Rookie Reloader Question??

[Dastook]

I am new to reloading for rifle cartridges. I have been loading pistol for years. I have all my brass, bullets etc. being delivered from Midway today to start reloading for my new AR. My question is: Do I need to expand the case neck on the new unfired brass before I can seat the bullet, or will it seat without this step?

[daletheman_3]

I always run virgin brass thru at least a neck die just to true em up. If you dont have a neck die, then use your full length sizer die. You will get more consistancy in the neck tension and thus better accuracy.

New brass is not always perfect from shipping and being banged around. Hope it helps..

[markm]

Rifle cartridges do NOT need a "bell" at the case mouth like pistol. Your resizing die probably has the expander ball in it as part of the primer decap assembley.

My expander ball had worn down to where it's just right. It barely expands the case mouth, and just trues it up nice. An aggressive expander ball will stretch your case lengths out, and then you'll need to trim them back down. You can feel this happening on the upstroke of your press... kinda like the case is sticky in the die.

If you're loading boat tailed bullets, you shouldn't have any problems. You'll know you're having problems if you start to get fine copper shavings all over your turret. This happens when you're seating bullets on poorly trimmed brass or possibly too narrow case mouths.

[toddackerman]

I am new to reloading for rifle cartridges. I have been loading pistol for years. I have all my brass, bullets etc. being delivered from Midway today to start reloading for my new AR. My question is: Do I need to expand the case neck on the new unfired brass before I can seat the bullet, or will it seat without this step?


No, and yes. Just load away!

[LonghunterCO]

I will confess to just running the new brass without resizing. Have never had any problems but as posted above I may have not gotten the best groups right out of the bag.

[markm]

I will confess to just running the new brass without resizing. Have never had any problems but as posted above I may have not gotten the best groups right out of the bag.

I've never tried new brass. (buying brass goes against everything in my belief system! :p )

But if it headspaced good with some random checks with a case guage, I'd run it without resizing too.

[TomD]

Depends on what your objective is. For blaster ammo, load 'em right out of the box. For 'Match' ammo, size & trim to length.