Brass: Reloading Tips 

That's why you full length resize as opposed to neck sizing only....The brass is resized to spec in order to fit into every chamber.

I can't get enough of this channel

I always full legnth size my brass. Always have, never had a problem unless I set the dies up wrong for that rifle.

Well, this explains why I sometimes see folks at the range having problems when they're shooting reloads. I've got two deer rifles, one in 257 Roberts and the other in 7x57. I've kept all the brass I've shot from both of those guns in case I ever get around to reloading. Luckily, I've never seen extra, "used" brass in these calibers. 30-06, 308, 270... all day long, but 257 Roberts and 7x57, not so much. Very informative video, thanks for sharing your experience. Food for thought!

I would love to just come and set and watch you work sir. I’d love to know just what you have forgotten sir. Your one of a kind a genius in my opinion.

I had two bolt rifles in .22 Hornet. One was a CZ 527, the other an old Savage 340E. My gunsmith rechambered both rifles to K-Hornet at the same time. I wanted to neck size only, so I asked him to match the chambers as best he could. The result? He matched those two chambers, and I never had a problem mixing the brass between rifles. My gunsmith did a perfect job!

The way you take time to explain a subject do even the common man or woman, can understand. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

You fellow watchers should subscribe to Randy and listen. He’s absolutely right. Thanks again Randy

"The brass will SET YOU FREE!" -Pastor Randy

I owned a Voere Titan 2 and Ruger MK2 VBZ Varminter, both chambered, in .243 Winchester. the head-spacing and chamber sizes between the two rifles were very different from each other so I had to keep the cartridges in separate ammo boxes. I used Nosler Premium brass when it first became available here in the UK and was very satisfied with the brass uniformity, not to mention better accuracy as a result. Keep up the informative videos Randy.

Your exactly right sir be safe GOD BLESS.

I agree that without full length resizing, no sizing at all or simple neck sizing that fired brass should remain gun specific. Once or multiple fired brass can be full length resized back to new brass specifications and be used in any properly chambered rifle. If I'm wrong please explain.

Thank you for spoon feeding this wisdom. Pick up brass is for training, not serious shooting.

Randy it is a joy watching your videos. So much wisdom, common sense and information imparted to us. Keep up the excellent work no more "range brass" for this kid.

Great advice from Randy ! Start fresh is the only way ! Thanks for putting this out there. Old cheapy military surplus reloads are the worst. Avoid them like the plague. When I was young, I bought some cheap .308 milsurp. Cheap range ammo - so I thought. I had one round wayyyy over pressured - the case head separated & set the bolt back on a now ruined M98 action. My shooting glasses saved my eyes - my face was covered in tiny pinholes of blood from every pore with a perfect outline of my shooting glasses not bleeding. Taught me a lesson the hard way. This was before I started reloading.

i'd be a fool to argue with Randy but i also don't want people to think you can't reload brass shot from another rifle. I bought cheap once fired 308 brass when i worked up some loads for a cheap ruger american for a truck gun. i can't rem the name of it but it's not a common brass like win, rem, nosler, hornady, etc. Anyhow, when i was breaking in my rifle and shooting various powder charges to see what it liked, first 3 shot group was .247". So yes, u can shoot brass from another man's rifle, i FL resize for almost all my rifles and turns out this rifle will shoot any powder charge i threw at at less than MOA, but i stuck w/the 1/4" group. Yes, i got lucky and got a "shooter" cheap, factory rifle from Ruger.

Yes, exactly! Thank you, great discussion!

I loved listening to you. I totally get what your saying. For example I have two 6.5 creedmoors. One has a smaller chamber. If I resize for the smaller chamber one and use in both guns the brass gets over worked and does not last as long. If sized for larger chamber it will not fit in smaller gun even though same caliber. Full length sizing only goes so far. If a person wants accuracy and longer brass life it's best to separate. Thanks so much.

Isn’t this what full length resizing dies are for?

I can understand this for neck sizing, but I full length size for range brass.

respect to the producer. :)

that true think you for putting that out there

Good info Mr Randy. I have successfully used old brass in a new chamber but I properly annealed my brass first. It worked for me but definitely might not work for the next guy.

You are right. I have two 7 mag rifles.I keep the brass separate from each gun.I also have two sets of dies.each gun has its own die . thanks for your teachings . I am a machinist and can relate .

Great channel I enjoy watching you sir a lot.

