Is it ok to neck size virgin brass or does it need to first be full-length sized and fire-formed? Thanks in advance.

If the necks are still round, you should be able to load them without sizing. If they are out of round, then gently neck size and load.

No need to work the brass anymore than needed. Like Gojoe said if the necks are round just load them. If they are not simply neck size and fire.

FWIW: I size the necks at least 90% of their length and than OD and ID chamfer . Loading as received is a shot in the dark at best. JMHO. roger

I pretty much always FL size AND trim...many times the case mouth has a bulge/ring or something tha looks like it and even Lapua and Norma are different lengths...not much but a few thou...they are almost always short and have what I consider way too much variation in lengths.

I like accurate rifles and accurate ammo so I benchrest prep the cases...doesn't take all that much time and makes for better shooting.

Way back in the olden days before I got all uppity and persnickety, I just sized, trimmed and loaded up...always got my animal...so whatever makes you feel good is always a good thing.

If you're just looking for minute of deer accuracy, just run them into the die enough to straighten the mouth then load up and go hunting. Trim the next time you reload the cases.

Luck

PERSNICKETY! And I was lead to believe this was a family friendly web page!

I neck-size and trim to even them out.

If you decide to mess with that virgin stuff use KY jelly.

I bump the resizing ball thru the neck and then load 'em up and shoot 'em. Once they are fire formed, I trim to length and do any other case prep I'm inclined to do.
Try full length sizing your new brass and then trim it to a uniform length and then fire it and recheck the length. Damn Skippy, you're gonna have to re-trim it to get it to a uniform length.

I always run new brass through a Neck sizer, it gives you a nice round neck to start with and irons out any dents. I also chamfer the case mouths at this point after neck sizing.
I trim them after the first fire forming, this allows the brass to relax and find it's own length, if you trim first you will often find necks that are not concentric in length after they are fire formed, one side will grow longer than the other. The same thing happens with neck thickness, it will often be more uniform after the first firing.

My first, maybe only, run at new brass has been a one hundred piece bag of Winchester. About 30 or so had deformed necks. In the interest of uniform neck tension I neck sized the bag. After measuring them they ranged from .003 to .010 over minimum length, so I ended up triming, chamfering, and deburring the lot. My first match with them is Saturday so other than a workup trip to the range I haven't tried them. Work up at 100, match is 1K.

Bottom line, I'd neck size them as a lot.

Thank you, gentlemen.

quote:

Originally posted by 416RigbyHunter:
I always run new brass through a Neck sizer, it gives you a nice round neck to start with and irons out any dents. I also chamfer the case mouths at this point after neck sizing.
I trim them after the first fire forming, this allows the brass to relax and find it's own length, if you trim first you will often find necks that are not concentric in length after they are fire formed, one side will grow longer than the other. The same thing happens with neck thickness, it will often be more uniform after the first firing.

EXACTLY what he said.

.

I got caught once with a batch of W-W .218 Bee brass that had 10% of cases not chamber until F/L resized.

I F/L and trim all new brass now.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I bump the resizing ball thru the neck and then load 'em up and shoot 'em. Once they are fire formed, I trim to length and do any other case prep I'm inclined to do.
Try full length sizing your new brass and then trim it to a uniform length and then fire it and recheck the length. Damn Skippy, you're gonna have to re-trim it to get it to a uniform length.

this is what i do also

New cases are virtually always slightly smaller than a normal FL die so all that can happen is you would effectively neck size it no matter what die you use. And all sizing would accomplish is make sure the necks are round and the same inside diameter, if that matters to you. (It does to me.)

I agree with Jim C. In the vast majority of cases, the new brass won't even touch on the body. I will routinely run them through a FL die without lube,secure in the belief that they won't stick as they won't touch. If nothing else the necks are nice and round for chamferring.

Bare minimum I'll push the cases over the expander ball before chamferring. I used to do that all the time simply to avoid haveing to wipe the lube off. Once I caught on that the lube wasn't necessary they get the full trip.

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:
I agree with Jim C. In the vast majority of cases, the new brass won't even touch on the body. I will routinely run them through a FL die without lube,secure in the belief that they won't stick as they won't touch. If nothing else the necks are nice and round for chamferring.

Bare minimum I'll push the cases over the expander ball before chamferring. I used to do that all the time simply to avoid haveing to wipe the lube off. Once I caught on that the lube wasn't necessary they get the full trip.

On the part that does get re-sized, aren't you worried about "work hardening" the brass without using wax?

Seems like a little dab of imperial sizing lube, or if you want even less effort without the need to wipe anything off, Hornady One-Shot.

I'll lube the inside of the necks with a bore brush and Amzoil spray lube..

then I will neck size them before use...

I hardly ever have new brass anymore...

between stretching out the life span as I went over in the 'brass life' thread, picking up range brass, and having so much brass I bought on sale or from sources where it was once fired police range stuff...almost all my brass is once fired...

Bless the Oregon State Police for example...

they were using our local range for training which they do about once a month...the range managers use to pick it up and sell it themselves, for their own pocket... but they have so much now, they won't even bother...

so they let me and a friend pick up what we wanted.... I came home with 2000 plus rounds of Remington 223 brass... as did my friend...

for about $90 a while ago, I picked up 1000 rounds of Rem 243 brass from a source, that was once shot brass from a police range... and also a thousand rounds of Win 7/08....

brass is something I have NO shortage of...

quote:

On the part that does get re-sized, aren't you worried about "work hardening" the brass without using wax?

Work hardening occurs when the brass is worked, case lube simply reduces the loader's effort and prevents the dry case from getting locked -stuck - in the die. I never size anything normally without lube but I suppose it's not absolutely necessary for neck sizing, necks are too thin and soft to require much effort and they aren't very likely to get stuck either.