Centrefire Reloading

[Browning]

Just come back from my local gunsmith where a few of us had a lengthy discussion on case re-sizing.

 

Personally I always re-size new cases fully, but once fired I back off on the sizing die and

just re-size the neck. My thought process being that the fired case is already formed to my chamber,

so why re-size the whole thing.

 

One guy in the shop, who is supposed to be an extremely experienced and knowledgeable rifle man,

was adamant that you should always full length re-size your cases......but couldn't explain why!

 

I reckon all that will do is place added stress on the brass and therefore reduce the life of the case.

 

What do you experienced centrefire reloaders do/think?

[JohnGalway]

.

Edited September 7, 2009 by JohnGalway

[Graham M]

I always full length size my new brass just to make sure that they are all the same, but once I have fired them they are all neck-sized.

It is silly to fully size them once you have fire-formed them to your chamber as this simply takes a case that is now perfectly formed to your own gun, and reforms it back to the dimensions of the dies. Not only is this making them a less than perfect fit, but it also work-hardens the brass making them more susceptible to cracking.

You may find that every so often, after a half dozen re-loads or so, it may pay to trim them to length and fully re-size them again as the shoulder may have tended to creep forward with the pressures, but in the main it is much better to just neck-size whenever possible.

As for your “Expert” who full length sizes every time…….let him get on with it, he probably makes a mess of the neck-sizing by using poor collet dies and can’t get the case to fit once he has seated the bullet.

G.M.

[Hodmedod.one]

I always full length size my new brass just to make sure that they are all the same, but once I have fired them they are all neck-sized.

It is silly to fully size them once you have fire-formed them to your chamber as this simply takes a case that is now perfectly formed to your own gun, and reforms it back to the dimensions of the dies. Not only is this making them a less than perfect fit, but it also work-hardens the brass making them more susceptible to cracking.

You may find that every so often, after a half dozen re-loads or so, it may pay to trim them to length and fully re-size them again as the shoulder may have tended to creep forward with the pressures, but in the main it is much better to just neck-size whenever possible.

As for your “Expert” who full length sizes every time…….let him get on with it, he probably makes a mess of the neck-sizing by using poor collet dies and can’t get the case to fit once he has seated the bullet.

G.M.

 

I agree 100%

[Browning]

G.M.....My thoughts exactly

 

I tend to length check every time I load a case, and the .243 and .270 usually require a trim after two loads.

I only usually re-load them four times anyway before I trash them, so haven't felt the need for a full length re-size after the first time.

[dunganick]

G.M.....My thoughts exactly

 

I tend to length check every time I load a case, and the .243 and .270 usually require a trim after two loads.

I only usually re-load them four times anyway before I trash them, so haven't felt the need for a full length re-size after the first time.

 

you should start using lapua

 

good for 10 reloads, this means despite their high initial purchase cost you will actually save money if you do the 10 reloads (which they will easily do) as you would have gone through 2 sets of normal brass for 10 reloads.

[Graham M]

It also helps if you don't load right up to the limit, which can cause a lot of stress to the brass.

I have read about annealing the cases to soften them, which can add another half-dozen re-loads to their life span. Mind you, with the cost of some of this Privi Partisan ammo’, it sometimes doesn’t make sense to reload as they are cheaper to buy the complete round than to buy the components.

If you can get it that is.

G.M.

[kip270]

After reading this, i don't use the expander ball, and only partial neck size with my .222

 

http://www.6mmbr.citymaker.com/ReloadingFroggy.html

[mry716]

It does depend on calibre.

 

If he was using a WSM cal then he could well be correct as it is the norm to FL size every time to avoid problems. But it also depends of your chamber and some folk get away with neck sizing these a couple of times between FL sizes.

 

It could also be necessary for 30-30 used in an U/L. I tend to alternate with mine to ensure good feeding.

 

For most other Cals one can neck size until extraction begins to become difficult.

[markbivvy]

Mind you, with the cost of some of this Privi Partisan ammo’,

 

its just gone up £8 per 100. £33/100. 55grn soft points. 223.

