How much do you separate brass for hunting rounds?

StevieK

StevieK

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Wondering what your philosophies are for separating and loading different brass for HUNTING rounds. I just took time to sort through all the 1xF brass I've collected over the last little while, be from myself or others. I divided it all in brand. for my 270 specifically I have about 350 federal, 100 R-P and 100 winchester, with a small amount of others (hornady, dominion, imperial). My question is for hunting purposes how picky are you about making sure you only use 1 type of brass? I know everyone will have a different method, just curious what you all do.

I am not too worried about getting .5 moa groups and not too fussy about the brass I use. But I am looking to load up a few hundred rounds and deciding if I should just load up all of one type of brass, then wait for it to be shot to reload that same brass to keep it consistent, or just load a few different types off brass up. If I do that I would at least keep the brass types separate so that before any hunt I'd re-zero with the type I will hunt with.

For hunting purposes and the required acceptable accuracy for that do you guys notice enough difference in group sizes when using a mixed bag of brass to really care keeping it even?
 
The only reason i separate brands is because the physical case volume of brands can be different. This affects pressure. If you are shooting minimum loads you probably have nothing to worry about. At max loads case volume can make a difference.
 
How far are you shooting when hunting? Here in central Pennsylvania the average deer is shot at 40 yards or less, and if you live out west you might be shooting out to 300 yards or more. Mixed brass will have variations in case thickness and internal volume which effects chamber pressure and its point of impact.

On the other hand I'm 65 with chronologically gifted eyesight and drink too much coffee and need laser guided bullets.
 
I separate all my brass by make, times fired, rifle fired in, and sometimes date of manufacture because over 50 years a manufacturers brass can now be very different from what it was in 1960.

I do this simply because of the reason stated where internal volumes can vary so widely. Some of my Federal brass can vary by 35 grains a case, and since the external dimensions are basically identical, you know the difference is in the internal volume.
 
As long as they are in good shape and the same caliber, they are good to go. My loads are mid range as far as powder charges go, so different case capacity is not an issue for me.
 
Way more than for practice because I don't compete. I don't hunt for trophies, I hunt to eat. Therefor when I reload I always separate the best brass and not mark them: the marked ones become practice rounds I do just before season starts, the unmarked ones for hunting only. I don't go to the extent the serious competitors do, but I am just OCD about removing controllable inconsistences within reason. My biggest concern is things that control pressure and jump to lands as they seem to make the biggest difference in accuracy, for me anyways. Then again, its more OCD than anything and I know it. :)
 
i separate by brand , then after loaded ammo is made , I separate again , but this time I cycle the ammo through the gun , and any that hang up or are even slightly resistant to the bolt closing on them , get put into the pile I use to sight the scope in with .
 
I'll check the case volume to see how different it is between brands. If it is beyond tolerance then I will separate but if not then I won't. I don't find an accuracy problem if the volumes are close for hunting.
 
I separate by brand and number of times fired.
The only time I expand that to by weight is for my 308 or 338 Lapua if I'm trying to squeeze a tiny bit more accuracy out of it but it's pretty rare for me to weigh my brass.

StevieK said:
Would you guys say that having mixed brass that is separated into weight would be more accurate than keeping brands separate?
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Not really, each company could potentially put a little more brass into the base or in some way distribute it differently throughout the case causing differences in case volume while having the same weight as a different brand.

35Wailin said:
As long as they are in good shape and the same caliber, they are good to go. My loads are mid range as far as powder charges go, so different case capacity is not an issue for me.
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Actually it is an issue for you, not for safety so much with mid level loads but the difference in case capacity will cause a difference in pressure which will affect your velocity and therefore your accuracy. It may not be a huge difference but as distance increases so does the size of the group you can count on placing you shots in. At two or three hundred yards in real world field conditions where you have some adrenaline flowing and not shooting from a nice solid rest this could mean the difference between a solid lung shot that puts the animal down quickly and a shot that wounds the animal enough that it will eventually die but you end up chasing it for many kilometers before it falls.

I would do a little testing from a solid bench at 200 or 300 yards and see what your groups are like with mixed brass compared to matched brass just to see what the difference really is. It may not be enough to worry about if you never shoot past 200 yards but you may also be surprised to see what difference it really makes.

Silvertip13 said:
I'll check the case volume to see how different it is between brands. If it is beyond tolerance then I will separate but if not then I won't. I don't find an accuracy problem if the volumes are close for hunting.
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This would work well for anyone not wanting to separate by brand. I don't go this far but it's a good idea even if you use brass with the same headstamp and you want the most consistency.
 
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The way I look at it is that we need to build our hunting ammo as accurately as we can. We owe it to the fine animals we hunt to make their demise as quick and painless as possible.

Separating brass by maker is OK but even the same brand of brass will change from one batch to another.

I tend to be anal about accuracy. That is a trait left over from Hunter Bench Rest shooting as well as an interest in long range shooting. The further you are willing to shoot the more careful to attention you need to be.

I trim the cases to minimum length then weigh them individually. Manufacturer doesn't matter. As long as the weight of the case is very close to the rest in the batch case volumes should be very close as well and give consistent performance. I separate my batches of brass into plus or minus one grain weight difference. That means the lightest case can be 2 grains less than the heaviest. This is close enough for HBR and works well.

Consistency of components is the key to maintaining accuracy in a rifle that is capable of it. Weighing the cases is the best way to make sure your case volumes are the same and eliminating a variable. Cases with different volumes often give relatively erratic accuracy. It all depends on how you define accuracy and which limit you set to be acceptable.
 
bearhunter said:
The way I look at it is that we need to build our hunting ammo as accurately as we can. We owe it to the fine animals we hunt to make their demise as quick and painless as possible.

