Resizing after pulling bullets?

[Roadkill2228]

Or "the effects of bullet pulling on neck tension and concentricity.

Here's the question...should I resize the neck on rifle cartridges (243, 270, 300 win mag) after I've pulled bullets out (with an inertia puller)? Does this affect neck tension and concentricity (and with that accuracy and pressure?). Or can I just go ahead and reload those cases with no further fuss? Thanks for your input.

 

[F. Guffey]

Here's the question...should I resize the neck on rifle cartridges (243, 270, 300 win mag) after I've pulled bullets out (with an inertia puller)? Does this affect neck tension and concentricity (and with that accuracy and pressure?). Or can I just go ahead and reload those cases with no further fuss? Thanks for your

input.

If I go to the trouble to pull the bullets from a number of cases I start over. Then there is the reason for pulling the bullets and the time factor.

A lot of time is spent talking about the effect of pulling the neck and the effect it has on the shoulder. There are a lot of reloaders that do experiments and want me to take them seriously. I would suggest you measure the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head before pulling the bullets and again after (pulling the bullets). We have members that have firing pins that shorten the case .005” with the impact of the firing pins. And that is OK with me; I have killer firing pins that make that big loud ‘KLICK!” sound when they fall, my firing pins hit the primers and put big dents in them before the case, powder and bullet know their little buddy has been hit. I have always considered there is a chance my firing pins are just faster.



F. Guffey

 

[Pond James Pond]

Here's the question...should I resize the neck on rifle cartridges after I've pulled bullets out?

I can't comment on "should", but can say that I do.

The way I see it is if the bullet stretch the neck when being seated, even with the elasticity of the brass, it may not return to the original diameter of its own accord. I just think not doing it invites an avoidable inconsistency.

The vast majority of times that I have had to pull rifle bullets has been on .308 cal for various reasons. Now as it happens I have a Lee collet die whose decapping pin snapped off. This makes neck-resizing very easy as that primed case will still be primed after passing it through the collet die.

Not suggesting that you mutilate your collet die mandrel, though. You can just release the decapper a bit and move it so that it does not reach the primer cup.

I would, however, suggest getting a collet/cam bullet remover.

Sooooooo much easier and quieter than hammering away in a basement, powder flying this way and that!

 

[firewrench044]

I have done it both ways and had the best results resizing the case necks
to get the neck tension back where it should be
I pulled 880rounds of 7.62X54R and 400rounds of 7.92X57
They had very inconsistent powder charges
If you are doing a few the hammer puller will do but large amounts I
recommend the collet puller
If you are doing cases that are crimped it is best to push in the bullet in with your bullet seater just enough to break the seal and crimp loose and then pull the bullet
Pull the decaping pin out of the sizing die and resize the neck ( be careful
not to push the shoulder back any farther )

 

[mikld]

As a "constant", to bring the cases back to "pre-seating size", yep I resize any brass that has had bullets seated and removed...

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...should I resize the neck..." Yes. You can re-set up your FL die to just neck size, but it's a lot easier to just take out the decapping pin and resize. No shoulders are bothered if you take out just the pin. Lot of unnecessary fretting over shoulders.
With an inertia puller it's best to whack it on a rock. Nice hunk of granite. Nothing else works as well.

 

[Mobuck]

I "acquired" a 50 cal ammo can full of dinged and dented 5.56 ammo. I sorted by headstamp first and then started pulling bullets and resizing the boogered cases prior to reloading. Simple enough to remove the deprime pin, lube the cases lightly, and size. I use this process anytime I've pulled bullets that had been seated for any length of time.