Do you weigh your brass?

I

ivo

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I know this is a reloading question but I put it into the Precision Forum because I feel it to be more relevant here than to handgun, milsurp...shooters.

Back ground info is this:

1.) I don't shoot BR or shoot a BR rifle(I shoot TRG 21/42)
2.) This is primarily for target out to 1000 m but most often 0-600m
3.) I do weigh all of my charges to 1/10th of a grain
4.) Calibres are .308 Win, .300 Win Mag and .338 Lapua


I'm trying to find out if I will see any difference in accuracy and if it is worth it.

I would greatly appreciate any experienced opinions.

Ivo
 
By weighing your brass and using only the pieces that are within a couple of grains, you will find that your groups will shrink, The closer the case capacity is to being the same the more consistant your case capacity usually is, therefore is should hold that your variation in velocity due to volume differences will be less.
Unless you are using high end dies and neck size only, you probably will not notice a huge difference, if however you are going the distance in extreme reloading accuracy, then case weighing is important.
I have ecently started using Nosler brass, as they weigh and uniform the brass for you, I have found it to be very good and worth the added expense.
It does come in both calibers you use, may be worth trying
 
I weigh and sort my WSM wildcat brass, but don't bother sorting my
Lapua brass - no need to sort, ream or neck turn for that matter!
The stuff is fantastic:D
Cat
 
I agree with the above IVO.The more things you keep consitent with BOTH your shooting AND your reloading..the better and smaller your groups will be.
Whatever you do...be consitent.Keep doing the same things over and over again.Any small change can throw your groups out a bit.

Now with that said I think if you want to shoot really well your process must take into account the smallest factors.Weighing the cases is one that I do as well when I reload for precision.The reality of it is that it may not make things any better...but then on the other hand what if it does?I do everything possible in my power to make sure things stay consistent.I even weight the bullets and seperate them into different catagories.Anal I know but every little bit helps. ;)
 
I weigh my.308 Lapua brass to within 1 gr. Out of the 1500 pieces I have, they run from 171-175 gr.
For.223 I weigh within 1/2 gr. I think with the smaller capacity it is more important, maybe:confused:
I shoot with a guy that weighs the loaded round and shoots them in order from lowest to highest weight. I am not sure this does any good as it does not show a dramatic difference on his elevation graff.
What it does do is, it will find the round (or 10) that weighs 46 grain less then the others:eek: He then pulls the bullt and put powder in them:p
 
Bought a batch of once fired brass from one of the visiting teams at Connaught. Weighed them; there were obviously 3 different production lots. Sorted them into similar groups. All brass since then has been Lapua. Highly recommended.
 
Life's too short! I have shot short range BR with some success and never weighed a case. I have shot "F" class with some success and never weighed a case. I shot 1000 yd BR and never weighed a case. At the 1000 yd BR, the shots which were out were out due to wind misjudgement and not vertical dispersion. I really feel that if you have significant vertical dispersion, you have a problem that all the brass weighing in the world won't cure!
If weighing brass makes you feel good, if it seems like a fun way to fill your time, then go right ahead. I don't think I'll bother. Regards, Bill.
 
No doubt Nosler brass can be expensive. However, the 300 Win Mag Nosler brass is signifcantly less then the Lapua. We stock them all.

If you start with quality (Lapua) brass, weighing really has minimal influence. Along with the low spread in weight, with Lapua you usually get uniform wall thickness which is accepted as being more important.

If memory servces me correct, the ball park standard for culling br cases is variations greater then 0.002" at the neck but I should check. Normally I never check with Lapua.

As a general rule, I try to avoid run of the mill Winchester/Remington/Federal brass and tend to select cartridges or wildcats that have brass made by Lapua or Norma.
 
I am with Bill. Weighing brass doesn't really matter BECAUSE you are not measuring what does matter and that is case volume.

The goal in making precision ammo is to make each rd identical. We want each bang to produce the same barrel harmonics which equates to pressure (time and curve) and velocity. We also want that bullet to be true with the bore.

Case volume and brass ductility is critical to that consistency. When shooters weigh brass, they assume that the exterior machining is the same so any difference in weight relates to case volume. Not true.