Cases with different volumes often give relatively erratic accuracy. It all depends on how you define accuracy and which limit you set to be acceptable.
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Agree completely with these statements.
 
"Not really, each company could potentially put a little more brass into the base or in some way distribute it differently throughout the case causing differences in case volume while having the same weight as a different brand."



This isn't quite true, if the exterior dimensions are the same, and the weight is the same, the internal volume will be the same. Unless you are comparing aluminum cases to brass cases or something. The brass density from maker to maker is so close there isn't an accurate way to measure the insanely minute difference.
 
Cleftwynd said:
"This isn't quite true, if the exterior dimensions are the same, and the weight is the same, the internal volume will be the same. Unless you are comparing aluminum cases to brass cases or something. The brass density from maker to maker is so close there isn't an accurate way to measure the insanely minute difference.
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You don't think they could make the base thicker on one brand than another? maybe different wall thickness? The best way is to measure water capacity if using different brands. As mentioned earlier, even the same brand from different years could be different.
The differences are small but it only takes a small change in pressure to change your velocity and take you from your accuracy node out into messy group land. I've seen the difference 0.2gr of powder can make on some cartridges and sometimes it's insignificant and other times it's huge.

It all comes down to personal tolerances but as was stated earlier we owe it to the animal to produce the most accurate load we can using the most appropriate bullet for the game we're chasing to ensure a quick and humane death, not only is the meat better if the animal doesn't run for 2 kilometers in shock after the hit but you should feel better about yourself when you squeeze the trigger and the animal drops in less than 25 yards from where it was hit.
I actually think hunting load accuracy is just as important as your long range precision loads. The only difference is that instead of a premium match bullet you are using a premium hunting bullet. The only loads we should look at as "good enough" are plinking loads we use at the range or in the bush for fun and when we are introducing new shooters to the sport.


Side note, you can reply with quote and then delete all the stuff you don't want as long as you leave the
stuff on each end.
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StevieK said:
Would you guys say that having mixed brass that is separated into weight would be more accurate than keeping brands separate?
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Separate by brand.

Different brands will have different neck hardness and neck tension.

For hunting, it is important to cycle all the ammo through the mag and chamber, to make it all chambers and extracts easily.
 
cr5 said:
You don't think they could make the base thicker on one brand than another? maybe different wall thickness? The best way is to measure water capacity if using different brands. As mentioned earlier, even the same brand from different years could be different.
The differences are small but it only takes a small change in pressure to change your velocity and take you from your accuracy node out into messy group land.
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Yes they can definitely make wall thicknesses and bases different between brands, but what's being said is that all adds weight and therefore takes away from the interior capacity. If 5 cartridges from 5 different brands all have the exact same weight, and have been trimmed and sized then they all have the same outer dimensions. Yes some may have different bases or wall thicknesses but no matter where that is put on the inner part since the density of the brass is the same it will displace the volume equally. Therefore if a case has the same overall weight and outer size the exact inner dimension may differ slightly but the volume will be the same
 
cr5 said:
Actually it is an issue for you, not for safety so much with mid level loads but the difference in case capacity will cause a difference in pressure which will affect your velocity and therefore your accuracy. It may not be a huge difference but as distance increases so does the size of the group you can count on placing you shots in. At two or three hundred yards in real world field conditions where you have some adrenaline flowing and not shooting from a nice solid rest this could mean the difference between a solid lung shot that puts the animal down quickly and a shot that wounds the animal enough that it will eventually die but you end up chasing it for many kilometers before it falls.

I would do a little testing from a solid bench at 200 or 300 yards and see what your groups are like with mixed brass compared to matched brass just to see what the difference really is. It may not be enough to worry about if you never shoot past 200 yards but you may also be surprised to see what difference it really makes.
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Although I agree with your reasoning, that statistically, it would affect long range accuracy, I have never seen a game animal in hunting conditions over 125 yards away, and I have never shot one at more than about 50 yards. I also don't know where to find two or three hundred yards of open space to test long range groups near where I live.
 
Consistency is accuracy. Whether it is brass manufacturer, primer type, primer seating depth, powder, bullet, bullet seating depth, brass prep habits, etc. I do not sort brass by weight or turn necks for hunting ammunition but I do track how many times the brass has been fired. Trust me, when you have the whitetail buck of a lifetime in your sights and you cannot get off a second shot because your tenth fired brass suddenly decided to pull off the case head and leave you in the field with a piece of brass sitting in your chamber and the other piece sitting in your hand that is the worst hunting experience one can endure and keep his sanity. If I were you I would decide which brass manufacturers you which to go with and before that decide on ONE specific bullet that you wish to hunt with. I am kind of an old guy and cheap when it comes to brass but the winchester bulk brass is usually just a little thinner than the others and you can usually get just a little more horse power out of them because of it. It's all about capacity, sorting and keeping good records of your loads. Hope this helps.
 
StevieK said:
Yes they can definitely make wall thicknesses and bases different between brands, but what's being said is that all adds weight and therefore takes away from the interior capacity. If 5 cartridges from 5 different brands all have the exact same weight, and have been trimmed and sized then they all have the same outer dimensions. Yes some may have different bases or wall thicknesses but no matter where that is put on the inner part since the density of the brass is the same it will displace the volume equally. Therefore if a case has the same overall weight and outer size the exact inner dimension may differ slightly but the volume will be the same
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Bingo!
 
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