Well, anal me decided to weigh and measure the length of a new set of unprimed Winchester 223 brass. Really, I was just curious more than anything.

Here are the results:

100 brass measured

WEIGHT (grams)
Average 6.1141
Median 6.11
Low 6.03
High 6.19
St. Dev. 0.038693


LENGTH (inches)
Average 1.754755
Median 1.755
Low 1.750
High 1.758
St. Dev. 0.00155

Based upon these data, do you do any case prep with new brass or do you wait until it has been fired once?

Cheers,

If it were mine, I would bump the resizer ball in my resizing die thru the mouth of the case to ensure that it was round, chamfer the mouth, and then prime it, charge it, seat a bullet, and shoot it.
THEN, I would do all the anal stuff I do, ie trim to length, etc, to create the perfect cartridge.

new winchester brass in 223 - HOLY CHIT BATMAN - i don't think my 223's will go off with anything but surplus brass

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
new winchester brass in 223 - HOLY CHIT BATMAN - i don't think my 223's will go off with anything but surplus brass

You made me laugh!! And, you're exactly right!! It may be bulk surplus from here on out.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
... do you do any case prep with new brass or do you wait until it has been fired once?

Hey Graybird, Once I get a new Lot of Cases, I first run all of them through my FL Die which is set to Partial-Full Length Resize for my specific rifle. This can be a bit misleading though, because on "New" Cases or ones which have been fired in other rifles, occasionally the Die needs to be re-set to squash them just a bit more on the "initial" resizing.

Then I do a Full Case Prep. I'm not sure all of it is necessary, but I want them all as much alike as possible so I do it. Plus some of the stuff only really needs to be done once.

Then I weight-sort in grains. Then I break them into any Lot Sizes I desire and Fire Form.

Is there a particular advantage to using Grams?

And if you do it HC's way, after you fire form the brass, you get to do it all over again 'cause once you've fired it, you have to trim it to a uniform length again which changes the weight, etc. Lotsa neat anal stuff to do to keep you off'n the firing line.

Hey Stillbeeman, Once I have them Weight Segregated, I do Fire Form, but I don't believe I've ever re-weighed them after the Initial Case Prep.

Oh yes, I do mark a Case if it shows a Flier(idea from old buddy Bob in Califoney). If it does it again, then it is pulled from that Lot and moved to some other duty - Pressure Testing, Off Hand Practice, Loaner Loads to see who buys the BBQ for Supper , etc...

If you trim to length b4 fire forming, you will have to trim again afterwards. I agree with you on "fire culling" your brass. It works for me.

U R Rite about the "relative" weight of the brass but then I don't weigh brass. In fact, I don't do a lot of the "chicken soup" stuff that some folks do. I think folks should if for no other reason than to learn how and to learn that it does little to enhance accuracy. Also, it gives them something to do of an evening after work as they wait for their weekly or monthly trip to the range. It certainly beats watching reality TV.
Since I am retired and my reloading shop is about 25 feet from a rather exclusive rifle range, I no longer have that problem.

I resize using a small-base die, trim, chamfer the mouth inside and out, and chamfer the flashhole from inside the case. Then I put them back into the bag as insurance against an eight-year Democrat reign of terror. You can never have too many guns, or too much reloading stuff...