Sorting brass

Probably not...
I use to have lots of mixed headstamped brass that lead to loads that just were not consistent.
I gave it all away bought some new brass of the same lot number and never looked backed.
Im much happier and much improved accuracy.

Lizzie Borden said:

I can't claim to be a precision shooter; I can typically get a load to hold 2 MOA. Would sorting by year give me an edge in accuracy?

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I sort LC years as one of several steps to push from 1MOA to 0.5MOA or less. At 2 MOA, you will never notice.

I also note: the LC SCAMP 5.56 brass is unbelievably consistent across years. This might not apply to 7.62.

I don't know the answer to this question, but somebody here might-- would sorting by weight help anything? Seems like it might lead to more consistent brass thickness.

Unless you are a benchrester, or are shooting a mile or something, sorting by weight has little advantage... usually.

As far as .308 goes... yes, I separate by headstamp. Military 7.62mm brass is thicker and considerably heavier than most commercial brass... so there will be differences at the handloader level. General practice is... if you are using 43grn IMR4895, for example, in commercial brass, you would drop to 42grn for military brass. I lump all my LC brass, for example, into one lot... I only use it for blasting ammo, however, where it makes little difference. My bolt gun, however, has a dedicated lot of brass that is only used in that gun... and it's not LC, it's commercial, where I can get a little extra room for powder.

Segregating and sorting your brass really depends on your end purpose, or how OCD you might be.

I sort by year and when I get enough of one year I load them. If I don't have enough to load just trade them ot lump in with the next closest year.

I don't reload military brass. My savage 99 does not like military brass. I don't use military 06 brass either. I do sort by maker.

I only sort by year when I have enough and I am trying to get a little more accuracy for hunting loads. If it is just for general range use and plinking I don't bother.

I only weight sort stuff for long range.

Whether or not to sort your brass... that's not a straightforward question.

I don't bother for handgun (except to cull unwanted types). All handgun brass goes in to the big hopper and comes out ammo on the other side after some lever pulls.

All of my precision rifles, I ordered new unfired brass from day 1, so that everything is uniform. Never needed to sort anything (other than weight sorting the long range calibers). And even then, if you order something like premium Lapua, there's really no need, they are super consistent. Didn't have to bother with my 7.62x51, because the Lapua brass I ordered was all incredibly uniform.

For AR-15? Most of what I reload is in bulk, and I don't care. For high power, I *do* care, especially for the 600 yard midrange shoots.

So whether to sort, not sort, etc, all kinda depends on you, what you want, and what you hope to accomplish!

There is a loose correlation between weight and case capacity of the same manufacturer. That is the important part. This does not cross manufacturers as their are different formulas of brass and zink used.
1. Sort by manufacturer
2. Weigh cases
3. Remove the outliers.

9x56MS said:

My savage 99 does not like military brass.

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My .308 Savage 99 doesn't seem to care about brass... it does, however, get testy about cartridges at max OAL.