Worth it to separate cases by headstamp?

brewer12345 said:

Is it worth sorting the brass by head stamp?

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Infinitely so.

At the very least it will be easy to identify some of the different loadings. At most it will give a finer accuracy. Even when I am "just plinking" I wish to hit what I am aiming at.

brewer12345 said:

the 168 grain Barnes ttsx.

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At 68 cents each bullet, i would buy 100 new brass and start there.

It's never a bad idea to separate brass by headstamp.

In some instances, it may not seem worth the trouble for low-power pistol rounds but IMO it's always worth it with rifle brass.

Yes. And full length resize and trim it .

That's a no-brainer in my opinion with commercial rifle brass....Sort them out and then use a certain brand for a certain load as mentioned above.

243winxb said:

At 68 cents each bullet, i would buy 100 new brass and start there.

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Dude, right... mixed brass and premium bullets... $5 horse, $40 saddle...

If a guy is loading low cost, low expectation, pure plinking ammo, sure. Mix whatever you want. I like to miss small when I aim small... I sort.

After dealing with a few hundred crimped brass I would gladly pay for Lapua brass every time.
The swaging, I feel, is too hard on my elbow and press. The chamfer tool is tedious, and makes chamfering and de-burring the case mouth even more so.

They are perfectly usable brass and it seems the crimp is doing it's job well. Be sure the depriming rod is actually in the flash hole as some can be quite off center. Then press hard, if a hole is put through the primer, oh well, it was of no use any way. If the depriming rod or pin breaks, oh well, now it is known what it feels like and how much force it takes. If the primer comes out, the crimp will still need to be removed.

brewer12345 said:

Trade it off? Load up plinkers and don't worry about it?

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Yup.

I separate. You'll just have to experiment, but there is very little difference between Rem, Win, or Hornady brass in my rifles. But there is a noticeable difference with Federal. I tend to play around with different bullets and bullet weights. I may load a batch of 165 gr Hornady bullets in Rem brass, with 168 gr Noslers in the Remington brass and use Hornady brass for the 168 gr Bergers. I can use the exact powder charge with all 3 of those bullets and brass combo's and get good results. If I'm loading any of those in Federal brass I have to start from scratch and work things up with a different powder charge.

Even if you're loading the same bullet in different brass do it in batches with the same brass.

I also load 150 and 180 gr bullets as well and do the same thing.

For the military primers, make sure it's not berdan primed. If it's just crimped then tighten up your punch and push a little harder. They will move, just gotta put some pressure on them. Then ream the pocket so you can reprime the brass.

And yes sort by headstamp. HEADSTAMP, not brand. Different stamped heads often indicate different brass suppliers to the factories who actually make the ammo, even if it all says winchester.

brewer12345 said:

Thanks for that. I will look closely. Familiar with this sort of thing with shotshells, so not surprising that one brand might have multiple suppliers. Can I toss nickel plated in with yellow brass if the headstamp is identical?

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Don't. It gives you more options for visible ID. For instance you load two nearly identical bullets, but one is a boattail and the other a flat base, you can tell by the case color. Or if you load the same bullet in different power levels... treat it as an entirely different collection of brass.

I've stopped buying mixed lots of fired brass, only new and all the same brand. Then, I do not have to sort.

Mixed cases do get used in plinking ammunition, but the number is getting smaller. Any serious shooting, I use same head stamp cases.

Varminterror wrote:
$5 horse, $40 saddle...

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In other words, a comfy ride to the glue factory?

brewer12345 asked:
Is it worth sorting the brass by headstamp?

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I would say, yes. I do it. I don't do it for some supposed improvement in accuracy since my experience has been the impact of different headstamps on accuracy is so small it has no meaning to a 3-4 MOA shooter like me.

That 3-4 MOA, is shooting offhand using the sling for support, not off a bench.

I do sort by headstamp because brass cases vary between manufacturers.

• The composition of the brass,
  
• The hardness of the case,
• The thickness of the neck,
  
• The thickness of the web,
  
• How much of the case was annealed,

may all differ greatly between different headstamps. And it is a difference I can feel when I'm sizing the case and later when I'm seating the bullet. And I prefer to have a consistent feel when I'm loading.

Also, I weigh every round after it is assembled against a standard weight for the components and while cases do vary, cases of the same headstamp generally vary less than mixed headstamp brass.

How many pieces?

cfullgraf wrote:
I've stopped buying mixed lots of fired brass, only new and all the same brand.

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I certainly understand what you're doing.

I still buy mixed lot of previously fired brass because I enjoy sorting it out. I have a number of 50 and 100 round plastic ammunition boxes from MidsouthShootersSupply. I sort the prepared brass into boxes of like headstamp and when I have enough, that's the brass that I will start loading next.

Of course, that means I have a Miscellaneous box with headstamps like AB, AMA, GECO, IVI, MEM, MKE, S&B, Tulammo, USA and the figure of the Browning deer head, of which I will probably never live long enough to accumulate 50 cases. So, once the Miscellaneous box fills up, I take the odds and ends bullets (i.e. the 101st, 102nd, 103rd & 104th bullets from a 100 bullet order), load them up and have a day where I just make the gun go bang.

brewer12345 said:

the 168 grain Barnes ttsx.

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243winxb said:

At 68 cents each bullet, i would buy 100 new brass and start there.

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I agree, with expensive bullets and developing a high quality hunting round new brass is probably a good idea.

I guess I'm in the minority. I do not sort by headstamp.
If I was a 1,000 yard benchrest shooter, I'm sure I would. Then I would probably clean primer pockets and keep up with how many firings a piece of brass had (I don't do either of those either).

I load for deer hunting and plinking. My Weatherby Vanguard shoots MOA with my ammo the way I load it. That's good enough for me.
As for the premium bullets in mixed brass, I don't see an issue there. I choose premium bullets because of the way they perform on game, and that remains the same whether or not it's all in the same name brand brass.

With that being said, I certainly respect the guys that take the time to do it. I am certain that it has its benefits. The more consistent your variables are, the more accurate your ammunition will be.

I even sort my handgun brass by headstamp... it's just the way I do it. I have run into pressure problems using mixed 9mm brass at near max book loads, so I don't do that anymore.

I'm actually a little more selective on rifle brass... I might have one or two headstamps and chuck the rest. .30-06, for example, I have only FC and RP. .308/7.62 is an exception... I load military brass for my M1a, and commercial brass for my bolt and lever guns, and I use the weirdo brass for generic plinking loads for the M1a when it's likely I'll lose it (i.e. load once and done.)

Really, I sort by headstamp to eliminate the loading and pressure variables, not for any accuracy purposes. I don't have the room or patience to run 6 different headstamps for the same cartridge... using this headstamp for this load, that headstamp for that load, etc...

I sort my brass for rifle and pistol. Mainly because I'm anal about stuff LOL. However, I do believe doing so helps with consistency/accuracy by eliminating variables. At least that's what I tell myself.