Your video makes sense. Certainly a new barrel or custom rifle would be well served with brass designated for a particular rifle. Like Randy said-don't be cheap. However, some folks may not be overly concerned about getting 1/2" MOA or better on a factory rifle. It may not be capable of such in the first place. Sometimes I will full length size(feel method/.001 bump) with various brass for factory rifles. And then I will keep it designated to the particular rifle if it shoots 1" MOA or better. I use those for my off hand shooting practice-which I mostly do anyway. But for any custom rifles or a new barrel, it would have to be new designated brass 100%. As usual Randy reinforces good practices !

I dont get this. Die manufactures claim that a full length Sizing Die allegedly sizes the fired brass back to SAAMI spec, if thats the case then why cant I use it in a new rifle of the same calibre? I am not being cheap here but it just dont make sense to me.

Great video!

Hands down, the best firearms related content out there. Thank you!

I like how you tell like it is

A reason I never have 2 rifles of the same caliber around, except for 223/5.56 because in that caliber I am fine with a lesser standard. Though - since there is always an exception, I do keep the brass from my T/C Contender 223 segregated.

If you want astounding accuracy, it all begins with that lovely little golden case.

Thank you again for another informative video..

All true. When I ream my chamber on any rifle I ream it to the very minimum spec. I don't expect factory cartridges to function in them. I fully resize, turn the necks, and trim them to my chambers specification. And I only shoot that brass in that gun. And by all means by quality brass such as Lapua, Peterson, and alpha.

I have to agree with what’s being said in this video because it’s true. However prices right now don’t realistically support not using once fired brass. Randy himself did say you can use it to get by. I believe in today’s market and economy support the use of range pick up brass. Also I personally Anil and then full length resize my once fired brass.

Your exactly right

For optimum accuracy, always use the brass from the same firearm used before. Only neck size and refurbish and reload for that gun only. Marking the load and the gun to be used in is Critical. For example: my 30/06 Remington BDL has a load that shoots best with a cartridge overall length of 3.283. My Howa 1500 30/06 shoots best with a cartridge overall length of 3.238. For hair splitting accuracy out of both, isn't it worth it to have the information on hand!

Maybe that explains a rifle I’ve been having problems with. Full Length size brass would get sticky ejecting and show splitting/stretching like it was gonna split about halfway up with starting loads. Factory ammo doesn’t do that and new Lake City brass doesn’t do that. The used brass would also let the primers back too.

I always get new brass for every new rifle that I get whether it’s the same caliber or not. And I never mix different headstamped brass

when I buy a new rifle I will buy about 5 boxs of ammo all the same brand and once I have used that I have 100 empty cases that are fire formed to the chamber of my rifle and Then I load those cases and go back to the range and see how my rifle does well I will load 10 rounds and shoot that load and see how my rifle does with that load ,before I load 100 rounds .

When I fire virgin brass through my Enfield .303, it comes out looking like a different cartridge...lol

I didn’t know that, I understand what you are saying

Thanks for the wisdom.

I keep every case for each of my rifles separately from another. One gun is completely diff from another rifle of the same kind. I’ve told people this they think I’m crazy. Each gun is diff from the next same rifle.

Excellent

I love your videos! Thanks for taking the time to educate us!! I was taught that this case size problem is not an issue if you full length resize and trim cases during the reload process. I know there are gun nuts out there who only neck resize. Mixing that ammo in different rifles is certainly asking for trouble. But full length resizing solves the problem, right?

So full length size then and be done with it. Anneal after 4 to 7 reloads depends on the caliber and the brass. Or just get Lapua . The end

Help me understand. After you full length size fired brass, doesn’t it shrink the brass down close to factory dimensions so that it can be shot in any rifle?

