Do you size and trim new brass?

psdan000

psdan000

Member
I feel kinda silly asking this, but in my 10 years or so of reloading, I don't think I've ever bought newly manufactured brass until today. I found 150 rounds of new hornady .204 ruger brass that I plan on loading for a prairie dog hunt in June. My questions is, do I need to run these through the sizer and trim them like I would with fired brass? Or should they be good to go out of the box? Thanks for the help!
 
I size and trim all new brass, just to make things easy and uniform for best accuracy. found a lot of variation in most brass.
Barry
 
Size, as not to bump the shoulder.

chamfer and de burr.


Trimming new brass is not necessary unless you are trying to go from .2 MOA down to 1.978 MOA or are a long range competition shooter.
 
Size yes. Trim no. Don't trim until after your brass is fired at least once in your chamber and sized again with minimal shoulder bump.
 
Originally Posted By: arlaunchSize, as not to bump the shoulder.

chamfer and de burr.


Trimming new brass is not necessary unless you are trying to go from .2 MOA down to 1.978 MOA or are a long range competition shooter.



^^^ This, for sure!
 
Size for sure, unless it's perfectly packaged like lapua or the prepped nosler stuff. Trim if it's uneven or the mouth looks a little rough like Win/Rem can look. Only enough to take the rough edge off. Even that isn't really necessary but it makes them look better imo.
 
Anytime I buy cheap brass, Winchester, Remington, Hornady, I will FL size just to take any neck variance out, A lot of time I will chamfer and de-burr them also.

Like mentioned above, the good stuff, Norma, Lapua etc. I visually inspect and unless there is some case neck damage or dings I don't mess with them, because they don't need to be messed with.
 
Originally Posted By: DiRTY DOGSize yes. Trim no. Don't trim until after your brass is fired at least once in your chamber and sized again with minimal shoulder bump.


^^^^^^This^^^^^
 
Size, yes. I size everything. The exception is my new Lapua brass for my Sako .22-250, I run that through a sizing die part way to expand the mouth of the case but shoot it as is.

I trim only when its necessary or I have a lot of mixed brass that I want to make consistent (ish)
 
I size, trim & champher new brass before reloading. Mostly use Win. brass and cases have dinged necks & more variance in case length than I prefer. Prefer LC brass when available; not as much variance but still size/trim/champher new cases.

Regards,
hm
 
I ALWAYS size, chamfer and debur. Trimming to me is the worst part of reloading so I strongly recommend something with a motor, preferably a Giraud trimmer. Trims, deburs and chamfers all in one.

Most all brass comes with case mouths that are not perfectly round, they get bent in the shipping/packaging process so make sure you at least run the expander through them so you might as well FL size.

Inside chamfer also makes seating easier, especially with flat based bullets.
 
I've found that it's not uncommon for new brass, especially bulk-packed, to have very minor bent case mouths... therefore, I always size them enough to make sure all case mouths are concentric. Like already mentioned, no shoulder bump.
 
I would run a mandrel of the diameter for correct neck tension and be done. You wouldn't do a true load work up with unfired brass. Partial sizing can lead to concentric issues, if the necks are small enough run double neck tension on first firing. I have found the 204r to be very tolerant of bullet jump and increased neck tension.
 
I almost always resize new brass. I've even done it with Nosler and Lapua because a few of them had issues with dented necks. I just resized the entire lot to keep the the neck tension the same. The only brass that I've bought that I doubt I would ever have to prep before the 1st load is Peterson because they package them so well.
 
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