5.56 LC brass resizing question

[Benchguy]

Just discovered this forum and already appreciating the knowledge.

Being pretty new to reloading I have resized about 140 rounds of once fired LC brass back to 1.433 trimmed to 1.751. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, other than trying to get it to fit into my Hornady Comparator. I have fired 60 rounds of it before I realized what I had done. I see no signs of stress to the brass. These 60 have been resized back to 1.442-1.443, .002-.003 bump back from 2nd firing.

Since I’ve not seen any problems from this, do any of you see danger in moving forward with reloading this brass?

Thank you!

 

[mehavey]

No immediate issues/stay with min resize from this point.

But watch for bright "stretch" ring appearing at the base as you
continue on, and run a sharpened bent paperclip down inside
occasionally to check for thinning at that section.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE0A5IsR1dA

 

[Benchguy]

Thank you mehavey! I’ll check with a piece of wire or paper clip. I’ve watched some people do this on YouTube.

 

[Metal god]

These 60 have been resized back to 1.442-1.443, .002-.003 bump back from 2nd firing.

Can you elaborate on this ? 2 to 3 thou from what ? Yes I see 1.442 but where did that number come from . Is that your fire formed case size head to datum or some other ?

 

[bamaranger]

lost

Yeah I'm a little lost on the numbers myself. Are those trimmed case lengths and reference to readings on a headspace gauge?

 

[Benchguy]

So fire formed brass I’m measuring now is 1.443. I’m bumping it back .002 - .003.

 

[Metal god]

Ok thanks , now take 10 deprimed fire formed cases and get an average . Generally semi auto cases do not all come out the same size like you see with bolt guns .

What press and dies are you using ?

 

[Benchguy]

Trimmed case neck length is 1.751.

 

[Benchguy]

1.4440
1.4435
1.4435
1.4440
1.4440
1.4440
1.4435
1.4435
1.4435
1.4435

1.4437 average

 

[Benchguy]

Dies are Hornady Custom Grade 223 Remington Series 1 Full Length.

Press is a dinosaur. Pacific Multi power single stage. Was a freebie from an older fella many years ago.

 

[Metal god]

Thats pretty consistent, nice . Yeah about .003 from there should be GTG . I’ve seen much larger variance then .0005 from semi automatic actions so that’s impressive imo .

 

[Benchguy]

Cool! Good to know producing consistent case expansion! The gun is pretty new. Probably had around 200 rounds through it. I bought a few different bullets to see what it liked. Being a 1-7 twist it likes the 77 grain Black Hills the best so I’m using Sierra 77 gr cannelure bullets. Ladder tested and found 24 grains of TAC grouped best. It shot .902 with my 1-6x32 Vortex Strike Eagle. 23.7 grains of Varget was just over 1 MOA so want to keep testing these areas. It’s the PSA Fourth of July special with a 20” barrel which I’d consider an introductory rifle. Replaced the trigger with a Rave 140 and I love that difference. I’m pretty happy with it so far. It will be a Coyote hunting rifle as my son and I try our luck at calling.

Thanks for commenting. I know I’ll have more questions down the road.

BTW, I did scrape the inside of a few cases and didn’t feel any inconsistencies in the walls.

 

[Unclenick]

New brass will generally handle more stretch than you might expect. It's the guys who full-length resize every time or who have guns that won't feed if they don't use a small base die to resize fully every time who see their brass wear out fast. But even then, several reloadings are achieved without trouble. At least four. So I don't think you are going to be disappointed in your brass life.