i can vouch for this me and my dad use to share same rounds no good

*Depending on the mass of the animals and projectile design, at least @1000 ft. lbs. of Terminal (Kinetic) Energy (TE,) and .201 Sectional Density (SD) are considered the minimum limits to kill deer sized game. At least @1800 ft. lbs. of TE and .250 SD are considered the minimum limits to kill Elk sized game.* Minimum Terminal Velocity (TV) is ignored, as it's highly dependent on bullet design and material; Cup and Core lead will require much less velocity to adequately expand- @1800 fps than a solid copper bullet- @2400 fps. Regardless, I'm going to show that valuing SD and TE over Ballistic Coefficient (BC) on cartridge boxes will give a hunter more realistic bullet choices better suited for hunting. There is long range shooting, and then there is hunting, but they do not mix very well for big game. High Ballistic Coefficients (BC's) dominate paper target shooting, but are much less relevent to living big game animals even at Maximum Effective Range (MER.) *Refer to the first three lines above,* as *TE, SD and TV determines bullet penetration, expansion and humane kills, which subsequently defines MER.* As the TE and TV potential to humane kills decreases per yard down range, they eventually reach a point of critical TE/TV deficiency- running out of the ability to humanely kill before the bullet reaches the point down range where a BC's Return-of-Benefit would begin; thus BC is only useful outside of hunting ranges, beyond @500 yards- the greatest MER attainable for most high performing big game hunting cartridges for class-3 game (elk.) *Again, refer to the first three lines above.* SD (Diameter to Weight) of the projectile is a product of one constant- bullet dimensions, which gives a constant value, as weight-to-diameter never changes from muzzle to impact; *it enables relevant comparisons between bullet makes and models.* BC however, is a product of variables- atmospherics, rotation/stabilization and velocity, and is vital to compare and measure for target shooting, which is *far beyond practical hunting MER's.* SD is more relevant to TE than BC for big game hunting at standard MER's because *it is a measurement of potential penetration vital for big game hunting* *(Again, refer to the first three lines above,)* but not relevant to target shooting. The following is an exerpt from a Chuck Hawks article that is poignant as to why SD and TE are the most important stats on a cartridge box: "The higher the SD number, the better the bullet's penetration. In other words, a skinny bullet of a given weight tends to penetrate better than a fat bullet of the same weight, because it concentrates the same force within a smaller area (diameter) of the target. For example, if all variables are equal, a 180 grain 7mm bullet with an SD of .319 will penetrate better than a 180 grain 8mm bullet with an SD of .246. The best way to compare different calibers is by SD, not bullet weight. For example, the .270 Winchester and .30-06, which are based on the same case, can both shoot 150 grain bullets. However, the 150 grain .30-06 bullet (SD .226) is best used for Class 2 (deer size) game, while the 150 grain .270 bullet (SD .279) is more appropriate for Class 3 (elk size) game. The 150 grain .270 bullet should actually be compared to the 180 grain .30-06 bullet (SD .271), as both of these bullets are appropriate for Class 3 game in their respective calibers and boast similar SD's. This is important to remember when comparing rifle bullets." Here are some typical small game, varmint and small predator (Class 1) hunting bullets with their sectional densities: Diam. Cal. Weight Sectional Density .172" (.17) 20 grain, SD .097 .172" (.17) 25 grain, SD .121 .204" (.20) 33 grain, SD .113 .204" (.20) 40 grain, SD .137 .222" (.22LR) 40 grain, SD .116 .224" (5.56mm) 45 grain, SD .128 .224" (5.56mm) 50 grain, SD .142 .224" (5.56mm) 55 grain, SD .157 .224" (5.56mm) 60 grain, SD .171 .224" (5.56mm) 68 grain, SD .194 .243" (.24) 58 grain, SD .140 .243" (.24) 75 grain, SD .181 .243" (.24) 80 grain, SD .194 .257" (.25) 75 grain, SD .162 .257" (.25) 87 grain, SD .188 Looking at those figures illustrates why the military has had so much problem with the penetration of 5.56mm NATO (.223 Rem.) bullets in combat. Human beings are Class 2 size animals and none of these .224" bullets have adequate SD for the job, let alone for penetrating barrier materials and light armor. It also shows why none of these varmint weight bullets, regardless of the velocity at which they can be driven, should never be used to shoot deer and other medium size game animals. Here are some typical hunting bullets and their sectional densities that are recognized as effective for medium size big game animals (Class 2), such as deer, antelope, sheep and goats: Diam. Caliber Weight Sectional Density .243" (6mm) 90 grain, SD .218 .243" (6mm) 95 grain, SD .230 .243" (6mm) 100 grain, SD .242 .257" (.25) 100 grain, SD .216 .257" (.25) 117 grain, SD .253 .264" (6.5mm) 120 grain, SD .247 .264" (6.5mm) 125 grain, SD .256 .277" (.270) 120 grain, SD .223 .277" (.270) 130 grain, SD .242 .284" (7mm) 130 grain, SD .230 .284" (7mm) 140 grain, SD .248 .308" (7.62mm) 150 grain, SD .226 .308" (7.62mm) 160 grain, SD .241 .312" (.303) 150 grain, SD .220 .321" (.32 Spec.) 170 grain, SD .236 .323" (8mm) 150 grain, SD .205 .323" (8mm) 180 grain, SD .246 .338" (.338) 180 grain, SD .225 .358" (.35) 180 grain, SD .201 .358" (.35) 200 grain, SD .223 .375" (.375) 235 grain, SD .239 .458" (.45-70) 300 grain, SD .204 As you can see, all of the above have a sectional density of at least .201 and the average is in the .23's. All of the small bore calibers (.32 and smaller) have SDs of at least .205. This is the kind of SD you should look for in a bullet for medium game. For large (Class 3) game, such as red stag, kudu, eland, elk and moose anywhere in the world, bullets with higher sectional density should be chosen. Good examples of such bullets would be: Diam. Caliber Weight Sectional Density .264" (6.5mm) 140 grain, SD .287 .277" (.270) 140 grain, SD .261 .277" (.270) 150 grain, SD .279 .284" (7mm) 150 grain, SD .266 .284" (7mm) 154 grain, SD .273 .284" (7mm) 160 grain, SD .283 .308" (7.62mm) 170 grain, SD .256 .308" (7.62mm) 180 grain, SD .271 .312" (.303) 180 grain, SD .266 .323" (8mm) 200 grain, SD .274 .338" (.338) 200 grain, SD .250 .338" (.338) 210 grain, SD .263 .338" (.338) 225 grain, SD .281 .348" (.348 Win.) 250 grain, SD .295 .358" (.35) 225 grain, SD .251 .358" (.35) 250 grain, SD .279 .366" (9.3mm) 250 grain, SD .267 .366" (9.3mm) 270 grain, SD .288 .375" (.375) 270 grain, SD .274 .377" (.38-55) 255 grain, SD .256 .458" (.45) 400 grain, SD .272 All of the bullets immediately above have a sectional density of at least .250 and most exceed .270. Bullets of this sectional density, if adequately constructed, have proven able to penetrate deep into large game animals. I did a quick survey of the hunting bullets with SD's over .300 available in common factory loads and to the reloader in the various rifle calibers. These are the top calibers and bullet weights for maximum penetration. In medium and big bore calibers (.33+), they have proven adequate for hunting thick-skinned dangerous game (Class 4): Diam. Caliber Weight Sectional Density .264" (6.5mm) 160 grain, SD .328 .284" (7mm) 180 grain, SD .333 .308" (7.62mm) 200 grain, SD .301 .308" (7.62mm) 220 grain, SD .331 .312" (.303) 215 grain, SD .316 .323" (8mm) 220 grain, SD .301 .338" (.338) 250 grain, SD .313 .366" (9.3mm) 286 grain, SD .305 .375" (.375) 300 grain, SD .305 .416" (.416) 400 grain, SD .330 .458" (.45) 500 grain, SD .341 .474" (.470 NE) 500 grain, SD .318 .509" (.500 NE) 570 grain, SD .314 Most people will not be surprised to find the heavy .33 to .50 caliber bullets on the above list. However, many may be surprised to find that heavy weight bullets for the small bore 6.5mm, 7mm, .30, .303 and 8mm calibers are right in there with the best medium and big bore bullets in terms of SD. This may help explain why these small bore calibers are so penetration-to-recoil versatile.

