Sorting brass by brand or weight

[mbopp]

Rifle - yes.
45ACP - for USPSA, no. Shooting for group size, yes.
357 - yes, for me the headstamp affects group size.
T/C Contender - yes.

 

[cfullgraf]

Just remember every inconsistency we remove from the process that`s 1 less problem we have to contend with !

You would think so.

But, there are some variables that can be proven statistically to be insignificant and is it really worth the time expenditure.

What are those, well I will admit I cannot say for certain. it seems primer pocket, for one, cleaning has been identified as one variable that does not affect accuracy.

 

[Hondo 60]

I keep everything sorted by brand.

same here.

 

[blarby]

I sort handgun for precision SD loads to .5gr variance, to be set aside in the reserve.

Beyond that, I just use winchester primarily for pistol.

When I started on pistol, I sorted more as I was paranoid.... I still do during load development. After that, I just really don't need to unless I want to make a fantastic supermatch batch.

In rifle, I grain sort in 2 whole grain bandwidths for plinking, and "matching" or .1 variation in precision rifle for the reserve.

Reloading is one of those neat areas of handiwork precision where you can make the quality controls as loose, or as tight, as you desire. Folks call me nutty all the time anyway. YMMV

 

[WYOMan]

Rifle : All brass is bought new so it's the same lot, trimmed to length, flash holes uniformed, then sorted by weight. ( GO AHEAD and razz me about OCD!!)
Pistol : If it's in good shape, it works good. Although for my revolver I check the length so when I crimp I'm ok there.

 

[Dthunter]

I aggree with GP100man:

I seperate all my rifle brass by brand.
Keeps things/conditons more predictable.

When I get enough of one kind of brass, I put every case through a full preperation regime.
I like to shoot long range (500-1760 yards).
With this kind of shooting & benchrest, every variable you can control from case concentriciry, shooting form, to firearm construction is invaluable! This way, a shooter only has to worry about the hardest part of precision shooting. "the wind and weather conditions".

 

[Dthunter]

CFULLGRAF:

I dont know where you get your facts from, but a consistant bore is of the upmost importance!
A barrel that has bad copper fouling will NEVER shoot as well as it could with a cleaner bore. It is just physics.
Some barrels shoot better with a little fouling, but not a badly
Fouled Barrel.

One of My long range rifles in 300win Mag shoots great out from 500 yards to 1760yds (in good conditions) for about 50-75 rounds. After that precision starts to decay noticably. A quick cleaning puts everything back to normal.
This is a trend for every precision rifle I have ever seen shot.
The only difference is that some rifles/calibers can get more rounds down range before the precision starts to decay.

 

[Joe's]

Dthunter

I-took-Chucks-response-in-context-to-cleaning-cases,-not-barrels.

Be-Well
Joe's

 

[89blazin]

+1 Steve2md said.

 

[THe Dove]

I sort by headstamp. Not by weight.

The Dove

 

[Dthunter]

Joe's:

No problem, someties I am too serious.

Merry Christmas to All you at THR!

 

[HKGuns]

I sort by caliber only but my shooting is for hunting or recreation, nothing competitive.

 

[19delta20]

Funny I saw this thread I just loaded some rounds 5 of each head stamp all other variables the same to see if there would be a difference from case to case


Molon Labe

 

[rikman]

Rifle...maybe...only if chasing accuracy.

Pistol...definitely not.

+1 Agreed

 

[41 Mag]

I normally start out sorting by headstamp. After that I will pick what ever I have the most of and use it to work up loads for what ever I am working on at the time. After I find a good load I will then use the other brands and slowly work it up to see if it shows any measurable differences. Since most of my loads aren't pushing any limits on the cases to begin with I usually find that the differences are minimal, usually in velocity or group size.

For those that I DO workup to a higher pressure I stick with the same brand cases and use the times loaded method of sorting through them.

For handgun loads I have for the most part gone exclusively to Starline in all calibers so I don't sweat much there. I use range pick up and other attained cases for target loads or in places I know I may not get my cases back.

 

[Patocazador]

I scanned the comments and didn't notice anyone mentioning case capacity. IMO that's the most important thing with rifle cartridges since pressure differences would occur between brands that have different case capacities. I have found that Winchester brass has more case capacity but usually weighs less than Remington cases. This is interpreted by me to mean that Winchester brass is thinner than Remington so I prefer to use Remington brass for maximum loads. This is more for my personal peace of mind than any other reason but I think it matters.
If you want to cram more powder into a case with a compressed load, then Winchester brass should allow that.

The above only applies to the calibers that I load for since I haven't checked out every caliber.

 

[Mel1776]

Headstamp, not weight

I sort and load everything for rifle and handgun by headstamp (& year if appropriate) and times fired. If loading a run with same bullet, charge & primer and I must change to a different cartridge case, that's a new lot number & different labeling/packaging.

 

[twofifty]

Mel, that's a LOT of labelling and packaging, and therefore a lot of small batches. How can you be sure the odd case does'nt cross over from one batch to another, either at the range, in the field, or during the cleaning/reloading process?

 

[Hangingrock]

Mixed head stamp case for pistol as most pistol shooters shoot at spitting distances. If you are on the verge of being a national champion at the 50yd line then your perspective would be different.

With rifle at 200yds and under it makes not that much difference to sort cases by head stamp or weight. Do what ever you want at 300 yds. At 500yds and beyond its head stamp sorted then sorted by weight with the same head stamp.

 

[SAGEEN]

i always sort by head stamp....work for me 5-6 shots one hole

 

[Curator]

I too sort by head stamp for most cartridges I reload with the exception of .38 special or .44 Mag low-power cast-bullet/wadcutter loads. Sorting by head stamp is VERY important if you are reloading high-intensity pistol cartridges like .40S&W, 10mm, and .357 Sig for semi-auto pistols. With these cartridges, case length, neck tension and taper-crimp must be correct and uniform to prevent bullet set-back during chambering which can (and has) result in a Ka-Boom and possible embarrassment.

 

[Mel1776]

Sorting brass . . .

Twofifty,
It's not too onerous if one shoots, recovers, bags, cleans, stores, and reloads by lot number (of course then assigning a new lot number). It helps to buy factory ammo by multiple boxes or case lots and new brass 500 or 1000 at a time and then keeping each of them together in their respective groups.
Mel

 

[GLOOB]

Whenever I acquire a big lot of brass that I'm not going to use immediately, I tend to sort out the major headstamps and squirrel away some of them.

I dunno why I do this, cuz once I put them into the rotation, they are as mixed up as the rest. I'll have matching headstamps on the first reloading, only.