Separating brass by weight for reloading. Who does this?

[hend238]

I agree with the comments that have been made here. Some great advice. I shoot service rifle, bench rest, F class competitions and hunt small and large game. Depending on what discipline I'm preparing for dictates to what extent I prep my brass and how anal I am when assembling my reloads.

I'm sure I'm as anal as one can get about reloading but I also feel a lot of it is mental. If you have confidence in your loads and have made an effort to produce uniform loads, then I believe they will perform well if you do your part. How you accomplish this confidence is up to you.

Does trimming the meplat of your bullet make a difference? Does weighing every charge of powder within 1/100th of a grain ensure consistency? Yes I believe it is important. But there have been occasions where I didn't have the time to trim the meplats before a 1000 yard match or weigh every charge before a weekend bench rest match and quite honestly I didn't see any difference on the score card. Perhaps I got lucky, perhaps not. Or perhaps I suck so badly it makes no difference.

I used to, but no longer weigh my brass. I use Lapua brass in all my competition rifles and in my opinion the weight consistency is good enough for me. If I have an unexplained flier then I remove that case from the lot and use it for something less import. I don't weigh the brass I use for hunting as I feel it is a waste of time because I'm not looking for that level of precision to shot an elk yet I have confidence in my loads and I never miss...at least on the second shot.

 

[scout]

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.

So much depends on the brass. In 308, I have had Winchester brass vary from 155.8 - 159.4 gr, but the water volume remained flatlined at 57.6-57.8 gr. (I'm thinking it's density of the base as they tend to punch the primer pocket and flash hole). Norma brass was vastly different - case weight from 164.5-168.5 gr and water volume dropped as the weight increased from 56.8 to 56.3 gr.

I still sort my Winchester brass into 0.5 gr groups.

 

[hitch.bd]

I've got some match bullets to try. I figure I'll try the 10 heaviest and 10 lightest cases as was suggested. With same powder charges I'll see how much difference there is and take it from there.

 

[mrfixit3510]

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

I just started to reload! Call me paranoid if you will but I weigh every case after I prime and after seating the bullet. I learned from working in teer 1 automotive Quality check, quality check. I found one case loaded to maximum charge when I was only trying to load minimum charge.

 

[nanuk]

I bought 1000 270 brass, separated it by weight to get at least 200 that were within 0.5gr or so. I'm still working on it, as I want to see if there are 100 identical

make a difference? I dunno, but it passes time on night shift.,

oh.. .a digital scale is your friend here

 

[USRanger85]

I read all of the posts. I have been shooting quite a long time. Just about as much experience as anyone can get in a lifetime or two. I am talking about hundreds of thousand rounds. Now most of that that has been loaded by a company, but I still shoot and reload a few thousand a year.

Never did find the need to weight a casing. I have measured them, trimmed when required and disposed of old casings when the time came.

I totally believe one can shoot better if they work and develop the fundamentals of shooting. Don't waste valuable training time on weighing and measuring rds. Check every 10th rd to ensure it meets specs, then chroni it before you reload a few hundred.

AS for hunting, I have also killed just about every animal in North America there is to hunt. Check loads? I have fired two reloaded 7mmrds in the past two years. Dropped a buck each time, these were reloads done about ten years ago.

Brings me back to square one. Shoot straight, hit the right spot!

 

[Robbs]

Separating brass by weight and manufacturer is a good idea to help acheive improved consistency in my experience. If you are reloading using military brass like Lake City or IVI then it becomes more important. For example IVI brass is much heavier (i.e. thicker walls) than commercial brass and even Lake City. You many not be able to get the same quantity of grains in IVI. You may have to adjust your load to compensate for different case volumes.

 

[tigrr]

I only weigh brand new brass. Used fired how many times, not so much. Out of 1000 brand new winchester brass I have 600 that weigh 156 grain. About 900 fit in the 155-156-157 range. Anything outside that is for fouling shots.
If you have bought once fired, then you sort by head stamp, cleam, trim, and measure volume. For volume measuring I use H110 powder. I keep pouring it back into the same case, so I know I'm getting consistent. Its a pain pouring it in tap tap. spills if the volume is less than the test case. Pour it back tap tap next.

 

[notsorichguy]

I only weigh brand new brass. Used fired how many times, not so much. Out of 1000 brand new winchester brass I have 600 that weigh 156 grain. About 900 fit in the 155-156-157 range. Anything outside that is for fouling shots.
If you have bought once fired, then you sort by head stamp, cleam, trim, and measure volume. For volume measuring I use H110 powder. I keep pouring it back into the same case, so I know I'm getting consistent. Its a pain pouring it in tap tap. spills if the volume is less than the test case. Pour it back tap tap next.

You should trim (or at least measure) your new winnie brass first. I have had some new winnie brass that needed to be trimmed .020 before they would chamber......

If you have some at or over trim length then that would account for the variances in weight.

As a rule I never measure cases anymore. I set up the trimmer and trim every single case I resize. I found the time to measure and the time to trim is about the same. So yeah if you measure 200 cases only 80 need a trim, but you could have trimmed them all in less time!

Cheers!