must I resize brass?

[acsteve]

I noticed that 44 mag brass expanded quite a bit to fill the cylinders of a blackhawk, they push out easy. Was new brass w 23.5 g H110 with 240g XTP. Reloaded them with fun loaded 265 RD. Do I need to resize revolver brass?

[44man]

Absolutely! You need case tension on the boolit. If you have carbide or Hornady titanium nitride dies you can neck size to just below where a seated bullet goes.
Full length with regular dies.
Expand with the expander.
Then you need only enough crimp to keep bullets from moving out of the brass under recoil.
If you want a single shot with zero accuracy, don't size! :mrgreen:
I hate to admit it but that has to be the funniest question yet! :kidding:
Sorry, hate to do that to a newby but I could not resist.

[68 couper]

The rule of thumb is resize anything that goes into multiple chambers. Single shot pistol or bolt rifle is ok to neck size IF it is only for one gun. The other rule is always resize new brass. The only exception for a bolt style would be dangerious game. Always resize them too. Ya don't want any feed issues while a buff or cat is coming your way!!! I would probably chamber every round PRIOR to the hunt.

Now your ready, go get um!!!

Couper

[shooting on a shoestring]

I have a .45 Colt Blackhawk and I only neck size for that one. The neck sizing grips my boolits and the unsized back half of the case centers it in the oversized chambers of my BH. I do see better precision this way.

For my .38 reloads, they get full length sized b/c they end up going through any of my .357s, my .38, or my nephew's .357, or any of Dad's .38s etc... They might see any chamber size, so I full length size them and they slip into any gun that needs them.

For my .357 reloads, I have some brass dedicated to specific revolvers, and neck size (roughly 1/3 the way down the length) and only run them in the specific revolver. Then I have a pool of .357 brass full length sized that can be chambered in any of my .357s. I really haven't been able to measure a difference in group size in my .357s between neck sized and full length sized, but I still segregate them out of principle.

[anachronism]

I know a guy who insists on only partial length sizing revolver cases. He only sizes the case to approximately just below where the base of the bullet would be. He claims it helps accuracy, which it may to some degree by centering the case in the chamber. he also claims it makes his brass last longer. Every time he says this, it give me fits. He's overlooking the fact that when brass revolver cases go "bad", it's almost always the case mouth cracking from work hardening during sizing. I size everything full length to insure a more consistent bullet "pull", and more consistent ignition. YMMV

[NSP64]

I only neck size my 44 mags. I only have 1. the case always goes in the same chamber(single shot).:drinks:If its going in multiple guns FL size.

[Maven]

acsteve, I think the answer depends on (1) the pressure of the loads; (2) how smooth your cylinder walls are; (3) the dimensions of your cylinders; (4) the dimensions of the brass, by headstamp/brand you're using; and the level of accuracy you're seeking. (There may be other factors that I'm ignorant of and thus, haven't mentioned.) High[er] pressure loads may require more resizing than others, particularly if they're hard to extract and accuracy is only so-so. E.g., C. E. Harris wrote an article in "The Fouling Shot" (Cast Bullet Assoc.) within the last year or two in which he tried unsized, but fired brass in the .38Spl. (both pistols & a custom-bbl'ed. rifle). He found the unsized brass worked better when used with WC's. As the results were impressive, I tried this in a S & W Mod. 10 with unsized brass & WC's, a Ruger .357mag. with unsized .357mag. brass and the same unsized WC's (i.e., from the same mold), and a Dan Wesson .357mag. with unsized brass and the same unsized WC's. Naturally I tried sized brass and WC's as a control. If I remember correctly, the S & W did about as well with both the unsized v. sized cases & WC's, but not so the other two. They both did markedly better with sized cases & WC's, plus the Ruger's cylinder would barely accept the unsized, but loaded rounds (had to hammer them in; extraction wasn't a picnic either). Btw, the loads were target loads of Bullseye. However, I also have a Ruger SBH in .44mag. for which I essentially neck size the brass and have had no problems with extraction or accuracy using 240 - 250gr. WC's and SWC and 8gr. Unique or 12gr. Blue Dot. I'll try to paste some of the results below. Use the search function for the others:

All, the rains finally ended today allowing me a chance to complete the unsized WC's in unsized cases experiment a la C.E. Harris. The results, in brief, were mixed. I.e., my Dan Wesson .357mag. shot the Cramer WC's very well, regardless of whether the cases and CB's were sized or not. However, the unsized WC's in unsized cases had to be hammered into the chambers and out again after firing: Not a good thing! This revolver also likes the RCBS wadcutter, but sized to .359" and seated backwards over 3gr. CLAYS.

I also tested both the Cramer & RCBS WC's in the S & W Mod. 10 (4" heavy bbl., fixed sights) with the same 3gr. CLAYS. Here the results were telling: Both WC's were sized to .359" and seated backwards in resized cases(because when seated normally, accuracy just isn't there), but the RCBS' did significantly better, meaning there was much less scatter. (I'll retest these two again in the near future.)

Conclusions: Harris' premise of not sizing CB's and brass may work for you (It does save 1 reloading step.), but my results indicate less isn't always more. I.e., I got the best accuracy in two revolvers* with sized wadcutters in sized cases, one seated normally (Cramer) the other (RCBS) backwards. The unsized stuff just wasn't worth the decreased effort on my part.


*From past experience I know my Ruger BH (4 5/8" bbl.) also likes the RCBS WC seated backwards and is as accurate as the DW with a variety of CB's.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive done what maven is saying with 38s just to experiment. Put 2.5 grains of bullseye in a primed case that hasnt been sized. It works fine but it doenst make much sense. I guy has to deprime the old case anyway and if you have to stroke a press you might as well szie the case.