[Dunkield]

For that price mark you may as well use Federal American Eagles

[markbivvy]

For that price mark you may as well use Federal American Eagles

Hi Stuart

according to the man in the shop, its all going to go up.

all to do with the price of copper.

i dont believe a word he says and swear blind he has had me.

[bobt]

with new empties I full length re size after that only a neck size.

[miffy]

I tend to full length resize every time. years ago when i started to reload i had a lot of problems when using the neck sizing and not all cases loaded to my liking. I never have any troubles loading rounds now that i full length resize. In my .22/250 i loaded some cases alot more than 10 times without any faults appearing on the cases, i was running 37 grain of Vit N140 with a 50 grain Vmax and the accuracy was superb (one hole group every time) Now that i am reloading for the .243 i am full length resizing again and have been out again tonight to recheck the grouping on the initial group that worked well which is 42 Grain of H414 with a 75 grain Vmax. The cases that i used tonight have been full length resized 3 times now again with no probs as yet.

 

Here is the results from this evenings grouping test

 

[Dunkield]

For that price mark you may as well use Federal American Eagles

Hi Stuart

according to the man in the shop, its all going to go up.

all to do with the price of copper.

i dont believe a word he says and swear blind he has had me.

 

 

He is right mate, if you do a search you will see that old 2p coins are now worth 3p as scrap

We had better stock up (on ammo, not 2p pieces )

[deadeye ive]

I tend to full length resize every time. years ago when i started to reload i had a lot of problems when using the neck sizing and not all cases loaded to my liking. I never have any troubles loading rounds now that i full length resize. In my .22/250 i loaded some cases alot more than 10 times without any faults appearing on the cases, i was running 37 grain of Vit N140 with a 50 grain Vmax and the accuracy was superb (one hole group every time) Now that i am reloading for the .243 i am full length resizing again and have been out again tonight to recheck the grouping on the initial group that worked well which is 42 Grain of H414 with a 75 grain Vmax. The cases that i used tonight have been full length resized 3 times now again with no probs as yet.

 

Here is the results from this evenings grouping test

 

................Good grouping Miffy ................

[miffy]

................Good grouping Miffy ................

 

Cheers Ive you will have to try my Range for your zeroin.....its cheaper than garlands but there is no coffee machine

 

Not much wind tho

[Graham M]

Nice shooting Miffy. I use H414 in my .243 as well; 46 grns under a 70grn V-max. this is @ 10% down on the op load and works quite well although doesn’t group as well as I would like. May try a bit more powder and see what happens.

The 100grn Noslers use 40grns of H414 and they seem to group very well, so I don’t know whether the powder suits the heavier bullets better or whether the rifle just prefers the heavier bullets.

G.M.

[miffy]

Nice shooting Miffy. I use H414 in my .243 as well; 46 grns under a 70grn V-max. this is @ 10% down on the op load and works quite well although doesn’t group as well as I would like. May try a bit more powder and see what happens.

The 100grn Noslers use 40grns of H414 and they seem to group very well, so I don’t know whether the powder suits the heavier bullets better or whether the rifle just prefers the heavier bullets.

G.M.

 

Graham try less powder rather than more it worked for me

Actually 42 grain of H414 was the very first load i tried....i have tried upto 46 and down to 41 with all half loads too

 

I'm sure you have tried all loads though so ignore me

[Graham M]

Was thinking of trying a faster powder, maybe H380.

Anyone using this

G.M.

[miffy]

Was thinking of trying a faster powder, maybe H380.

Anyone using this

G.M.

 

Only tried Varget and H414 and to be honest my rifle has grouped superb with both.......under half inch with most different loads and nothing over 1" at 100 yards so i think i'll stay with these for now, let me know how you get on eith the H380

[Browning]

Nick....

you should start using lapua

....I just bought some Lapua brass in .243

 

Unfortunately Lapua don't make .270 cases so I'm using Remington at the moment.

 

 

Miffy...

Actually 42 grain of H414 was the very first load i tried....i have tried upto 46 and down to 41 with all half loads too

....I went through exactly the same process, but found that 46gn of H414 behind the 75gn Vmax gave me most consistent groups, so I've settled for that load. This was thru the T3 with Federal brass.