Is chamfering new, unfired brass necessary?

[TruthTellers]

Hey all, I'd like to know what procedures have to be done to brand new, never fired brass compared to once or several times fired brass. I've heard that new brass needs to be chamfered/deburred at the mouth while fired brass, at least pistol, doesn't.

So, if you buy unfired brass do you chamfer it?

 

[LiveLife]

With new Starline brass, case mouth edges are quite sharp and could dig into the bullet base if not flared sufficiently. I have used jacketed/plated bullets with new Starline brass and have not needed to chamfer the case mouth.

If lead/plated bullets with a lot of taper crimp was used and seat/crimp in the same step, I could see shaving of lead and cutting into the plating and chamfering the case mouth would help.

 

[Reefinmike]

I always chamfer my new starline revolver brass. It makes seating bullets easier, especially when loading coated lead bullets.

 

[Reloadron]

Hey all, I'd like to know what procedures have to be done to brand new, never fired brass compared to once or several times fired brass. I've heard that new brass needs to be chamfered/deburred at the mouth while fired brass, at least pistol, doesn't.

So, if you buy unfired brass do you chamfer it?

Depends on what it is for but generally speaking yes, I chamfer and deburr new cases, especially bottle neck rifle cases. Matter of fact for new bottleneck rifle cases I run them through a sizing die, I trim to length to make sure they are all uniform and then chamfer and deburr. Straight walled handgun and rifle I just chamfer and deburr. Looking at the case mouths of some new brass he stuff can be ugly, out of round and have burrs. You don't mention a specific case type or caliber so the answer is pretty generic.

Ron

 

[greenmtnguy]

On new brass I always resize, trim, and give a slight chamfer to the case mouth. Definitely helps to reduce shaving lead bullets and slightly reduces how much you have to flare the case mouth to seat the bullets (especially lead). The less you work the case mouth by bending it back and forth the longer your brass will last.

 

[snuffy]

ANY brass case needs to be chamfered before pushing a bullet into the mouth/neck! New cases especially. Most of the new brass doesn't even have square mouths, so it should all be trimmed as well. Trimming squares the mouth, then chamfer.

Is chamfering new, unfired brass necessary?

For BN rifle, NOT chamfering will result in the sides of the bullet being scraped by the sharp mouth. The standard 45 degree chamfer works okay, but the VLD chamfer has a sharper taper,(22 degrees), to virtually eliminate the bullet being scraped or shaved .

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Not necessary when loading thousands of 9mm rounds for plinking.

I use to do it to my 9mm brass. But i would loose that brass. Then i would add brass that wasn't mine and it would get mixed up. All for what? Never made a big enough difference loading 9, 40, and 45acp so i stopped doing it.

Personally i see more need to clean primer pockets in those calibers...and i don't pay special attention to that either. It cleans up well enough in the tumbler.

Rifle brass... yes. Do it.

 

[dragon813gt]

For revolver and rifle brass I do. They are trimmed to length as well so it's just part of the normal prep. I don't bother w/ pistol brass. I use a proper expander and have had no issues loading larger cast bullets.

 

[TruthTellers]

Well it sounds like unfired brass needs to be worked on, but what about fired brass? If I don't have to chamfer and deburr fired brass that seems like a more time efficient method of the reloading process.

And if you want specific calibers I'm interested in reloading it's .32 S&W Long, .327 Magnum, .45 Colt, and .40 S&W.

I figure all rifle calibers I reload will need to be trimmed, chamfered, and deburred.

 

[Wildfire]

Yes.

I always trim and do other things most would not.
Just got 50 rounds of new .300 Win mag. brass. New Federal.
They are not the same length and well the picture shows.
They are not even round at the mouth. Yet I have heard some say they just load them as they come. These are custom loads for a Rem. 700 Police rifle.Yes, they all get the treatment.
I do all the same with all my pistol brass. I need all the help I can get. But, then this is what I like to do. Just did 450 .38s and have about 1000 more to do yet. My grand daughters love to shoot. My .45 Colt loads. They get extra care. .45 ACP gets loaded on my Dillon. They get cleaned but that is about it.