Simple differences in machining the extractor groove can lead to enough weight difference to cull that brass. Tells you nothing.

So measure the case volume. Quick and easy to do with fire formed and trimmed brass that is not sized. Take a very fine ball gunpowder. I use Win680. Fill a case to the brim tapping to make sure as much as possible goes in. Dump into another case and repeat. If any case shows more or less volume, mark and test fire. Good chance it will not shoot well - garbage time.

In general, I have found cases that didn't weigh the same but had the same case volume and shot very well.

Annealing is next as you want that neck to expand the same amount and rate during fire. Plus that leads to consistent neck tension. All good things.

The biggest benefit you can do to make a more accurate rifle, monitor the runout of your ammo. If runout over a few thou is introduced in your ammo during the sizing or seating, all the brass prep in the world will not produce good ammo. That bullet must engrave in those lands true.

Runout or wobble will put the tip in any direction but straight down the bore. Traveling cockeyed down the bore usually doesn't lead to a true flight to the target.

There are a ton of little tweaks that can be done to improve LR accuracy and each rifle will need its own share of tuning.

www.6mmbr.com has lots of very interesting posts from some of the top shooters in the LR game.

Weigh the brass if that makes you happy but also check the volume. I bet the results will surprise you.

Jerry

PS don't be afraid of Domestic Commercial brass. Many are using this in top US competitions and winning. I have used all the common brands with superb results. I actually don't like Norma as it is very soft in the cartridges I have tested.
 
Brass

I am relatively new to precision reloading, so I have been weighing all my Lapua brass (.223, ,308) I have never found a variation that causes me to cull any. My cutoff is a variation of ~1% of total brass wt.

I have also been measuring neck thickness, and as well and for Lapua it has always been less than .002.

I have also used once fired norma, and after it has been firesized, neck sized and trimed I have found necks varying up to .003-.004. I turn these to get a variation of ~.001.
After that I have never found a significant variation in wt. in the Norma brass.

Using brass prepared as above and double seating the bullet my runout is less than the min measurement of my dial gauge ( < 0.001)
 
catnthehatt said:
Lapua brass - no need to sort, ream or neck turn for that matter!
The stuff is fantastic:D
Cat
Click to expand...

I segregate all my other brass, but it is only worth it if you buy brass in large lots (2 or 300 cases) otherwise don't bother. You will also have to size and trim the brass to equal length if you want accurate results in segregating the brass.
bigbull
 
Weigh the cases if it makes you happy, after all. the main difference between winners and losers is the 'mental edge'

However it would seem pointless to weigh your cases until after you've done your utmost to make them precisely uniform, length, neck thickness, deburr flash hole, bases and extractor cut, check out primer pockets for uniformity.

This would have to be done before fire forming to avoid variations caused by carbon residue.
 
Thanks to all who responded.

I should have mentioned that all of my brass is Lapua. After having weighed my .338 Lapua brass I found one lot of 100 between 334 and 339 grains and in another lot 343 to 348 gr so I made 4 groups 335 +/- 1gr, 337 +/- 1gr, 344 +/- 1gr and 347 +/- 1gr.

If this will help or not will tell if I go though this again(not that it was that much trouble).

BTW thanks for the heads up on the nosler brass, I didn't know it was that good, I'd rather buy it than spend $190 on Lapua for my .300 Win Mag.

Thanks again.
 
Mystic, I hear what you are saying and It makes perfect sence, but is it not critical to start with match weighted brass before fire forming? I was always under the impression, and what seems to work, that if your brass is weighed and matched in lots on initial load or first fireing to fire form. It is much easier to maintain consistency through the life of the brass. If it is matched initialy and reload recipe stays consistent, all things being equal your brass and loads should maintain consistency. Or am I missing something?
 
While I certainly don't have Mystic's level of experience, I'd say "no".
While you would want to start with brass of the same lot, to minimize diferences in the internal distribution of the thickness and in the hardness, once you've fireformed the brass, and trimmed them, they are identical on the outside, therefore any differences in volume has to be from direrences in the thickness.
 
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