Is new never fired brass supposed to...

salzo

look new? I bought some brass from a guy on line, said it was new and unfired. The mouth on all of the cases is all wrinkled. I had to run it through the sizer die to straighten them.
Is this normal? The reloading books I have say that NEW brass does not have to be resized-that was certainly NOT the case with the so called new brass I purchased.
I have to figure out feedback for this guy-certainly dont want to jump the gun and give him negaytive feedback if wrinkled mouths are the norm for new brass.

nononsense

salzo,

I'm not sure if you mean wrinkled or just dented a little. Wrinkled indicates a manufacturing or sizing problem, whereas dented is usually a shipping damage problem. I get a lot of dented necks from the bagged and tagged cases from Winchester and Remington but I rarely have a problem with the boxed Lapua, Norma, RWS and Dieter Horneber brass that I order. Dented or not, I run it through my re-sizing dies because I have mostly custom chambers and I have to re-size before I do anything more. It's part of my prep time.

If the brass that you bought looks all shiney and new (no carbon) on the inside and in the primer pocket and flashhole, my guess is that it's new but damaged in shipping.

Best.

JustC

if they were squared off on a side of the mouth that is normal for mass produced american brass. If it looks like the brass material was almost folded over on one spot of the shoulder, that is also normal,..BUT ONLY FOR 1 OR 2 CASES PER BAG. These just get tossed. If you had a bunch of these, then he has been saving them and added them to your bag. Try a pic and we can see from there.

check the primer pockets for either carbon or primer pocket tool marks. if you find this, it is definitely used brass. Look for chamforing around the mouth, if this is present, it has been used. If the mouth has fat/thick brass and quite often with american brass some "chatter" marks around the lip, it is in fact new brass.

Oregunner

All the new brass I've gotten has been in boxes. That being said, it was ready to go out of the box. It was mostly .357 & .44 Mag but I've gotten brass in several rifle calibers over the years too. Some was primed & some was unprimed but none needed sizing.

Not that it really matters, but what cartridge was it?

Throckmorton

I have (tried) to load new brass that definately needed sizing first so don[t take 'the book' to heart 100% on that.

roysclockgun

I have gotten new Winchester and Remington brass that needed the mouth to be squared, as when you look across the mouth, the edge of the opening is "wrinkled" or a bit wavy. I prep new brass just as I do fired brass. That is: remove brass waste from inside flash hole. resize. check and correct length.

B17-P51

I work very hard on new brass to make it right before I use it. This includes (sometimes) cleaning it, if is "new" but old stock and tarnished. Then inspection under a good light, sizing, trimming and flash hole deburring (inside and out). If it for accuracy, also weighing, neck reaming and primer pocket squaring. So don't always go by the book on a 'use as is' advisory.American brass is seldom able to fall into that category. You get out of it what you put into it.

buddyb

I always resize new brass and sometimes it needs to be trimmed.