Separating brass by weight for reloading. Who does this?

hitch.bd

hitch.bd

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I noticed in the odd thread that some of you separate your brass not only by brand but also by weight. I thought I would try it . I have tumbled, deprimed, length trimmed, and now separated (to the full grain) all my 30.06 brass. I am shocked how much variation there is.
THE QUESTIONS:
1) What weight differential do you group your brass into? ie. 1 grain or 5 or 10
2) How much difference does this actually make? Do you see a grouping difference on the target?
3) Is this worth while or is it just something to keep OCD, anal retentive, rainmen occupied?!?!?! Am I joining the afore mentioned club???
Any thoughts on this are welcome but if you have actual world experience please mention this so I may give it the validity it deserves!
Regards, Hitch
 
Ha, I would call it OCD, BUT, then i dont know much about precision reloading for rifle. i'm just happy it goes bang when i reload. :)
 
It makes a difference...another alternative is set aside the brass that is giving you `fliers`... until you have a batch of brass that is giving consistant performance. Before, weighing, deprime and trim so you are weighing brass that is the same on the outside.
 
I seperate mine by weight. Why would brand matter and not weight. The difference in volume is why we seperate by brand and it is what weight seperation is all about. I use 1% as the batch, so at 100 grains I seperate into 99-100, 100.1-101, 101.1-102. In lighter cases like 22 Hornet, this means you will be seperating into .5 grain lots. I will go to 1/2% lots for my really accurate varmint guns. I keep the reloads in batches of 50, seperated by weight. I also trim, do the primer pockets and flash holes before seperating by weight.

If you want to prove to yourself this makes a difference take ten of your lightest and ten of your heaviset with exactly the same loads. Make sure to weigh your powder charges so you have everything as close to exact as you can. Fire them across a chrono, you will see a diference in velocity, the heavier ones will be faster and on the target you will get a differnce on POI for the 2 different weights. If those weights are mixed together that variation in POI makes your groups larger.

If you want to prove to yourself that deburring pockets makes a difference load up ten weight sorted, once fired brass, that haven't been de-burred. Shoot 2 5 shot groups. De-bur and reload with exactly the same load. Shoot two more groups. Most of muy guns, will show a .1 to .2 improvement in group.

You will notice all of this case prep more as you get past 200 yards and you will really see it at 400 and out. Also, the smaller the case, the more noticable is the case prep effects.

All this case prep, reaming pockets, trimming and flash hole deburring may seem OCD, but that is really the differnece between Lapua brass and most commercial brass. This way you can make premium brass out of domestic that costs 1/3 as much.

Try the abbove in your gun, if you can't see any difference in group sizes, don't waste your time and effort, but my bet is you will, even on hunting grade guns, as long as they are capable of 3/4 MOA or better when you start out.
 
Dean2 said:
I seperate mine by weight. Why would brand matter and not weight. The difference in volume is why we seperate by brand and it is what weight seperation is all about. I use 1% as the batch, so at 100 grains I seperate into 99-100, 100.1-101, 101.1-102. In lighter cases like 22 Hornet, this means you will be seperating into .5 grain lots. I will go to 1/2% lots for my really accurate varmint guns. I keep the reloads in batches of 50, seperated by weight. I also trim, do the primer pockets and flash holes before seperating by weight.

If you want to prove to yourself this makes a difference take ten of your lightest and ten of your heaviset with exactly the same loads. Make sure to weigh your powder charges so you have everything as close to exact as you can. Fire them across a chrono, you will see a diference in velocity, the heavier ones will be faster and on the target you will get a differnce on POI for the 2 different weights. If those weights are mixed together that variation in POI makes your groups larger.

If you want to prove to yourself that deburring pockets makes a difference load up ten weight sorted, once fired brass, that haven't been de-burred. Shoot 2 5 shot groups. De-bur and reload with exactly the same load. Shoot two more groups. Most of muy guns, will show a .1 to .2 improvement in group.

You will notice all of this case prep more as you get past 200 yards and you will really see it at 400 and out. Also, the smaller the case, the more noticable is the case prep effects.

All this case prep, reaming pockets, trimming and flash hole deburring may seem OCD, but that is really the differnece between Lapua brass and most commercial brass. This way you can make premium brass out of domestic that costs 1/3 as much.

