I was typing this response to Fishslayer in another thread about brass sizing issues that he has brass sorting company. It's looking like a die issue for that other person so I thought I'd relate my experience in another post instead of hijacking that thread.
I'm relating this experience for the benefit of new reloaders. I believe when first starting out we all do ourselves a favor to mitigate unecessary variation for the sake of safety when the only expense to do so is time.
I don't use Fed brass in 9mm. In fact I simply give it away to a friend who does.
I've got nothing against Fed but I can't reload Win and Fed with the same die setting. Win is too tight for me to set back with all the weight I can muster pushing the bullet against a surface but everything identical in die set up with a Fed case and I can setback the bullet with little to no effort.
I discovered this by accident one time when I was looking at a batch of reloads I was making at the time and wondering why some bullets 'looked' shorter. I was checking the catridges and discovered some had such little mouth tension
Then I saw the headstamp - how'd I get a Fed case in my stash?? I looked at em all and every Fed was loose and the Wins were all per expectation.
When I first started out reloading I sorted brass as a safety effort to mitigate loading variations I believed I was too green to recognize. Through reading early about reloading I had enough impression/knowledge to realize that there can be variations in components that I deemed it worth my time to start out mitigating some of those if for no other reason than why not while I was inspecting my brass (some were range pickups).
I had so much Winchester brass that I just settled on using it and kept my other head stamped brass as backups. Through inattention I had gotten 50 or so Fed brass in my stash of Win. I'd not thought there'd be that significant difference in brass but the results might have been dangerous had I not noticed the rounds and fired such setback loadings
PMC brass doesn't do this to me and neither does Speer brass. I don't reload these brass at this time but keep them cleaned and sorted in marked bags for them in case I ever have need to try another brass or bargain them for good Win brass.
I'd like to reiterate; I have nothing against Feb brass and would have just as easily settled on reloading only Fed had I simply had a bulk of it versus another brand. It's just by chance that the Fed is looser than my Win.
I'm sure I could eventually figure it out if I'd spend the time to analyze it but for now I don't know why and I don't know how, only that I feel compelled to relate my experience to the newbies. Their experience may differ from mine with regard to this but they should check first and not blindly assume because others don't experience this.
Andy
I'm relating this experience for the benefit of new reloaders. I believe when first starting out we all do ourselves a favor to mitigate unecessary variation for the sake of safety when the only expense to do so is time.
I don't use Fed brass in 9mm. In fact I simply give it away to a friend who does.
I've got nothing against Fed but I can't reload Win and Fed with the same die setting. Win is too tight for me to set back with all the weight I can muster pushing the bullet against a surface but everything identical in die set up with a Fed case and I can setback the bullet with little to no effort.
I discovered this by accident one time when I was looking at a batch of reloads I was making at the time and wondering why some bullets 'looked' shorter. I was checking the catridges and discovered some had such little mouth tension
Then I saw the headstamp - how'd I get a Fed case in my stash?? I looked at em all and every Fed was loose and the Wins were all per expectation.When I first started out reloading I sorted brass as a safety effort to mitigate loading variations I believed I was too green to recognize. Through reading early about reloading I had enough impression/knowledge to realize that there can be variations in components that I deemed it worth my time to start out mitigating some of those if for no other reason than why not while I was inspecting my brass (some were range pickups).
I had so much Winchester brass that I just settled on using it and kept my other head stamped brass as backups. Through inattention I had gotten 50 or so Fed brass in my stash of Win. I'd not thought there'd be that significant difference in brass but the results might have been dangerous had I not noticed the rounds and fired such setback loadings
PMC brass doesn't do this to me and neither does Speer brass. I don't reload these brass at this time but keep them cleaned and sorted in marked bags for them in case I ever have need to try another brass or bargain them for good Win brass.
I'd like to reiterate; I have nothing against Feb brass and would have just as easily settled on reloading only Fed had I simply had a bulk of it versus another brand. It's just by chance that the Fed is looser than my Win.
I'm sure I could eventually figure it out if I'd spend the time to analyze it but for now I don't know why and I don't know how, only that I feel compelled to relate my experience to the newbies. Their experience may differ from mine with regard to this but they should check first and not blindly assume because others don't experience this.
Andy
