Why sort by headstamp?

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When it comes to ultimate accuracy you want every shot to be the same as the others by eliminating variables. When you sort by head stamp you are trying to get the cases all the same, eliminating one variable. Most folks already use the same bullet, powder, charge, seating depth, etc, just another step towards that goal. Some will even sort by weight within a given headstamp.

I don’t know of any benchrest shooter that shoots mixed brass, lots of competitive pistol shooters do though. Depends on if you can tell the difference made by the extra work.
 
I don’t sort pistol brass as I’m pretty sure my shaky hands would negate any differences there.
I cant say exactly what the transfer from holding the tightest possible seating depth tolerances are on accuracy, other than making me feel good. The diffrence of seating a cbc 9mm case and a winchester seems to be about. 003. The CBC cases are hard enough to resist seating pressure more than other brands. You can definitely feel the added resistance while sizing. Seillor and Bellot is just as hard mostly. I cant explain why I dont see that near as much in 45 acp with exactly the same brands. As paul Harrell would say is there enough of a difference to make a difference???? It makes me feel better about producing the best product I'm capable of so yes.
 
I cant say exactly what the transfer from holding the tightest possible seating depth tolerances are on accuracy, other than making me feel good.

If you are shooting competitively, for the mental game if you think wearing your lucky mixed socks that you haven’t washed since the ‘90’s makes you shoot better, you do that.

If you really want to know, it’s as easy as testing. You make a conclusion from your results.
 
If you are shooting competitively, for the mental game if you think wearing your lucky mixed socks that you haven’t washed since the ‘90’s makes you shoot better, you do that.

If you really want to know, it’s as easy as testing. You make a conclusion from your results.
I dont have a pistol vise for proper testing so my pistol loads are tested over time. It's not very exact for sure and santa needs to up his game so I can gather much more scientific results... ;) I do bench my rifles so I feel much better about the "accuracy of result"
 
I dont have a pistol vise for proper testing so my pistol loads are tested over time. It's not very exact for sure and santa needs to up his game so I can gather much more scientific results... ;) I do bench my rifles so I feel much better about the "accuracy of result"

That’s the point though, if you can’t see an improvement using the methods you use, then you would be wasting time. Unless it was just for the mental management part of your game.

If it makes you feel good, have at it but if you can’t take a hand full of same case loads and shoot a tighter group, every time, vs using a handful of mixed brass it’s not an improvement in accuracy. If your goal is feelings, that’s fine, if it’s to shoot better the time spent might be better put into dry firing or some other productive activity.
 
That’s the point though, if you can’t see an improvement using the methods you use, then you would be wasting time. Unless it was just for the mental management part of your game.
I do plan to get a ransom rest but my finances this year are very bad. Testing is very important to me and I will definitely be doing that as soon as I can.... I appreciate the data driven approach even if I have yet to have that capability
 
The internal case volume between some brands of brass is different enough to create a dangerous situation when you start approaching max loads. I'll use my 308 as an example. I have brass made by Hornady, Remington, Winchester, and Nosler. All of that is close enough that I can use the same load data regardless of which brass I use. But even with the same powder charge, same primer, and the same bullet seated to the same OAL there will be minor differences in MV depending on the brass used. And VERY minor differences in POI. It isn't enough to make a huge difference. But enough that I'll shoot smaller groups if I don't mix the brass when loading.

But I also have some military surplus brass. It is different enough that the same loads that I use with the other brass would be dangerously over pressure. Experience has shown me the same thing if using Federal brass. There is nothing wrong with Federal brass, but I no longer use it simply because it is different enough that I have to develop different loads when using that brass. I still have a "butt load" of military brass and do use it. But not for anything where I'm looking for top accuracy or performance. Just plinking loads if you will.

As long as you stay with mid level loads and don't expect great accuracy then mixing brass will probably be fine.
 
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