Brass Prep Question For Long Range Shooting

[PMA3]

When "necking down" 6.5x47 brass to 6x47, what are the opinions out there on uniforming the flash holes and primer pockets BEFORE or AFTER fire forming the cases?

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

I would say yes.

 

[Lapua40X]

I would say yes.

Ditto .

 

[CatShooter]

I would say yes.

Ditto .

Definitely!!!

 

[22BRGUY]

me2

 

[Quickoz]

Haven't done it to my one yet and it shoots flat as a tack at 900yds. I may do it to my next lot of brass in my new barrel though to see how they go.

 

[LCazador]

I guess your question is: should you do it "before or after" you form or neck down the brass? IMHO do it after, that way if you find any bad brass or wreck any brass, you don't waste time on it. I have found some issues with Lapua rims out of round or too thick that will not even fit the shell holder, as well as well as other issues. BTW, save that bad brass they will make it good and they will love you for it.

 

[PMA3]

My apologies for the confusion. LCazador stated what I was trying to say.....should you uniform the flash holes and the primer pockets BEFORE fire forming the cases or uniform both AFTER fire forming the cases.....OR doesn't it make a difference in your opinion? LCazador stated that it could be a waste of time to do it before for the reasons he listed...that's a +1 vote to do it after.....that's the kind of reasoning I'm looking for so I can tally the pluses and minuses and decide on a course of action....again, sorry for the confusion....I was always better at math than English.

 

[Panzer22]

I do the flash holes first before when making 6xc cases from 6.5 Creedmoor brass, then size, trim, after fire forming, I size trim then hit the pockets, then sort the cases after that. It's just easier to do the flash holes when the mouth is 6.5. When using 22-250 brass, its opposite, it's easier when they are 6mm..
Just my technique. I don't know that I would even hit the flash holes on lapua brass though. Or the pockets until after I fired them.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

My apologies for the confusion. LCazador stated what I was trying to say.....should you uniform the flash holes and the primer pockets BEFORE fire forming the cases or uniform both AFTER fire forming the cases.....OR doesn't it make a difference in your opinion? LCazador stated that it could be a waste of time to do it before for the reasons he listed...that's a +1 vote to do it after.....that's the kind of reasoning I'm looking for so I can tally the pluses and minuses and decide on a course of action....again, sorry for the confusion....I was always better at math than English.

What brand of brass are we talking about here?

 

[PMA3]

bayou shooter,

Lapua 6.5x47. I know a lot of people think Lapua brass is so good that it doesn't need uniforming, but I would rather uniform all cases and know they're the same than take the chance that one bad piece of brass snuck through their quality control system and ending up costing me a match.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Suit yourself, but doing what you plan on doing to Lapua brass ranks right down there with "waste of time at best, more likely to cause problems."

Lapua does not punch its flash holes, they are drilled so there is no tab to remove and nothing that you can do to make them better or more uniform; you can only mess them up.

As for the primer pockets, well that's the area that causes most people to discard brass at some point; the end of life, if you will. When the primer pocket expands to the point it does not retain the primer, it's time to retire the brass. In this respect sticking anything but a primer into the primer pocket of Lapua brass will only serve to hasten the day when you have to retire the brass.

So, now knowing the brand I will change my first answer to your original question of "do I do this before or after?" I will now say unequivocally, no.

But it's your brass to mess up.

 

[PMA3]

bayoo shooter,

Do you clean the primer pockets on Lapua brass after each firing or do you leave them dirty?

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

I deprime before tumbling and I leave alone whatever residue remains in the pockets.

 

[SDDasher]

You might want to ask what method of "tumbling" he uses as SS tumbling is much different than media tumbling.

 

[PMA3]

bayou shooter,

You will probably cringe at this, but I use the same K&M primer pocket uniformer (with carbide cutter) AFTER EVERY FIRING to clean the primer pockets. I ultrasonic clean my cases using a Branson unit and a heated citranox mix...40 cases at a time for 30 minutes...and about 60% come out with clean primer pockets but the other 40 % don't...I don't like any crud so I clean (or uniform) them.

We're getting off the original topic here.....a +1 vote for neither......please keep the comment s coming.

 

[LCazador]

PMA, I use my K&M uniformer for cleaning the pockets. It important that all of my primers seat to the same depth. The pocket does not get any deeper, but does get shallower at each firing. So I find it necessary to maintain the depth consistent. I discard cases at about 12-15 firings but not because of primer pocket problems. At this point, I find that the loss of elasticity in the brass starts to retard consistency in bullet grip/tension. I use only Lapua brass. A topic for another post.

 

[PMA3]

LCazador,

Totally agree on the primer pockets. On the # of firings, a friend who shoots a .267 neck 6x47 (and has been the most consistent LG shooter at the PA 1000 yard club over the past 35 years) gets over 30 firings with Lapua brass.
I anneal every firing and have the same .267 neck and cal. (and smith) and am hoping to get close to that number myself.