reloading mixed brass,

[Alleycat]

So I hauled out all my 300 Savage brass I've been saving so I could start working up a nice deer load for my model 99 and get a little shooting in at the same time.
That's when I realized I have a real mixed bag of brass, Federal, Win and some Remington. My question for you more experienced reloader's is can I use my results from one brand of brass to the next, maybe backing off a grain or two to allow for case capacity differences or do you suggest starting right back at suggested starting loads for each brand of brass?
For example if I work up a load with say Federal brass that is close to or at book max and its safe for my rifle and I want to also load some Win brass, everything the same aside from the brass manufacturer change, how close can I safely start my load at? I wouldn't have to go right back to original staring load would I??

 

[purple]

Reloading mixed brass with an expectation of similar performance is a mug's game. Yes, it will go bang, but case weights and internal dimensions of brass vary among brands, which leads to inconsistency and varying pressure levels. It is always recommended to stick to one brand of brass for a particular load. Bullets, brass and powder are all expensive. It is best not to cheap out on any one of the 3 which will cause you to waste your money on the other 2.

 

[burnt_servo]

funny thing I have a similar issue with my 300 savage , I have lots of mismatched once fired brass for it .

first off I found that a near max load with Remington or Winchester brass will be a overload using federal brass .

what I have done is count up my brass and the largest pile of the same brass is the stuff that I use for load development .

you can also measure the volume of the various brands of brass in grains of water .
with a primer still in place fill the case with water ,then dump that water onto your scale to weigh it . do it 3 times with each case and take a average .
make sure you fill the cases all to the same level ...... what this means is that the water will bubble up above the neck . if you repeat the same thing with each case it will all work out .

I found that the federal cases had a much smaller volume inside .

when working up a max load I keep the brands of cases separate .

 

[Alleycat]

Great info, thanks, that helps.
As you mentioned I was going to start load development with my most plentiful brass and was aware of possible volume differences between the makers. Thanks
for pointing out which was likely the smallest.

Cheers
A

funny thing I have a similar issue with my 300 savage , I have lots of mismatched once fired brass for it .

first off I found that a near max load with Remington or Winchester brass will be a overload using federal brass .

what I have done is count up my brass and the largest pile of the same brass is the stuff that I use for load development .

you can also measure the volume of the various brands of brass in grains of water .
with a primer still in place fill the case with water ,then dump that water onto your scale to weigh it . do it 3 times with each case and take a average .
make sure you fill the cases all to the same level ...... what this means is that the water will bubble up above the neck . if you repeat the same thing with each case it will all work out .

I found that the federal cases had a much smaller volume inside .

when working up a max load I keep the brands of cases separate .

 

[rookie wildcat]

So I hauled out all my 300 Savage brass I've been saving so I could start working up a nice deer load for my model 99 and get a little shooting in at the same time.
That's when I realized I have a real mixed bag of brass, Federal, Win and some Remington. My question for you more experienced reloader's is can I use my results from one brand of brass to the next, maybe backing off a grain or two to allow for case capacity differences or do you suggest starting right back at suggested starting loads for each brand of brass?
For example if I work up a load with say Federal brass that is close to or at book max and its safe for my rifle and I want to also load some Win brass, everything the same aside from the brass manufacturer change, how close can I safely start my load at? I wouldn't have to go right back to original staring load would I??

Really? You need to stop. I am not seeing much in the way of "saved" brass indicating to me that this is NOT your dedicated deer rifle, or, you hunt like my Dad (three rounds a year), If this is the case, reloading for this rifle is less than desirable since cases, bullets, powder, primers would take decades to fire 100rds, add to that the cost of dies and you are better off continuing to purchase commercial rounds. If that represents 3 seasons, then maybe you could reload for it. Myself, I would (and do) continue to buy commercial rounds for the brass.
I, too have mixed brass saved, but in bags of 50. Best way of providing brass for a hard to find cartridges (in my case x39mm cases) is to buy the brass (ALL THE SAME BRAND) preloaded and provide yourself with once-fired brass until you have a stash (a "stash" to me is minimum 300 cases per hard-to-find cartridge or rifle to ensure a supply even through future attrition).

 

[Alleycat]

Noted!

Really? You need to stop. I am not seeing much in the way of "saved" brass indicating to me that this is NOT your dedicated deer rifle, or, you hunt like my Dad (three rounds a year), If this is the case, reloading for this rifle is less than desirable since cases, bullets, powder, primers would take decades to fire 100rds, add to that the cost of dies and you are better off continuing to purchase commercial rounds. If that represents 3 seasons, then maybe you could reload for it. Myself, I would (and do) continue to buy commercial rounds for the brass.
I, too have mixed brass saved, but in bags of 50. Best way of providing brass for a hard to find cartridges (in my case x39mm cases) is to buy the brass (ALL THE SAME BRAND) preloaded and provide yourself with once-fired brass until you have a stash (a "stash" to me is minimum 300 cases per hard-to-find cartridge or rifle to ensure a supply even through future attrition).