Try the abbove in your gun, if you can't see any difference in group sizes, don't waste your time and effort, but my bet is you will, even on hunting grade guns, as long as they are capable of 3/4 MOA or better when you start out.
Click to expand...

X2 Dean well done and so very true, neckturning will also show results
 
I've done it for target shooting. Sorted Lapua brass into 3 groups, lighter, medium heavy, and a few rejects for fouling shots. However, I am going to change and sort by case volume instead of weight. Will take the (at least) once fired, neck sized, and primed cases and will fill them with a fine powder to the top of the neck, weigh the powder, and then dump it into the next case, top it up if necessary, and so on. My feeling is that case volume is the most significant factor, and measuring it by weighing the brass is not the best way to get where you want.
 
If I have a large quantity of rifle brass, I sort it by weight. Depending on quanity, non-match brass is sorted onto 1 grain varation pails.

Match ammo brass is sorted into pails of 0.3 grain steps. It then goes into 50 round boxes, with a note of the brass weight written inside the lid.
 
pats said:
Ha, I would call it OCD, BUT, then i dont know much about precision reloading for rifle. i'm just happy it goes bang when i reload. :)
Click to expand...

When I first started reloading this is the way I felt!!! I'm still relieved when it goes bang, I've had the odd pop with the shotgun while trap shooting when I first started reloading with the progressive press.
 
Dean2 said:
I seperate mine by weight. Why would brand matter and not weight. The difference in volume is why we seperate by brand and it is what weight seperation is all about. I use 1% as the batch, so at 100 grains I seperate into 99-100, 100.1-101, 101.1-102. In lighter cases like 22 Hornet, this means you will be seperating into .5 grain lots. I will go to 1/2% lots for my really accurate varmint guns. I keep the reloads in batches of 50, seperated by weight. I also trim, do the primer pockets and flash holes before seperating by weight.

If you want to prove to yourself this makes a difference take ten of your lightest and ten of your heaviset with exactly the same loads. Make sure to weigh your powder charges so you have everything as close to exact as you can. Fire them across a chrono, you will see a diference in velocity, the heavier ones will be faster and on the target you will get a differnce on POI for the 2 different weights. If those weights are mixed together that variation in POI makes your groups larger.

If you want to prove to yourself that deburring pockets makes a difference load up ten weight sorted, once fired brass, that haven't been de-burred. Shoot 2 5 shot groups. De-bur and reload with exactly the same load. Shoot two more groups. Most of muy guns, will show a .1 to .2 improvement in group.

You will notice all of this case prep more as you get past 200 yards and you will really see it at 400 and out. Also, the smaller the case, the more noticable is the case prep effects.

All this case prep, reaming pockets, trimming and flash hole deburring may seem OCD, but that is really the differnece between Lapua brass and most commercial brass. This way you can make premium brass out of domestic that costs 1/3 as much.

Try the abbove in your gun, if you can't see any difference in group sizes, don't waste your time and effort, but my bet is you will, even on hunting grade guns, as long as they are capable of 3/4 MOA or better when you start out.
Click to expand...
WOW, you've given me a lot to think about. I've got a Sako TRG-s mod. 995 in 30.06. It's not a bull barrel or target barrel but it is very accurate and is heavier than most hunters with their pencil thin barrels. I've got some match bullets and decided to try the the weighing thing. I'll do what you said and try the 10 lightest and 10 heaviest just to see.
Thanks for the insight. regards, Hitch
 
Ron AKA said:
I've done it for target shooting. Sorted Lapua brass into 3 groups, lighter, medium heavy, and a few rejects for fouling shots. However, I am going to change and sort by case volume instead of weight. Will take the (at least) once fired, neck sized, and primed cases and will fill them with a fine powder to the top of the neck, weigh the powder, and then dump it into the next case, top it up if necessary, and so on. My feeling is that case volume is the most significant factor, and measuring it by weighing the brass is not the best way to get where you want.
Click to expand...

What type of powder do you use? Do you prepare your cases first? If yes, do you put new primers in the case? How do you get all the powder out to ensure accurate measure?
So many questions... you have me interrested now!
 
