Weighing Brass

[BigN]

In an effort to wring out the last 1/4" or 1/8" accuracy in these .223 shells, I've resorted to weighing the brass. Some of you here always do it, I've never done it. I'm using Federal brass. All brass has been cleaned, sized, deprimed, trimmed if necessary, and chamfered in and out. I have a group of 20 pcs I'm working with. After weighing each pc, I've come up with 18 different weights. You guys are killing me here! What do I have to do? Start with a group of 100 pcs of brass to get 10 that weigh the same? What am I after when I'm weighing the brass? Maybe I'm missing the point. Someone said the accuracy depends on all reloaded shells weighing the same. Professional brass weighers need to chime in here and clarify this thing for me. What is my goal when weighing brass?

 

[Walkalong]

I would take a 100 count box of .220 Russian, transform it into 6 PPC, fully prep it including reaming and turning the necks, and then hope to get 4 batches of 20 to 25 weighing within a .6 or .7 Gr swing. Less would be better of course.

How OCD do you want to get? How accurate do you think your gun and bullets can be?

How about it match shooters using .223. How close do you want your brass weights to be?

 

[BigN]

Walkalong...I don't want to get OCD at all but if weighing the brass will get me another 1/4" or so, I'll put in the time. I guess I'm just not sure of the weight swing when weighing brass. Some people say brass groups should be no more than .1 grain apart, others say .6. I need a starting point to work from.

 

[Walkalong]

IMHO .1 or .6 will be a waste of time. A one grain spread is probably overkill.

What rifle? What bullets? Match barrel? stock barrel? What size groups are you shooting. Three shots? Five shots?

 

[mc223]

Unless you can confirm that the brass you're weighing is all from the same mfrs lot, you are wasting your time. Even then its iffy at best with some makers.

I have all but quite trying to squeeze accuracy out of brass. There are more important things like proper hold and wind reading and breathing.

You know, marksmanship skills.





o

 

[Jim Watson]

I sorted 500 pieces of same lot number WW .223 into one grain batches. I don't know if it helps accuracy but it makes me feel better. I got most of the brass into two lots with only a little scatter. I use the odd pieces for fouling shots, 100 yd rough zero, etc.

I just take Lapua out of the box.

 

[LiveLife]

BigN, I weigh once-fired .308 cases to separate heavier walled military cases from commercial cases. Weight difference can be from less than 168 gr to over 179 gr. Smaller internal volume military cases and commercial cases are kept separate and further separated by weight after they are trimmed and case neck chamfered.

I also test weighed once-fired .223 cases and commercial cases averaged 94.5 gr and military and crimped cases averaged 96.5 gr. Although I am doing my load development from same weight cases for now, I don't plan on separating the cases by weight after second firing.

If you are curious like me, you can always do a range test to see if weighing makes a difference, but you NEED to start out with once fired cases. I might do a comparison test on my next batch of .223 and see if same weight (military vs commercial) cases produce tighter shot groups.

I tell you, I just love reloading ... shooting ... reloading ... shooting ...

 

[RAT807]

Here's the way I do things. Ask many people the same question that can give good, relative information. Find out who the better folks are at doing what you want to do and keep up with all the different answers you will get. Now apply that knowledge to the equipment you have, cause it's never the same, and then do your own testing.
I write all of this on my targets. What prep work was preformed on the brass. ex. - manuf, trim length, case wt range per group fired, uniformed primer pocket, deburred flash hole and Die info. note any case changes, ex shoulder set back .xx", neck info, annealing...
Powder info - manuf. and charge wt. - Primer info.
Bullet info - I normally mark the cases with the odd wt bullets. Say you have 3 bullets @ 149.6 and the rest are 149.9. I'd note the 149.6's.
Cartridge OAL, I measure to the ogive. This will vary also, keep the variations low.
Then there's the range info. - yds, wind, temp, position/type of rest and whether shooting groups or load development (shooting the ladder) will change some of these items as well. Oh, and then which gun and chronograph info.... starting to sound too much like work and not a hobby.
Just to clarify.. I'm not a 1k or 600 yrd bench rest shooter either. Just trying to learn more as I go.

 

[Walkalong]

Find out who the better folks are at doing what you want to do and keep up with all the different answers you will get. Now apply that knowledge to the equipment you have, cause it's never the same, and then do your own testing.

Excellent advise. While some things are universally proven to work, you must work out your own way of doing them when trying to get small gains on target. Your equipment must be up to the task as well.

 

[ranger335v]

"Someone said the accuracy depends on all reloaded shells weighing the same."

"Someone" is full of it.

 

[MtnCreek]

Sorting brass to 0.6grs will likely drive you nuts. A more realistic goal would be grouping within a few grains. IMO, other brass prep steps will likely gain you more accuracy than grouping by weight (primer pocket uniforming, flashole de-burring, fireforming to your chamber).
If top performance is required, start w/ High quality brass.