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I have some .308 rounds with suboptimal powder loads. I plan to dismantle them using my kinetic hammer and reload them.

Will the cases retain their neck tension after this or will I have to resize them first?

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Racalman wrote:I have some .308 rounds with suboptimal powder loads. I plan to dismantle them using my kinetic hammer and reload them.

Will the cases retain their neck tension after this or will I have to resize them first?

In my experience no they will not have the same original neck tension so you will either have to resize them (there are various ways without the need to deprime and reprime) or use a Lee factory crimp die. I would suggest the later.

neck size them and reload

snayperskaya wrote:neck size them and reload

OK, will do. Thanks.

I have a Redding neck sizing die and will try to remember to remove the ejector pin first!

You may find they shoot better with less neck tension

Racalman wrote:

snayperskaya wrote:neck size them and reload

OK, will do. Thanks.

I have a Redding neck sizing die and will try to remember to remove the ejector pin first!

I aquired a load of primed 54r steel and brass cases and the same quantity of pulled bullets and I neck sized all the cases with a Lee Loader and the neck tension was perfect, it worked a treat on the steel cases as well.

I've never found it necessary to resize after kinetic pulling.

Why not try a few without resizing, before going to the trouble of resizing (and working the necks a bit more)?

You might find it necessary to resize, e.g. if your brass is already quite brittle and you run high tension for whatever reason, but most accuracy disciplines run tension varying from low to very low, so I doubt you'll see a negative effect on-target, but testing is the was to be sure.

..

For consistency sake, it would be the best thing to neck size the rounds before seating them again. You may be able to use what little elasticity was in the case neck after kinetic pulling, but it's not going to be consistent between pulled rounds, and non-pulled rounds, so if you have 20 rounds of pulled and then make 20 more from scratch, the neck tension will differ and you could get different results on target.
Also with slightly less neck tension, there's always the possibility of a round getting hung up on the lands and in the rare event you need to unload, pulling the bullet out and emptying powder into the chamber... - I know, I know, the chances are slim, but it's happened to me before :(

Berger wrote:You may find they shoot better with less neck tension

Interesting observation ...

They are Berger bullets too