Ganderite said:
If I have a large quantity of rifle brass, I sort it by weight. Depending on quanity, non-match brass is sorted onto 1 grain varation pails.

Match ammo brass is sorted into pails of 0.3 grain steps. It then goes into 50 round boxes, with a note of the brass weight written inside the lid.
Click to expand...

I have lots of brass but it is many different types. and all different weights. I'm lucky to get a box of 20!
 
Ishodu said:
If you want to squeeze every bit out of your rife it is worth it. It is a even better idea to measure the internal volume of the case this is very time consuming.
Click to expand...

I did a very non scientific test on the theory that lighter brass had more case capacity than heavier brass.

I took 5 Winchester 308 cases with a total weight separation of 7 grains from heaviest to lightest.

Between all 5 cases there was less than a grain difference in H2O capacity.



My match brass gets sorted into 1grain groups.

Since not every case will stretch the same when fired, separating to less than that would mean re-separating after trimming.
 
It's been a crappy snowy winter......

When I haven't been out shoveling snow, I have been doing some loading for spring. I currently have 18 test batches to try out in 8 different rifles......

I also had the time to weigh most of my brass (rifle brass anyway) and seperate into .5% deviation by weight groups. Considering I have 2500 .223, 1500 .308, 500, 30-06, 500 .338LM, 450 .243, 300 .270 plus varying amounts of .303, 38-55, 30-30, 338WM and now my first batch of 338-06 this has been no easy feat.

Most of the tests batches I have are to do with the weight/sorting undertaking..... I really hope this hasn't been a HUGE waste of time.

The way I figgure it, it is the interior volume that is the real kicker. But, IF you FLRS or NS (as long as its the same) all your brass, trim them to the same length, de-burr the flash holes, unify the primer pockets, do every bit of case prep you can and then weigh them. I figgure that the internal volume will be pretty close as long as you keep your weight variances down as much as possible, ie: with-in .5%......

YMMV
 
notsorichguy said:
It's been a crappy snowy winter......

When I haven't been out shoveling snow, I have been doing some loading for spring. I currently have 18 test batches to try out in 8 different rifles......

I also had the time to weigh most of my brass (rifle brass anyway) and seperate into .5% deviation by weight groups. Considering I have 2500 .223, 1500 .308, 500, 30-06, 500 .338LM, 450 .243, 300 .270 plus varying amounts of .303, 38-55, 30-30, 338WM and now my first batch of 338-06 this has been no easy feat.

Most of the tests batches I have are to do with the weight/sorting undertaking..... I really hope this hasn't been a HUGE waste of time.

The way I figgure it, it is the interior volume that is the real kicker. But, IF you FLRS or NS (as long as its the same) all your brass, trim them to the same length, de-burr the flash holes, unify the primer pockets, do every bit of case prep you can and then weigh them. I figgure that the internal volume will be pretty close as long as you keep your weight variances down as much as possible, ie: with-in .5%......

YMMV
Click to expand...
Sounds like a good way to spend a winter.
 
hitch.bd said:
What type of powder do you use? Do you prepare your cases first? If yes, do you put new primers in the case? How do you get all the powder out to ensure accurate measure?
So many questions... you have me interrested now!
Click to expand...

As I said I have being sorting brass by weight. Other experienced loaders have suggested measuring volume, and I think it makes a lot of sense. I've done the powder capacity on a few as a test, but plan to do 200 cases shortly. It helps to work over a bowl to catch the overflow powder, and try to drop the powder from a consistent height into the case. Ideally you should use a fine ball power, but H322 is the finest I have, and have used it.

Yes your cases need to be at least once fired, sized and primed with a new primer. Bumping the side of the case should get all powder out. I only neck size so I'm not changing the main case volume.
 
I did it a couple of times.

I weighed every bullet. I weighed every piece of brass. I measured every neck and marked the brass so the thickest point was at the bottom all the time. I weighed every charge. I used the same primers.

Know what I discovered ? The gun is probably more accurate than I am. Going the extra few miles produced pretty much no improvement for me.

Do a proper load development, fire your brass in your own gun at least once, neck size only, measure every charge, use the same brand/model of bullets every time, and you're 98% of the way to being as accurate as you're going to get.
 
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