Decap and load without resizing ?

"...you can flare bottle necked cases..." You do not flare bottle necked cases. You chamfer the case mouth.
"...will be refired in the same gun..." Doesn't matter. There's no neck sizing handgun cases. There are no short cuts either.
All butter knives are dull. snicker.
 
The first thing you should try is to fit a case fired in your revolver in each chamber. Chances are that some of the chambers in the cylinder are slightly smaller than others. Then you can test a bullet to see if it falls into the case. Chances are good that bullets will fall without any friction at all.
Both of these tests will tell you whether you have to size your cases to reload them. My experience is that you will have to full length size the cases for both reasons. Even in a single shot or any gun with just one chamber you will have to at least partially resize the neck of the cartridge to seat the bullet.
 
Load a revolver with unsized cases and you may well pull the bullet by inertia and lock the gun up. You know, like S&W warns you not to use some loads in their flyweight guns.
 
It might work or it won't... It all depends on the gun the brass was fired in and the consistency and diameter of the charging holes. There is no correct answer - you have to try it and see if it works with you gun, your brass, and your bullets. It might work or you might run into a problem. There is no way to definitively say yes it will work for you or no way, it will not work for you.
 
Always resize revolver brass. There is absolutely no good reason not to. I've been reloading .38sp, .357 mag, .41 mag, and 9mm for a little over 30 years and have never heard of anyone ever not sizing handgun brass.
 
With Lee you can flare and add powder same step. I deprime and size same step. But some people like to separate it out.

Handgun don't need to be lubed, so little to gain.

I like to prime in my recliner, and look at each one, and sit in my recliner.
 
Re: post 25
Always resize revolver brass. There is absolutely no good reason not to.
Agreed:

The main issue here is whether it can be done and I think we've shown that it can be if the fired brass and bullets are compatible. In a previous post I indicated that with .38s, my fired brass and bullets would certainly be successful. However we have probably convinced the OP that there is no shortcut or advantage in doing so. You are still going through the same number of reloading steps.
 
I've read that that is the best way to load .38 HBWC bullets to prevent any crushing of the skirt. You would certainly want to flare and crimp enough to secure the bullet. Never actually tried this though.

My first .44 Mag die set (CH) flared and decapped in die #2 which would be ideal for this method. Pretty likely their .38 set was the same.

In full power loads, you're likely to have bullets pulling out of their cases partway through the cylinder. Could get poor ignition with some slow powders too.
 
How many of you have actually tried to put your spent cartridges back into your revolvers?
I have and if I number the brass and chambers I can do it but just taking the fired cases and trying to put them back into the right chamber is, at the very least, frustrating. I was going to try neck sizing my revolver brass like I do with my rifle brass but the chambers are slightly different sizes and the cases only fit in (a) the chambers they came out of or (2) chambers that were larger leaving the larger brass to not fit.

Maybe the chambers on my gun are a special case or maybe it's the load I use but Whatever the case the bullets were all loose in the cases and neck sizing didn't allow the brass to be randomly put into the cylinder.
 
If I'm loading Remington full wadcutters I don't resize the case. Those bullets are usually .360" diameter so case tension isn't an issue. It also saved me a little time using my Lee Classic "whack-a-mole" Hand Loader.
 
Yesterday while getting ready to load a batch of .38 Special I tested 17 pieces of brass in 3 different revolvers and every piece slid in with minimal resistance. The brass was from a batch of 100 that has been reloaded 19 times and the most recent firings were from a 1960's era S&W model 15, 1990's era model 60 and a Rguer GP100 from 2012. The brass was fired from a combination of these 3 revolvers and tested at random after being cleaned in these 3 revolvers. While not a large sample this definitely shows it is possible to get away without resizing.
 
Tanget, I hand some neck sized 30-06 from bolt. Ran out of rounds for pump, and wanted to foul barrell, so shot the neck sized. Chambered fine.

Wet barrel took 4 shots to settle down. Will have to try that gun again with full size, right after a cleaning.
 
I don't think that you should. You've probably heard every possible thing that I would tell you. I just want to say that it's not a good idea and leave it at that.
 
briandg:

I'm a little lost with your reply that I assume is intended for Berserker. What is it you are telling him not to do and why?
 
Speaking to like, who wants to reload straight cased pistol rounds without sizing.

Sizing and expanding are how a case neck is returned to factory diameter. It's important. I'm not going to even get started on crimp, that's just an argument waiting for an opportunity.
 
Of course brass that's been fired will slip back into a cylinder, it had to fit loose enough to be ejected. This doesn't mean it shouldn't be resized. You resize the brass to regain the ability of the case to hold a bullet in place under some tension, not just rely on crimp alone. Once again, there is no good reason not to resize straight wall brass for a revolver. You gain nothing and it just serves no purpose. I know I'm being adamant about this, but the idea of not resizing is bad information being put out there and some newbie is going to have a big problem, and possibly be injured because of this. I challenge anyone to explain to my satisfaction one good reason not to resize straight wall revolver brass.
 
briandg:

OK, just wasn't sure who your reply was intended for. The OP must be wishing by now that he had never brought the subject up. Some saying just don't do it, but others like myself saying it can be done depending on compatibility between fired case and bullet but there is no advantage or shortcut in doing so.
 
Very quickest burning pistol powders scaled to mild target loading's and a light crimp to hold their bullet stationary.
Such loaded brass could last for many years without the need to be resized..
 
Bravo, you are right.

so many things come down to "sure, it can be done" and they should stop right there.

Sort of like the dude that reworked the plumbing in my house forty years ago.

Sure, he got it done, but oh, boy, he shouldn't have done it. He did just as badly with the wires.
 
Sure you could load light target loads without resizing. But I doubt it would last longer, it's the flairing and crimping that will eventually destroy the brass, not the resizing. I have some .38, .357, and .41 brass that's well over 20 years old and has been resized many many times with light loads and it's still working, mainly because I keep the flair and crimp to a very minimal amount, not because I don't resize them.
 
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