 

[Wildfire]

By the way. My .38s were indoor range brass. Once fired and they grew about .003" after sizing. Trimming becomes needed sooner or later.
I saw one say that pistol brass get shorter as we use it. Not sure how that works. He was not talking about trimming. Mine gets longer and always has.

 

[cfullgraf]

I do not always chamfer new brass.

I'm usually sorry when I didn't.

 

[VINTAGE-SLOTCARS]

I usually do, it makes everything run much smoother.

 

[jmr40]

I don't load for handguns, but used to do so with new rifle brass. I've seen enough evidence that it is a waste of time that I stopped. It is working fine for me.

 

[Hondo 60]

For handgun - no I don't chamfer

For rifle - yes I always chamfer.

The difference is that with handgun brass you bell it to allow a bullet to seat.
For rifle, I don't bell the brass.

 

[LiveLife]

Clarification: My comment was for semi-auto pistol brass

With new Starline brass, case mouth edges are quite sharp and could dig into the bullet base if not flared sufficiently. I have used jacketed/plated bullets with new Starline brass and have not needed to chamfer the case mouth.

If lead/plated bullets with a lot of taper crimp was used and seat/crimp in the same step, I could see shaving of lead and cutting into the plating and chamfering the case mouth would help.

 

[Grumulkin]

The only reason I might chamfer semiauto would be if I were going to shoot cast bullets which I don't do.

I have NEVER chamfered new bottle necked rifle brass.

 

[FROGO207]

For auto pistol brass I have never done anything other than clean/size/load. For things that I have to roll crimp I trim to length then chamfer/deburr inside and out. This step allows all crimps to be made virtually equal so all rounds are loaded to the same standard. Bottle neck brass I will always size/trim/chamfer/deburr when I get new to me brass whether it is NIB, once fired by me, or range brass. Thereafter only when I trim things will I repeat. This is my best process developed over the years for trouble free accurate loading. The hard part is picking up a pile of brass at the range while others are shooting the same caliber, then I have to inspect it carefully to see if it is my prepped brass or not. Sometimes I just treat it as new to me brass and process it as such anyway. It all comes down to what your minimum standards are for a piece of brass you are willing to load. YMMV

 

[Elkins45]

Well it sounds like unfired brass needs to be worked on, but what about fired brass? If I don't have to chamfer and deburr fired brass that seems like a more time efficient method of the reloading process.

And if you want specific calibers I'm interested in reloading it's .32 S&W Long, .327 Magnum, .45 Colt, and .40 S&W.

I figure all rifle calibers I reload will need to be trimmed, chamfered, and deburred.

Do it the first time you load them. You probably only need to redo it if you trim again, and that's not likely to be needed for revolver rounds. I have never trimmed an auto pistol round so the initial chamfering is all they ever get until they are lost or split.

 

[USSR]

For handgun - no I don't chamfer

For rifle - yes I always chamfer.

The difference is that with handgun brass you bell it to allow a bullet to seat.
For rifle, I don't bell the brass.

Couldn't have said it any better.

Don

 

[gwpercle]

Not only chamfer , you should also resize it.

During manufacture , boxing/bagging and shipping they get banged together, the mouth's get dented and out of round. Nothing worse than trying to seat a round bullet in an oval case mouth.
This is critical when loading cast ,plated or coated bullets they are soft. Not so critical when loading jacketed , but doesn't hurt !

 

[GBExpat]

Is chamfering new, unfired brass necessary?

Necessary? No.

... So, if you buy unfired brass do you chamfer it?

Yes, every single one. I also run them thru the sizing die.

 

[lightman]

I will say yes! Its a one time deal until you trim and then you need to do it again. The sharp mouth of the case can damage your bullet or even crumble the case mouth.