SmallCaliberCentral

I've got a question for you all about new brass. Is there any point to working up a pressure series or any new load for that matter with new unformed brass? I've got a lot of new brass sitting around that I'd like to get formed to my chamber, and was wondering if its even worth working on any new loads with the new brass if any outcomes will be different with the formed neck-sized brass because of slightly different capacity and shape. I guess I'm just wondering if results with new brass will be consistent with later results from formed/neck-sized brass? or if I should just shoot the new brass just to shoot it, and just do the testing with the formed brass exclusively.. I hope that all made sense...
Thanks,
VB

i do all of my load work up and testing only with fire formed brass. although i have done a little load testing with new brass also and had similar results. i just feel that the results with fire formed brass are more reliable, and the new brass will only be new once, so will be formed after that. i have loaded all of my new brass for the 204, getting ready for the new rat season. and have loaded some of my new brass for my 223 also. in my opinion, and this my opinion, accuracy with new brass is more than acceptable in the rat fields.
i just cant make myself go out and waste powder, primer and bullets, and my time, just to fire form my brass. so i just go out and fire form new brass with great GUSTO!. and have a lot of fun doing it.

Work up two loads!

Work up a load with new/unfired brass that provides acceptable accuracy for your varmint or paper hunting excursions.

Then....after saving the brass, start the real work of prepping your fired brass.

No need to waste powder, primers, bullets, and time......

Venison-Burger.....It should not make any difference if the brass is new or fireformed; if the same lot & brand of case, primer, powder charge, bullet and weights are similar; in addition to seating depth. IMHO...The deciding factor is internal chamber dimension, as the brass case will expand against the walls of the chamber the resulting internal volume of both cases now become the same before the bullet leaves the case and enters the rifling. Thats taking into consideration that the two cases (fired and unfired) will weigh the same and have the same internal volume after they are fired. The main difference is unfired cases "initally" wont hold as much powder as a fired expanded case will. But the pressures should remain the same with similar charge weights in both cases.

My experience is that uniforming primer pockets in new brass is the most productive operation one can perform. In my case, I chuck up a Sinclair uniformer in a hand drill and uniform away. Primer seating depth is critical to maximize accuracy, and primer pockets can vary +/- .006", some cases in a particular lot won't allow the primers to seat more than flush with the case head. One lot of brass I have had a number of pockets that left the primers high. .204 Brass seems to be inconsistent, with some very good, while others are all over the place. Use of the cordless drill provides a better finish on the pocket. Then I run a flash hole uniformer inside.

I then full length size and load. After firing I use a full length bushing die to bump the body to partially full length resize. This helps eliminate any inconsistency in chambering. Most of my rifles seem to shoot better with some degree of body sizing. New brass or fired, the accuracy is about the same and certainly good enough to splat varmint. Or to paraphrase futuretrades above, do it with great GUTSTO, splat!