Should I prep brand new brass.

[wadedc]

I bought 200 new winchester .222 rem brass and was wondering if it is necessary to size trim and chamfer before loading them?

 

[kraky]

You'll get a ton of opinions on this. Since the new brass is already at minimal specs running them through a full length sizing is going to change almost nothing about the brass anyhow. The way I do it is to run the brass over an expander ball to get the neck trued and then chamfer inside case mouth and load. I go to the range where I usually find as good as accuracy as if I fully prepped.
Bottom line is if you look at alot of magazine articles where they are testing normal factory rifles there is very little diff between the accuracy of handloads and factory loads. After you've fireformed the brass to your chamber you can now do the steps you like for better fit and a slight increase in accuracy.

 

[britz]

It pays off.

I believe in trueing primer pockets and deburring the flashole as a minimum of brass prep. I have seen very ununiform primer pockets and flash holes on new brass. If you intend to crimp than you have to trim the length too (most people don't crimp though). Deburr neck and vld the inside. There is always a damaged piece with a bent neck or something so resizing doesn't hurt anything. I the only step I omit from new brass is tumbling. I am guessing that if you purchased new brass and spend the time to load, you probably want inexpensive GOOD ammo. every little bit helps.

 

[KQguy]

I alway's trim all mine to the minimum trim length,I noticed all my winchester brass varied slightly in length.I also size them,because most of them come bent on the top edge,I size them to true up the neck so I can get the bullet seated.

 

[johnnyk]

I full length re-size, trim to the "trim to length" (max overall case length minus .010"), de-burr the flash holes and champher in/outside neck.
My reasoning is the next time I reload I only neck size. Depending on the load I can usually get away with neck sizing a few times. Once the cases are trimmed to minimum I usually don't have to trim again for several loadings. As far as I know and have seen, once you de-burr the flash holes you never have to do that again. Champhering the necks I do each time I run them through my dies.
I usually only tumble after every 4-5th reloading and I keep a record of how many times each case is shot. Hope this helps. JohnnyK.

 

[uncleB]

You'll get a ton of opinions on this. Since the new brass is already at minimal specs running them through a full length sizing is going to change almost nothing about the brass anyhow. The way I do it is to run the brass over an expander ball to get the neck trued and then chamfer inside case mouth and load. I go to the range where I usually find as good as accuracy as if I fully prepped.
Bottom line is if you look at alot of magazine articles where they are testing normal factory rifles there is very little diff between the accuracy of handloads and factory loads. After you've fireformed the brass to your chamber you can now do the steps you like for better fit and a slight increase in accuracy.

Kraky,
On the 24Hr Bonfire and other places this would be a common post, on LRH this is nigh unto Blasphemy "little diff between the accuracy of handloads and factory loads". If you hurry you can edit your post before you get stoned.
UB

 

[Tyler Kemp]

I think he meant handloads with new brass before it is fireformed to the chamber.

 

[Boss Hoss]

I hope so or he will be banished to the "24 Hour Bonfire"!! Still he should at the very least be flogged like and placed into the stocks! LOL!!!

 

[kraky]

Ya.....I re-read my post after making it and was surprised I made it this long without a small fire. Here's what I was trying to say. If you read the gun rags when they are testing a new gun it seems that one or two handloads always goes well under an inch. It also seems that one or two factory loads also go well under an inch. (Of course there's plenty of both that don't). My post meant to reflect that there's no reason......if you know your guns favorite bullet, powder, seating depth....that you should be able to match or beat any of the BEST factory loads out there without extra case prep on virgin brass. Lets not forget that alot of this rests on the quality of the gun. Some guns can shoot alot of loads to 1/2" and under. Alot of factory guns may have a hard time cracking 1" consistantly with either reloads or factory. Bottom line is with the right gun and load you can shoot some very good groups with min prep on virgin cases.

 

[Bigcat_hunter]

I usually buy new brass from Nosler which is weight sorted sized and prepped ready to go. I usually had no problems NOT sizing it until I went on a guided hunting trip in the Bob Marshall wilderness in Montana. This time almost all of my bullets were coming out of the cases when I unloaded them from my gun. Someone sized them wrong from the factory. I will always re-size new brass even from Nosler from now on.

 

[kraky]

What was the cause of the bullets coming out? From what I'm reading it sounds like they were seated too far out and were in the lands? That combined with too little neck tension? What did the bullets feel like when they were seated?? Usually I would think that little neck tension could be felt when seating?