New .223 brass - need resizing?

[emptybrass]

I just now am getting into reloading .223. My first 10 rounds performed as expected without problem. The were all once fired brass.

I now have opened a box of 500 rounds of new brass head stamped BGA. I dropped about 20 shells into my Wilson headspace gage and they all gaged to spec. Do I need to resize the brass for bullet fit, or am I good to go ahead with primer, powder and bullet?

Gut feel says to resize but I don't have your experience. What say you all?

 

[BHarada]

I think most will recommend resizing new brass if only to work out any deformations that happened in shipping...especially in the necks.

 

[rcmodel]

If they gage & the case neck tension is as it should be, you don't have too.

Often times though, bulk brass will have dinged / bent case mouths from packing & shipping.

So, I at least back off the FL die enough to make them all round again without changing the shoulder.

rc

 

[jwrowland77]

The only thing I do with new brass is run the expander through the mouth to make sure it's a O and not oval or deformed and that's it. I chamfer the inside of the mouth. Uniform the primer pocket and then go to loading.

 

[cbmax]

Yes you should always resize new brass. You want to make sure the case mouth is too spec. If you have a gage to measure the shoulder bump on the once fired brass, that would help you even further to resize the brass for the particular chamber.

CB

 

[gamestalker]

I always run new brass through the resize die before loading it. And for good reason too. I have bought lots of new brass over the years, and most will work right off the shelf, but they aren't always as precision as you would expect.

GS

 

[emptybrass]

Thanks for all your responses. Good stuff.

 

[Moreno]

I always size new brass.

 

[Grumulkin]

I think most will recommend resizing new brass if only to work out any deformations that happened in shipping...especially in the necks.

I think you're right. I think most will. It's kind of like most used to think the world was flat. Most used to think cholesterol was OK. Most used to think leeches for fever was good.

And there are many other examples of why you should go with what most say.

 

[jwrowland77]

This world wouldn't be the way it is without the few.

Most said we couldn't land on the moon either, but the few were right.

 

[BHarada]

I never suggest an absolute when it pertains to personal opinions, thus my saying that most will recommend resizing. I know there will always be individuals who don't feel it's worth their time. Possibly those people are the same ones who do not believe it's worth their time to work up powder charges in their reloads, instead opting to start with a max charge level—even though most would highly recommend against it.

That said, taking your sarcastic replies into account I would tally your two posts in the "do not bother resizing new brass" column. At this point that makes it six for and two against. So it appears that most have indeed suggested that new brass be resized.

 

[jwrowland77]

Possibly those people are the same ones who do not believe it's worth their time to work up powder charges in their reloads, instead opting to start with a max charge level—even though most would highly recommend against

You'd be wrong. I always do a proper workup from start to finish in .3 increments. Starting at max would just be plain, well crazy.

I was actually replying to the statement above mine prior to this one.

 

[Walkalong]

I just bought 500 new .223 brass. It passes the gauge OK and is OK to shoot, but the case mouths needed chamfering and deburring. Not to mention they had enough oil residue in them to hold a few powder grains from falling out. (First new brass I have bought that did this) I am going to fix the case mouths and tumble it all, then load it as is for the first firing. I usually size new brass, but not this time. I will say that after deburring, chamferring and tumbling the first ten, I got .0005 to .0015 runout. The first 500 shots will be fire forming rounds to be shot in one barrel only.

Starting at max would just be plain

not a good idea.

 

[rondog]

I always resize new brass, and run 'em through the trimmer too with rifle brass. Not because they necessarily "need" it, but just to insure that ALL are dimensionally correct and consistent. Just a nice, safe starting baseline, so no funky ones slip through. Worth the extra effort IMO.

 

[Walkalong]

I forgot to mention, the OAL of the brass I bought is extremely consistent (1.755), or I would definitely trim it, and then deburr and chamfer. I'll trim it all again after the first resizing, then deburr and chamfer it again. I usually size brass the first time, but after seeing how consistent it was in shoulder position and OAL, I chose not to.

 

[jwrowland77]

I bought some new brass today and like normal, I'll run the sizer into to mouth to round it out, trim to "trim to length", chamfer, deburr, load, shoot, repeat.

 

[NCsmitty]

I always prep new brass, and that includes resizing in a die that is set to my chamber, just to be sure. Every one else can do as they want.


NCsmitty

 

[FROGO207]

I do not often find myself with new brass to use. That said I always FL size it trim, etc. before use. I feel it is more of a known than checking a sample. FWIW I do not have many case gauges either. Running it through the sizer will also assure me a clear flash hole. YMMV

 

[Pete D.]

no

No, you do not. I load lots of .223 cartridges. I load from a case of new Winchester factory primed brass.....obviously they are not going to be resized before use. They work just fine. Every now and then, I will find a case with an imperfection that renders it unusable but that is a rarity.
Pete

 

[steve4102]

This question comes up a lot. The replies are always the same, some do some don't, I do, I have seen far to many deformed cases and necks to even think about not sizing new brass. Even ran into a case with no flash hole once.

What ever you decide, you should always chamfer and deburr the case mouths before loading.

To be honest, by the time you posted your question then read all of the replies you could have had them all sized, prepped and ready to load.

 

[ole farmerbuck]

I use a Lee neck size only die just to make sure the necks are round.

 

[Bush Pilot]

I run them thru a Lee collet die and might chamfer the neck if I'm bored.