Reloading virgin factory brass.

[CKStephens]

I just purchased some factory brass to reload. I've always loaded fired brass. How to I treat virgin brass? I have heard that people still run them through a full length die. That seems to defeat the purpose of buying virgin brass. Any advise would help.
Thanks.

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[Longwalkhome]

What caliber?

 

[SHPD_Retired]

Just run them through a case checker. No need to size them if they fit.

 

[Local Loader]

Even with new brass you should still run them thru your dies as sometimes size can vary. The manufacturer's state to do this as well for the same reason.
What makes it different is the virgin brass will last longer and should be easy to work first time around.
You could always test the brass first before sizing and do a plop test to see how easy it fits in the barrel. If it drops down fully than go ahead and load it as is. If it doesn't drop down fully than run it thru the die and try again.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I always put any brass through the sizer die. I've seen new brass that got deformed during shipping.

 

[oremike]

I'm assuming this is about rifle brass so will say that resizing first is cheap insurance to avoid rounds not chambering when shooting them the first time. Also you'll be suprized how many "feel" different.

 

[JDubDub]

I'm in the "run them through the full-length size die" group. I also run them through a case trimmer. I've had some factory-new brass (.308 Lake City) that wouldn't chamber and was too long.

 

[Pepe-lepew]

The precision answer is resize it. The reality is 99% of uses for the ammo, you will not see a difference. That assumes you are not buying virgin brass that is beat up in the packaging.

For 223 match loads, I just load the virgin brass and shoot. I want loads that are not sensitive to minor variation.

 

[JuglansRegia]

I run them through the same process as fired brass for the sake of consistency which leads to accuracy.

 

[RVTECH]

I'm in the "run them through the full-length size die" group. I also run them through a case trimmer.

Ditto this as well.

I have only bought one bag of new brass in my life of reloading but there were many variances in size and length so all got prepped and trimmed as 'used'.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Have any of you precision shooters ever annealed virgin brass? Asking for a friend.

 

[RVTECH]

That seems to defeat the purpose of buying virgin brass.

Not really.

You are just buying 'new' brass - not sized and trimmed as well.

 

[CKStephens]

What caliber?

300 Weatherby Magnum

 

[MikeInOr]

I also always run my virgin brass through the resizer. Mainly to get the case mouths uniform and perfectly round. With a bulk pack of new brass there always seem to be a couple with mouths that were deformed a bit in shipping.

I reload ALL my different cartridges on my Dillon 650XL progressive so resizing new brass isn't really and extra step for me. Lubing the new cases is an extra step needed when resizing but isn't that time consuming. If I were using a single stage press I might have a different opinion on resizing new brass.

 

[MikeInOr]

Have any of you precision shooters ever annealed virgin brass? Asking for a friend.

I have not.

 

[P7M13]

Have any of you precision shooters ever annealed virgin brass? Asking for a friend.

I don't consider myself a precision shooter.
I also think it's unreasonable to expect precision from virgin brass.
I don't anneal the first time.
Peterson, Norma and Lapua brass are annealed at the factory. I'd have to look at PPU.
Based on my observation of the brass, I'd say Federal and Winchester is not

 

[DizzyJ]

At a minimum run a mandrel down through the mouth to round it out and make it uniform regarding neck tension.

I'd also chamfer the opening of the mouth.

 

[Koda]

I learned the hard way that the neck diameter of virgin brass isnt always the same as the neck diameter from my sizing die. I wasted a range session and several expensive bullets figuring that out.
I always run virgin brass thru my sizing die now, usually just the neck portion.