Fire forming?

[Chris Butler]

Fire forming new standardized brass (Norma) for a standardized cartridge (.223Rem)
Good practice?
Waste of time?

I have a supply of new Norma brass
I've been told to buy the cheapest bullets I can find, load them with a mid range charge and fire form them.
I've also been told to just load them and go.

I've been using Norma brass from factory ammo.

I will be starting the new brass with a new lot of powder and a new lot of bullets. So I will be working up to my current load.

 

[Poor Shot 65]

Its a personal preference ...

I fire form all new brass (using the cheapest bullets and powder) because I want to expand the brass to my chamber before trying to find a load that works. I find that if I do not fire form the brass I need to do load testing twice.

Adam

 

[rardoin]

Develop a load with the new brass and the load in your fired cases will be very close if not exact. I, as have many others, have won matches firing new cases in improved chambers which dramatically change the case shape and volume. Don’t waste barrel life ‘forming’ brass for an unimproved cartridge.

 

[Poor Shot 65]

I have separate fire forming barrels (all older barrels that were chambered using the same reamers as my current barrels).

Adam

 

[338 dude]

If you’ve got another barrel chambered with the same reamer and you’re not wearing out your current barrel I would fire form them once and then run them in the new barrel after that

 

[RegionRat]

It is never an obvious yes or no answer, is it...
Some factors that influence my own decisions are based on testing to see how much if any difference it will make, and that is influenced by the application.

For example, shooting from a sling at 600 usually means I will skip it since virgin brass can shoot fine. I just make enough of a batch to make it worth the dope.

If you are talking F-TR, you may have to test and see if there is enough difference to justify the extra work. As long as the batch works out with unlimited sighters, I can’t see fireforming unless there is such a performance hit that you must. YMMV

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Unless theyre real short i wouldnt worry about it. You do need to fl size all brass though

 

[K22]

I have not experienced a significant difference in new cases versus fire formed cases. I do prep new cases by trimming them to a uniform length, full sizing without bumping the shoulder back to enhance uniformity in neck alignment with the case body and sizing the necks for uniformity.

With that said, final decision on a load is made with cases that have been at least once fired.

 

[ShootDots]

Fire forming new standardized brass (Norma) for a standardized cartridge (.223Rem)
Good practice?
Waste of time?

I have a supply of new Norma brass
I've been told to buy the cheapest bullets I can find, load them with a mid range charge and fire form them.
I've also been told to just load them and go.

I've been using Norma brass from factory ammo.

I will be starting the new brass with a new lot of powder and a new lot bullets. So I will be working up to my current load.

It has been MY experience that if you have "new / virgin" brass and prep it properly, including annealing and using Imperial Dry Neck Lube, your accuracy will NOT suffer to a noticeable degree. I have won matches from 300 to 500 to 600 to 1000 yards with new PROPERLY prepped brass..

 

[Chris Butler]

It is never an obvious yes or no answer, is it...

No it isn't. LOL!

 

[Sandstorm]

I shoot all my new brass in a Match load, and usually do real well.
Its never shot any worse than the nut behind the trigger on that particular day...lol
Sometimes it shoots really really good.

 

[KMart]

Fire forming new standardized brass (Norma) for a standardized cartridge (.223Rem)
Good practice?
Waste of time?

I have a supply of new Norma brass
I've been told to buy the cheapest bullets I can find, load them with a mid range charge and fire form them.
I've also been told to just load them and go.

I've been using Norma brass from factory ammo.

I will be starting the new brass with a new lot of powder and a new lot of bullets. So I will be working up to my current load.

Is your concern more about performance of the load or how long your primer pockets/brass lasts?

 

[rjtfroggy]

Why waste the first firing?
Load them up and shoot them.

 

[1shot]

A lot of good recommendations so far.The discipline you are shooting as well as how far should be taken into consideration as well. Hunters or PRS shooters have a more generous target that say an f class or BR group shooter.
As @rardoin stated, I have also shoot several 198-199 at 1K fireforming a 6.5GWI from a 6.5x55 Swede.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[Chris Butler]

Is your concern more about performance of the load or how long your primer pockets/brass lasts?

Performance

 

[CharlieNC]

For Ftr both Lapua and Lake City new 223 brass shoot excellent for me after just neck sizing.

 

[jackson1]

Chris are we talking about new brass in a standard chamber or fire forming to AI brass? In my experience it depends on the barrel. Anecdotally with standard brass I believe my accuracy improves after the first firing. My 6BRA shoots pretty well fire forming, my PPC's not so much, and my AI rifles shoot better once formed. In my experience it takes me 2 firings to get a sharp shoulder in my AI's. Like others I use the cheapest bullets I can find for the process. Formed my PPC brass with seconds bought at the Sierra plant and they were some of the ugliest bullets I ever loaded. Plastic tips in various forms.

 

[Longtrain]

I haven’t had any problem shooting new brass, although I would only use it for practice after a FL resize. Matches get fired brass. After FFing Dasher and 223AI, I shoot them at 100 fun matches to get them to chamber size, then they are put into rotation for LR matches.

 

[Uncle Ed]

I have fired cases .009 shorter than chamber headspace and no stretching happened on the first firing. They were measured with a RCBS case mastering gauge and checking case wall thickness.

The quality and hardness of the brass combined with your head clearance govern if and when the case will stretch.

The .308 cases pictured below were fired in a new Savage rifle with the die adjusted per the instructions. Meaning with the die making hard contact with the shell holder with press cam over. Now, look at the bottom chart and at what firing shot the cases began to stretch and thin.

Below Alpha Munitions used hard and high quality brass in their cases.

Alpha Munitions Optimized Case Design​

https://alphamunitions.com/alpha-munitions-optimized-case-design/

I'm a cheap bastard and I buy bulk once fired Lake City brass because the brass is very hard.

Below the Milspec Lake City hardness gradient chart in the lower left for the 5.56.