How fussy is reasonable?

notsorichguy

notsorichguy

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I have a problem I have never had before......

Usually when I'm sorting/making 'match'(ish) brass I have an established procedure in place.

I fire the brass, re-size, trim & then weigh each piece & sort into different weight categories based on 1% of what the average weight of the cases are. For my purposes this is more than adequate for the types of shooting 'matches' I do (mostly fun matches or to try and show up my friends at the local pit). I am not a serious competition shooter.

I am the proud owner of a 338 LM, I bought a bunch of brass from a few different people. (100 here 100 there all 1xf). I have about 500 brass, all resized, trimmed and prepped, now to weigh it. My hope was to sort out 100 or so (2 or 3 lots with-in 1% of each other) and sell the rest.

All of the brass I have is Lapua headstamp, all of it falls into 1.2% of the average weight. If I remove the 5 heaviest and the 5 lightest pieces it is all within .76%.

The average weight of the cases is 327.7 gr. and I actually have 47 cases that are exactly the same weight etc.......

So how picky do I get. I can sub divide into groups of .3gr, or less, and still wind up with more than the 100 brass I was hoping for...........

How do you serious benchresters do it?
 
"...weigh each piece & sort into different weight categories..." That's not really necessary. The bench rest guys do it, but it's not required for hunting or regular target shooting. The bench rest guys are not using a .338 anything either. Having the brass all the same length is more important.
 
I weight a few, mentaqlly determine an average, and weigh an average case on the scale, With the pointed now on zero, I segregate with one lot moving the pointer "6" high or low. That is roughly 1 grain either was with a 2 grain variation. The heavy pieces go on the right, and the light on the left, and start the process over again with the right an left groups . . . and that is good enough for the girls I know!
 
The real test is capacity in my opinion. Lapua should be very consistent. But with any production item, brain farts happen. I would consider capacity overrides weight. So suggest using a ball powder or fine (something). and fill one case full. then pour the same contents into the rest of your brass, and you may find some differences. for the major differences, set those brass aside. My 25cents to you.....
 
I have heard the capacity argument in the past and I think it is valid.

But if the exterior dimensions of the case are the same and the weight is the same, does it not follow that the interior is pretty close?

For pistols I usually sort my brass as tumbled and not tumbled. For hunting brass I usually sort by times fired. For the stuff I want to show off with I usually spend 15 min just prepping each case........ And that is after resizing!
 
The way I look at it, capacity is just easier and much faster to check compared to weigh scale, or digital scale measurements which can vary tenths or half grain increments. It gives you the true capacity of your brass rather than building in assumptions of brass thickness or weight variation. Shoot more, fiddle less.....Wind will trump you down more days than not.
 
I agree that measuring powder capacity is more important that cartridge weight. Just hold over a bowl, top up, level, weigh it, and pour it into the next case, and repeat.
 
I sort everything into lots aproaching .025% of each other and then I toss them all in the tumbler for a couple more hours and start over :eek:

Seriously....with lapua brass I dont' think that a lot of weight sorting will make that much difference on the target. I found that sorting bullets was a better use of my time.
 
notsorichguy said:
But if the exterior dimensions of the case are the same and the weight is the same, does it not follow that the interior is pretty close?
Click to expand...

Yes, weight of the cases will be directly proportional to capacity. If the materials and outsides are the same, the inside must change for there to be any difference in weight.
 
Sort????
Yep, 308win case in that container, 308NM in that can, 6.5x55 in that tin,
44-40 over there and the like.
Now powder weight and case length, both, is where I really pay attention and don't forget
to chamber your hunting loads, all of them.
 
internal volumes can varry with case thickness. for that reason i sort by headstamp. not necessary but i do it while watching tv or something.
 
The only sorting I would do is to sort them into groups of 100. Process each group as you normally would to clean, un-primed (or even primed, like me, if you so desire) brass. Now, this is extremely impt, PUT THEM IN BAGS. PUT THE BAGS IN AN AMMO CAN WITH AN OXYGEN ABSORBER.
I would not sell, give, or throw away any of them. 500 cases is just the right number to have on hand for each and every calibre. That way, you will always have cases should you need them. Use them 100 at a time. When the first 100 start to show signs of wear and use, then get rid of them and take out your next 100, ready for priming and bright and shiny from being stored in an oxygen free environment. And you'll be in your 80's.
Just my $.02.
 
For my 6BR I separate into 1gr lots. (1 group = 126.0-126.9 and the other group = 127.0-127.9)

That being said there will be a greater variance on smaller cases.

I would think with cases weighing 3x as much the 3+gr difference you are seeing will be negligible in performance gain/loss.
 
I had two boxes of brass. #1 varied from 186 to 203 grains. #2 varied 183 to 206 grains . . . so what would you do? I needed one box and settled someewhere around the middle.
 
The only way I have found to sort cases is to shoot them. Go to a range with 50-100 rounds and shoot them all at the same point of aim and then throw the flyers that you feel otherwise were good shots in the garbage. I think there are other problems that you sort out by doing this.
 
Can't remember the name of the device, and it is no longe in manufacture anyway so it doesn't mater, but there exists a devie which measures internal concentricity in bullets. The review of this magical device clearly demonstarted that bullet internal concentricity is THE determining factor in observed accuracy. Case length within tolerances, case weight within large ranges, case capacity agan within generous ranges, shooting internally concentric bullets outshot all the fiddled daddled case prep/segregation in the world.

So how do we get internally concentric bullets? Buy top brand name match bullets, distributed by specialty distributers, transported by caring, careful carriers. If you drop a box, use it for plinking. If the box comes by mail, use it for plinking - it will have been dropped by Canada Post's automatic mail handling system.

So segregating .339 LM cases into lots of 0.3 grains each? Sure, if you got nothing better to do with your time - like snapping in, or practicing getting into positions quickly and smoothly.
 
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