I am sure these questions have been asked before but here they are anyway:

With new brass, do I trim and debur prior to first firing them or wait until I first fire them?

Second, reading through the reloading manuals they say not to lube the shoulders of cases. How should one lube the necks?

Thanks

All the new brass I buy gets sprayed with Hornady One-shot lube it goes on so thin that I don't have to worry about denting shoulders from too much lube. I full length resize all of the cases then I trim to the shortest lenght, chamfer, de-burr and uniform the primer pockets. I then sort them by weight culling the obviously heavy and light cases.

Depends in what you are doing and how fussy you are, but prepping new rifle brass is generally a good idea. I generally spot check for length, but only trim if it needs it or has considerable variance. I almost always partially size or run the cases through a Lyman M die to get the necks round and then chamfer. Might do a lot more to cases for a varmint or target rifle, but that much will do for hunting rounds.

If there are burrs around the neck area I will de-burr prior to sizing. Then after all prep work is done, I tumble then load.

I am probably way too anal about this, but here goes:
1. Uniform the necks by running them over a mandrel, like the Lyman "M" fixture noted above.
2. Uniform the primer pockets. I use a carbide uniforme from Sinclair chucked in an electric screwdriver.
3. Measure case lengths. If there is any significant variance, or if some are running a bit long (it does happen with new brass at times), I trim them to the same length.
4. Light chamfer & deburr for the mouths.
5. Ream the flash holes. If I'm doing more than 20 cases I use the RCBS reamer, again, chucked in an electric screwdriver.
6. Run some or all of the cases through your rifle.
7. Don't assume that unfired brass is smaller than your chamber. I learned this the hard way. You may need to run it all through a full length resizer so it will fit.

I use the Hornady one shot if I'm doing a lot of cases. It is a nice product. I use it when prepping brass for high-power competition reloading.

When I'm just doing a hundred or so cases for a hunting rifle I use Imperial sizing wax on the case body, and dip the necks in moly powder from NECO. It is a little jar with moly and some size 7 1/2 steel ball bearing. Dip, twist, and your done. Really reduces expander drag.

I clean the cases with some denatured alcohol on a paper towel.

All this sounds like a lot, but since most of the operations are powered it doesn't really take too long.

The two most important things IMO are:
1. Buy Lapua brass if it is available in the caliber you are interested in.
2. Check the runout on your brass before and after you run them through your resizing die. I thought my two 30-06 rifles just weren't accurate for 20(!) years. Then I got a runnout gauge and discovered that my resizing die was taking straight brass and giving it .007" of runnout. Now those 1 3/4" rifles are 1" rifles (5 shot groups). I didn't know before, so I never asked the right question.

Now I only use Redding bushing dies or Forster dies.

You can make fine hunting ammunition without going through these steps. Usually. I do it because then I have more or less eliminated bad ammo as a source for any innaccuracies. Having absolute confidence in your ammo is a nice feeling when you are out on an expensive hunt. Vacation days are expensive in terms of time. None of us have enough of that.

Just my obsessive take on things.

Good luck,
JCN

When I get new brass:

Full-length size each piece;
Measure each piece;
Trim every case to the length of the shortest piece;
Deburr flash hole;
Chamfer inside and outside case neck.

After that, cases are neck-sized only, and for only 1/2 the length of the neck.

On new brass I smooth the necks in an expander, uniform primer pockets and nothing else until they are fire formed, either with the first load with a bullet, or in many cases with a load of Cream O'Wheat. Since cases "grow" unequally when fire formed I wait for trimming and deburring flash holes until after the forming. Trim to the shortest case, weight sort, the extent of which depends on the cartridge and its intended use, then neck size or partially full size thereafter.

If you trim before you fire the case you need to check AFTER you fire it the first time. I've seen cases lengthen as much as .010" after the first firing. It's a waste to trim before unless you enjoy trimming and are prepared to measure and trim twice.

There must be a real eclectic crowd in here.

If I am using new brass, I just load it up and shoot it.

I don't trim until it has been full lengthed size enough and still has problems chambering.

I am not a bench rest shooter, just a varmint shooter, target shooter and hunter.

If the brass looks really crappy out of the bag, (but it usually doesn't because If I see the cases look crappy in the bag, I just get another bag), I neck size the cases just to make the unround necks round again.

If the othersides look like crap, with spots etc, I'll tumble them over night with walnut media.

Beyond that, most seem to work fresh out of the bag, you other guys must be gourmets, I am just a happy go lucky street slob, evidently, lol.

cheers and Good shooting
seafire

I run my new brass through a full length die which is set to partial resize for my chamber. I then uniform the primer pockets, check for need to trim any of the brass and deburr the flash holes. I have found that new brass will shoot almost as good groups as it does in the rifle on susquent firings.

glf - I used to follow your example but the last dozen years or so I just prime the stuff and seat the bullet. I don't size new brass at all. Works fine. Shoots good groups.



I'll start doing a little maintenance to it the next loading or two. I think most reloaders work themselves and their brass WAY too hard.



Keep it simple is my motto.

I dunno, I used to just fill em up and go shooting. Nothing serious, just getting them empty.

Then I checked on just how square the mouth of a new case was. Horrors NONE of them were square! Or even either. Take a close look at the remfedchester new cases next time you get some. A 10 power magnifier on the extreme end of the neck, it looks like a mountain range! The necks are seldome round because of being dumped in huge bins.

I run them into a fl die, trim to the shortest length, uniform the primer pocket, deburr the flash hole, and inside and outside chamfer.I seldom find it necessary to lube before running them into a fl die except in a .308 die where the inside of the neck needs lube.

This applies to the remfedchester brass. Norma and Lapua need none of the above.