Mixing brass: yay or nay?

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christos808

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Hello experienced reloaders,

I haven't loaded an actual cartridge yet, but I have been saving, cleaning and resizing my brass for the last couple of years with the intention of eventually reloading. One thing I have not done is separating the brass among all the factory brands. I heard from a few sources that this is something I should do, but I don't really understand why.

Is this something you guys stick to diligently? Does it really make a difference? I have several thousand cases of 9mm, 38sp, 357 mag and 223, and I'm not too keen on the idea of going through it all and separating them.

Cheers.
 
I tend to separate brass by manufacturer because of small differences in case volumes hardness etc, I then make a few loads per brand and see what the results are for shooting and ease of use in my press.. some seem to be more difficult to prime and reload..
 
My experience has been that for ordinary day to day shooting, different headstamps really don't make a huge difference. A couple of caveats though. As was pointed out, different headstamps will vary in volume, brass quality and capacity but so will different runs of the same headstamps so you can drive yourself nuts trying to keep all brass the same. If you are loading absolute max loads, brass with larger capacities will be easier to load so using brass with the same headstamps will make loading easier. Also if you are trying to shoot hyper accurate groups, consistency is the key-use the same headstamps and the same run. My rule of thumb is I segregate cases (can't hurt) but if a need a few extra cases to fill a box-no big deal.
 
silverfoxdj said:
I tend to separate brass by manufacturer because of small differences in case volumes hardness etc, I then make a few loads per brand and see what the results are for shooting and ease of use in my press.. some seem to be more difficult to prime and reload..
Click to expand...

I as well do the same .
 
I segregate my brass by manufacturer and within that by how many times it's been fired (I don't pickup from the range's ground).
 
For pistol stuff, I don't bother keeping brass separate.... Mix n match with-out a second thought.

Except for my 38spl "match" loads.... Those I am pretty anal with....

Rifle brass, on the other hand, I'm pretty anal with. Separate lots by headstamp and further by case volume for anything I want to show off with. For accuracy stuff at ranges beyond 500y, it's pretty much lapua cases.

For casual plinking (ie: 223/556) it's mix n match. Nothing is loaded hot enough to matter. But I also keep my "accurate" .223 stuff separate....

I reload for 46 calibres..... So keeping that kinda stuff straight takes a lot of storage space..... Not to mention time and effort!
 
Precision wise, sorting brass for handgun calibers will not make a significant difference as most of the shooting is done well within 30m. However, based on headstamps (variation of case thickness affecting internal volume), a given load (same powder/primer/bullet) will give you velocity variations. This is undesirable if you attempt to reload as close as possible to power factor.

For casual plinking, it means a few more steps/work for no real benefits. I know many IPSC shooters who don't bother and shoots far better than me!

For rifle calibers (you mention .223), I say it is a must... unless you accept benchrest groupings of 4" at 100m.
 
I don't sort my pistol brass and sort only the rifle brass that I will use for precision shooting (either 223 or 308). Usually I end up with a lot of PMC, Norinco and Remington in 223 that let's me put together a decent amount of the same lot of ammo (primer/powder) for use in competition. The rest of the mixed brass is put together and used for general practice/plinking loads.
 
Thanks everyone. I was mostly concerned about the 3000-odd cases of 9mm I have, which are a mix of 8 or 10 different brands. I will definitely sort my 223 - fortunately I only have a few hundred of those - and sort a few of my 357 and 38 to see if it makes a difference.

Another related question: somebody mentioned picking up range brass. Most of my cases are from my own guns and have been fired only once, but I have picked up a few 9mm cases, which are now mixed up with the rest and impossible to discern. I visually inspect them for cracks and such, but beyond that what are the potential issues? I only shoot my 9mm at 20 yards and don't participate in competitions ( yet).
 
The smaller the case the more internal volume will effect variations in chamber pressure.

Below Quickload charts with the same bullet and powder charge. The top chart is a Lake City 5.56 case with 30.6 grains of H2O case capacity. The bottom cart is a case with 28.0 grains of H2O capacity and over 6,000 psi difference in chamber pressure.

308_zpsf81bb4cc.jpg


288_zps26698a67.jpg


As you can see below 30.6 and 28.0 are at the extreme ends of case capacity with the majority of cases being close in case capacity. The main reason for sorting your brass is uniformity and accuracy. If I use mixed .223/5.56 brass at 100 yards with my AR15 carbine the groups can vary from 3 to five inches. With sorted Lake City brass the groups will be 2 inches or less, and with my bolt action Savage .223 and good quality brass with the same lot number 1/2 inch groups are the norm.

casecap_zps3f8bb2c9.jpg


223-556weight_zps3566d29a.jpg


I also have brass OCD and sort and trim all my pistol brass, but the vast majority of people do not. I'm retired with nothing to do and all day to do it so I have plenty of time to be excessive compulsive. ;)
 
I don't sort plinking ammo (9mm, 45acp, 38spl, 357mag, 223 for the ar15) but i do sort my 500mag and other rifle rounds.
 
The only thing You might ever have aproblem with as far as pistol brass is concerned is anything that was fired in a Glock, as they tend to have fairly generous chambers as well as very generous ramps, ergo the famous Glock bulge. Should not be a problem as you resize it anyway in the reloading process. If you get the chance to compare brass fired in a Glock with some fired in almost anything else you will probably see what I mean. This is not a slur on the Glocks as they are designed this way to esure absolute reliability, which they exhibit in spades.
 
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