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Brass processing in advance

Stickflinger

What is the consensus on processing your brass 100% ready for primers in advance. more importantly will neck tension change from brass loaded immediately after processing vs brass that is processed and loaded at a later date? Thanks Mark


edit to post.. this is ammunition for a ELR light class comp rifle. I’m using premium components. I have a good process I have just become more obsessed with ES given the application.
 

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Stickflinger said:
What is the consensus on processing your brass 100% ready for primers in advance. more importantly will neck tension change from brass loaded immediately after processing vs brass that is processed and loaded at a later date? Thanks Mark
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Immediately after sizing, the brass want to spring back a little; just how much depends on the hardness of the brass. You can see this by measuring the diameter of the necks right after sizing and then again 24 hrs. later.

"Neck tension" as a measurement on any brass loaded isn't going to show any difference from when you load them. The interference will be different from brass loaded immediately after processing vs loaded at a later date, which has a lot to do with that spring back. This "interference" can be felt as the bullet is seated and even measured if you've got a AMP Pres.
 
I process all my 9mm and store till ready to load. My bulk 223 is same. I have buckets of 223 that are deprimed and cleaned, they just need sizing. Having 3 five gallon buckets ready to load is enough so the rest are just cleaned. My rounds that are for hunting or bench target shooting are done in batches after they are shot
 
I deprime and wipe clean at the range, then batch brass by headstamp and times fired when I get home. When I have accumulated +/- 200 cases, I will process and prime by batch. Makes for a day of work for sure, but it gets done. I have small plastic totes that I store ready-to-load brass in by caliber with each batch labelled and put into a separate ziplock bag.

To the OP: I know this doesn't answer the core of your question, and takes the next step down the road as what I am storing is processed, primed and ready to load brass. I have done this for years and it works for me.
 
Stickflinger said:
What is the consensus on processing your brass 100% ready for primers in advance. more importantly will neck tension change from brass loaded immediately after processing vs brass that is processed and loaded at a later date?
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Mark, that is an interesting question and I haven't thought of that aspect. I league shoot from 100yds to 300yds so I am not as critical. In this I had been shooting 223 and I would process brass in larger batches. Mostly, wash, deprime, anneal, size then store till needed. Now I am shooting a 6ARC and have plenty of Hornady brass but only 100pcs of Starline so the Starline all gets processed all at once then again loaded as needed.

Be very interesting to hear from others and their experience.
 
KMW 1954 said:
Mark, that is an interesting question and I haven't thought of that aspect. I league shoot from 100yds to 300yds so I am not as critical. In this I had been shooting 223 and I would process brass in larger batches. Mostly, wash, deprime, anneal, size then store till needed. Now I am shooting a 6ARC and have plenty of Hornady brass but only 100pcs of Starline so the Starline all gets processed all at once then again loaded as needed.

Be very interesting to hear from others and their experience.
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Man I get it. In the past I’d have a lot of brass literally waiting on powder. Since I started actually competing I realized I have enough to worry about at 2000+ yards that I can’t be dealing with high ES. So now it’s the center of my focus as my process otherwise is solid. It’s not like my ES was horrible but definitely had room to improve.
 
I have definitely noticed that the more "work-hardened" my necks are, the more brass initially springs back - AND the longer it takes for it to fully spring back. I have measured spring back that continued well after four days. I can't really say anything definitively on this, but I prep a lot of brass in advance for shooting and I always anneal it before doing so to minimize that effect - which helps a lot.
 
searcher said:
I have definitely noticed that the more "work-hardened" my necks are, the more brass initially springs back - AND the longer it takes for it to fully spring back. I have measured spring back that continued well after four days. I can't really say anything definitively on this, but I prep a lot of brass in advance for shooting and I always anneal it before doing so to minimize that effect - which helps a lot.
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I anneal every firing. So the probability minimizes it but I think moving forward I won’t just store prepped brass
 
Stickflinger said:
What is the consensus on processing your brass 100% ready for primers in advance. more importantly will neck tension change from brass loaded immediately after processing vs brass that is processed and loaded at a later date? Thanks Mark


edit to post.. this is ammunition for a ELR light class comp rifle. I’m using premium components. I have a good process I have just become more obsessed with ES given the application.
Click to expand...
What does the target say?
 
Richard Jones said:
What does the target say?
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The rifle consistently shoots in the .3’s. Have printed groups at 600 in the .2’s. But I need it to be consistent. Previously I would go start to finish but it would be nice if I had a pile of brass ready for primers and powder on standby. However I’m not sure that’s going to work.
 
I've always prepared all of mine well in advance, ready to load. I use the winter to prepare reloads for my spring and summer shooting and hunting program; summer to prepare for my winter shooting / hunting program.

I can only tell you that it doesn't affect results on target for my shooting discipline and needs.

However, I can understand that shooters seeking the ultimate in accuracy need to keep everything as consistent as possible. But that kind of detail would drive me to another sport.
 
As a TR shooter who shoots a lot of practice , and a reasonable number of Matches , I am always prepping cases , so I have what I need to load . I anneal after every firing , and fully prep for loading . My "MATCH" Cases are the same , but they will get "stored" , sometimes for months before being used again .
Before reloading these "prepped" MATCH CASES , I run a expander in them , and check the inside diameter 100% , to insure as close as possible , proper interference fit I desire .
They get loaded that day !
 
I've looked and cant find which video it is, but primal rights video said he loads just before shooting, it made a difference in his gun.
 
Weather had me stuck at home so I cleaned and annealed almost 900 223 cases --I was thinking the exact same thing--Fully process or not? Then I decided I would and just run a mandrel through them before loading--I was glad to see others here with the same thoughts. Guess we will see this season...

It brings up an interesting talk I had this week with my PD shooting pal--we both had 223 loads from a trip two seasons back-- we both had shot some this past week--and surprise to us they shot the exact same groups they had over two years ago when loaded--I guess that answers that.
 
1) Deprime
2) Clean primer pockets
3) Anneal
4) Wet tumble brass
5) Size cases without expander ball
6) Set NT with expander mandrel
7) Trim, chamfer and deburr.
8) Brush case necks with nylon brush
9) Done
 
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