Prepping New 308 Brass

[tkcomer]

Whenever I get new brass in, I always full length size it and trim it before I load it the first time. But then I got a Wilson case gage in and decided to try the new 308 brass in it. So far, every one has dropped right in the gage and does not even need trimming. I did notice the case mouths are uneven on a lot of them and you can't shove a bullet into any of them. So now I'm wondering if all I have to do is lube the case mouth and just run the expander ball in and out. Or should I go ahead and size them? Just running the expander ball in and out would be a lot quicker for the amount of brass I have.

 

[Art Eatman]

All I ever do with new brass is chamfer the inside of the neck of the case. Then it's no trouble to start a bullet for seating. I think it's a Wilson reamer, made for the purpose.

Art

 

[scrat]

i used to do full length sizing with new brass however i found kinda the same thing. Now a days when ever i get new brass i full size a couple of them to check to see how (if any) out they are. After that if a couple turn out ok then i usually run the expander ball in the neck of the rest of them then chamfer the mouth ends. Then regardless new or not. thats when i take out the calipers and check the size of all of them. i always think better safe than sorry.

 

[tkcomer]

I forgot about chamfering the mouth end. I've ran the 500 cases through the Wilson gage and all tested OK. So I'll just run the expander ball through, chamfer the mouth and load normally. I'd say I'll have to trim after the first firing. I'm down to one 308 rifle so I'm going to try and learn how to neck size these shells. I'm hoping the gage will show me the way.

 

[USSR]

Sizing new brass with a standard full length sizing die does nothing except work the neck, since the body of a new case is smaller than what anything other than a small base die can touch. If you've got a dented neck resize it; otherwise just chamfer the necks and load em.

Don

 

[Walkalong]

Clean, resize, clean primer pocket(perhaps even use a uniformer on them), trim to length, lighly chamfer inside and outside of necks. Load it.

 

[scrat]

uhhh ya maybe you should read the first post.


If they are new they should need to be cleaned. especially in the primer.

 

[Delmar]

Maybe its excess work, but I will resize, trim, deburr the flash hole, ream the primer pockers and chamfer new brass so that everything is close to the same dimension.

 

[Walkalong]

uhhh ya maybe you should read the first post.


If they are new they should need to be cleaned. especially in the primer.

On all rifle brass I buy new I follow my outlined procedure. If I am uniforming the primer pocket it has to be done on nice clean primer pockets as well. If I am not I skip that step, but anyone who thinks brand new rifle brass doesn't need a little prep is just blasting and not worried about accuracy, although I do the same to my .223 blasting ammo as well. I just don't uniform the primer pockets. It only has to be done once in it's life most of the time. Just trying to be helpfull. AC

 

[scrat]

true im the same way. not too that extreme. however im not going to go put them in the case tumbler if they are brand new. sizing and checking but cleaning no

 

[salty]

New brass - check a few of the lot to make sure they meet the Wison specs - then chamfer, dry lube inside neck and reload.

 

[tkcomer]

Well, I'll have to run the expander ball through for sure. Too many have dents and some just don't look round enough for me. I just didn't want to work the brass too much as I'm going to try and neck size them after I fire them the first time. Never thought about the primer pockets on new brass. It's something I do on once fired 223 brass, even though the last batch weren't crimped. I even do that to pistol cases after a few firings to get the crap out of them. So I guess because the necks on so many aren't round, I'll go on and size them to be safe.

 

[Grumulkin]

On new cases, I check for eccentric flash holes while I'm priming them. The case mouth will get chamfered if loading a flat based bullet. If loading a boat tailed bullet, I usually don't even chamfer the case mouth. I also chamfer the case mouths of straight walled cases but don't bell them. I never totally resize or trim new cases prior to the first loading therof.

Loading a flat based bullet in a case in which the mouth isn't perfectly round could be problematic. With a boat tailed bullet, it's not a problem; the bullet will reshape the case mouth to round.