One of your videos before you spoke of resizing brass , both full length and neck sizing.. Being that I neck size my brass most all the time. I would not have thought or have I ever read in 56 years where a neck sizing die does not support the case body so the neck could not or may not be lined up with the case body now.. Question , what's the answer to this? Or can you recommend a company who makes neck sizing dies where this would not occur? Very well done.. Thanks

So if I’m firing diff factory guns I can shoot resized reloads, but if I get a custom or a precision rifle I should get virgin brass for that rifle?

Agree.👍

Randy. How does this apply to case length? I shoot 30-06, just 1 gun. The book gives a max length of 2.494 for 30-06 yet my fired brass very consistently comes in at 2.480 +/- .002. Now of course when I full length size my case that length comes to 2.490 or there about. Based on your videos and the videos of others who neck size I wonder if I shouldn't be trimming my sized cases to the fired length. Comments?

Another great video . What is your opinion on annealing cartridge brass?

I wish Lapua made brass for the .270 Win....

Running into trouble with my seating die for a 300Wsm. I've gone through and measured each bullet to the ogive and separated any from the lot that was 1/1000th shorter or longer. I'm getting variances of 2 to 3 thousandths when seating the bullet. It's a new die and this is a problem I've not encountered before loading other cartridges. Any suggestions or is this just nature of the animal. Strictly reloading for hunting purposes for this round. Thanks and love your channel btw. Refreshing that someone lays it out straight with no fluff to appease the sensitive feelings crowd.

Can you re size a cartridge simply by putting powder in the cartridge- capping thr cartridge with cotton? and firing it?

Can I use brass fired in my rifle without full length resizing? Just neck size that fired brass? 🤔

Thats me Ole Cheepo....

I don´t get it, if I full size once fired brass from another rifle, would that be different from virgin brass?

No the brass is not the same I agree.

Wondering if he could put a 308 barrel on my 1944 mosin.

What are you hearing with this plastic case ammo ?? I seen this the other day .

👍🏻👍🏻

Play at 1.25x speed

Neck sizing problems. If you neck size, you will have them.

Praise the lord and pass the ammunition!!