You are not wrong, I do not either. To kinda' quote a noted gun writer that has published a piece on the subject "I am not so arrogant to believe that I know more about rifle brass than the people who manufacture it, by reworking their product". When wildcatting or forming one caliber/chambering from another, that rule no longer applies.
Moody ain't wrong. But I kinda like to have a "known starting point" for my reloads. I know fer sure what my brass starts out, dimension wise, especially my rifle ammo. But I ain't bought any new handgun brass in many years so I can't really comment on that. Pretty much falls into the "Personal Choice" category..
I do not size new straight wall brass for handguns unless the necks are dented. I have neck sized bottle necked rifle brass, my logic is that I want consistent neck tension. That said I rarely buy new rifle brass. I watch the sales and buy factory (usually Federal) ammo to plink with and restock my brass supply.
Shot about 400 new pieces of S&B 30-06 brass and since it all passed the case gauge and had sufficient neck tension I did not size them. (used them in a Garand and a 1903a3)
They also did not group any better or worse than other brass I shot, keep in mind this is with a WW2 open sight rifle. If you are a benchrest shooter maybe you do see a difference.
I can imagine it also depends on the manufacturer of the brass.
I like all of my brass exactly the same for maximum accuracy, so I size, measure and trim everything before loading. If you just spent a bunch of money on new brass, took the time and effort to select and work up a tack-driver load, went to the trouble of carefully seating your primers, weighing out your charges and meticulously seating your bullets - why on earth wouldn't you give that extra TLC to the cartridge cases?
Bad thing is now I am thin in the hair, sparce in the teeth and wide in the butt and don't shoot as much or as accurately as I used to. It is a lot like driving a Cadillac to the gate to take out the trash. A waste.
As a habit I run new cases through a neck sizing die (cleans up any dents, etc.), debur/uniform primer pocket holes, and finally trim case mouths (if needed). After that I only neck size cases.
But that just me....I enjoy reloading as much as shooting....
Even the guy's that don't do it probably would if a mouth was dented to much. That said I don't run it through a die before hand. If the dent is small, it'll iron out having a bullet pushed past it.
If you look around at what the brass manufacturers say you'll find they say anything from not needed to needed. The books I've read about reloading for competition rifle shooting say to do it for uniform neck tension and to ensure round necks.
I suppose it's like asking if you put on your seat before you put the car into motion or if you are the kind that buckles up as you start to roll down the street. It doesn't really matter unless it matters to you.
Interesting you should ask...I just ran 503 pcs of Starline .30 Carbine brand new brass through the sizing die. I would say only 10-12 pcs felt as though the sizing die was doing anything. Should I ever buy new brass again I think I will skip that step.
Moody ain't wrong. But I kinda like to have a "known starting point" for my reloads. I know fer sure what my brass starts out, dimension wise, especially my rifle ammo. But I ain't bought any new handgun brass in many years so I can't really comment on that. Pretty much falls into the "Personal Choice" category..
Depends on if it's rifle or pistol brass. Semi Auto pistol? Well maybe.
Rifle brass? If it fits in the chamber and you can close the bolt, check that the necks are straight, load them up and go shooting. Gas gun? Same same.
Most new brass will be shorter than trim length. But not for long.
mmm..only new brass I ever bought was for my .357, and it came unprimed. I had to resize it to prime it on the press, didn't have a hand primer at the time..so yes, I resize new brass..
I always size new brass, simply because of manufacturing tolerances and possible shipping damage. I don't want to waste time and material trying to force a bullet into an oval neck, or risk inserting a primer into a cup with an incomplete or non-existent flash hole.
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