough to catch .

Just kidding. Cream of Wheat method. I have never used it but there are plenty of videos and info on the forum about it for fireforming brass.

 

[cohunt]

I had to buy/use a Larry Willis belted mag body die for the 1x fired norma 7rm brass I bought from gunwerks-- just a regular full length die wouldn't size the case down infront of the belt enough to fit in my gun (x-bolt lr)

 

[vancewalker007]

With the right dies you can for sure get those shot cases from another chamber to work. You can run into issues without the right dies. For example I have 2 7mm LRMs that cannot share brass. The chambers were cut by 2 different companies. LRM A will accept cases from both and LRM B will not except cases from LRM A. I only have the FL sizer made by Hornaday for Gunwerks. This FL die will not size down LRM As cases enough to fit in LRM Bs chamber. If I had die to match LRM Bs chamber then maybe I could get them to cross over. With belted cases there are a notorious issue of case sizing just above the belt area. A cohunt mentioned a special sizing die is sometimes needed and the one he mentions is a good.

So the answer to your question is maybe.

 

[victor3ranger]

The cow method is a little messy and they are tough to catch .

Just kidding. Cream of Wheat method. I have never used it but there are plenty of videos and info on the forum about it for fireforming brass.

I figured it might be similar to bull tipping
I hope to do some fireforming like that to make some brass 410 shells

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

The only way to know for sure is to try and see, some rifles are just not that finicky, while some are very component specific, you likely will need to full length size for the first shooting, then you should be good to go.

 

[Roughrice]

Put the fired case in your chamber and see if it'll close. Go easy as not to jam a possible swelled web case.
If it closes... Neck size or FL without bumping the shoulder and fire form to your chamber. If it doesn't close... FL with slight bump until it does.
I also know my chamber lengths and measure the new (once fired) cases to compare to my fired cases before I proceed.

I've done it often with the brass shortage in some cartridges.

 

[Lou270]

I would just FL size for first firing in my rifle and then neck size after that.

Lou

 

[bpwsm]

Very good information Fellas... That's why I come here for answers! Appreciate your time in replying. I will probably order, do a chambering test and likely FL size.