Sorting brass, need advice, OCD kicking in?

[Farlsincharge]

Looking for some insight from my more experienced brethren. I have recently begun reloading but have yet to seat a bullet or throw a charge. I am in the middle of processing a few thousand .223 brass.
I am trying to achieve decent accuracy, but I also want to load a lot of rounds.
What kind of a difference would there be between different manufacturers with the same load? are we talking millimeters or inches?
What about variances in weight between cases of the same manufacturer?
I want to come up with a load (using perfect examples of bullets and brass from the centre of the spectrum) and then mass produce it reliably.
I also have some swiss arms once fired brass. Will there be a big difference between it and cases that are not dented?
Am I worrying too much?

 

[Onagoth]

For greater accuracy, some reloaders will sort brass by lot. I never really worried about this, but then again, I never really got outstanding results from my rifle reloads either.

 

[Scott_N]

Depending on how hot your loads are, it can be a safety issue too. Different brands of brass can have different internal capacity, which can be a large difference in pressure.

 

[HKMark23]

Will there be a big difference between it and cases that are not dented?

Your resizing die will likely take most of the ding out. If that doesn't do it, firing it will. Worst case scenario, dent will be gone by 2nd reloading of the case.

On second thought, those cases are ruined. Better send them to me .

 

[maynard]

Sort by manufacturer, then by weight. I wouldn't worry about millimeters Vs. inches but I would worry about pressures. While your load may work great with X brand civilian cases it could be way over pressure with Y brand military cases (thicker cases).
For .308 I batch them in 1 gr batches for .223 I sort them in 1/2 gr batches.

Where you might get a great load with say 26 gr of powder in Winchester cases, you might get the same results with 25 gr in a military case and that 26 gr load could be over pressure in the thicker military case. In short your mixed bag of brass, mass produced with one load may not produce the desired results you are looking for.

 

[Farlsincharge]

Okay so I know the 5.56 brass is thicker. the military .223 brass is also thicker than commercial?

oh and I'm not so much interested in "group sizes" as much as I am interested in consistent POI

 

[Ganderite]

It would help if we knew what kind of a rifle you are laoding for. A heavy barrel bolt gun or an olnd Mini 14?

Sort by brand, first. use all the odds n ends for plinking ammo.

Sort the big batches by .5 grain lots. I use the plastic casino coin cups for sorting containers. I put masking tape / felt marker labels on them.

 

[Farlsincharge]

it's for my swiss arms, I want to load up a few thousand hollow points. Long and short of it, I would like to be able to consistently hit an 8" round target out to 400m. It is pretty close right now shooting factory 55gr fmj's.

I am wondering if I shouldn't just try and amass great quantities of brass, sort out one manufacturer and sell the rest off.

 

[Quiet]

You may be able to get the accuracy you need by just sorting by headstamp, but your biggest barrier to success is the 55gr bullets.

If you get something better like 69 or 75gr hpbt, it may be worth putting a little more effort into your brass to improve your accuracy. Contrary to what you may have been lead to believe, a small group is a good indicator of consistent MPI!

I found that when I sorted my brass by type, # of firings, weight, uniformed the primer pockets and then guaged and marked them for concentricity, I went from a consistent 1" group with my .308, to a consistent .5" group using the exact same brass, bullets, primers and powder charge.

It was great for precision/sniper matches but now I don't have the patience for all that when I'm loading the quantities of .223 needed for service rifle, so I just sort by headstamp, but my scores at 500m were never as good as when I was also weight sorting the .223 casings.

 

[maynard]

Okay so I know the 5.56 brass is thicker. the military .223 brass is also thicker than commercial?

oh and I'm not so much interested in "group sizes" as much as I am interested in consistent POI

Group size and POI go hand in hand. If one case is light civilian brass and the next case is thick military brass both loaded with the same charge of powder. The light brass will not create as much pressure as the heavy brass and velocity and POI will change. Mix and match 10 cases from different manufacturers and case weight and your group will be large and your POI will be all over the target.

 

[nickorette]

You may be able to get the accuracy you need by just sorting by headstamp, but your biggest barrier to success is the 55gr bullets.

I'm just going to say flat out that I have had the exact opposite expirience. I've got a swiss arms with a 1 in 10 twist barrel, and I can't for the life of me get anything to shoot good in the 68, 69 and 70+ grain bullet weight. I've tried ladder tests, I've tried incremental seating depths, I've tried everything and the cheap ass 55 gr. Hornady flat base spire points blow the $24/box Seirra matchkings and 68 gr. Hornady Match bullets out of the water. Consistanly.


I have just started reloading in Nov., and also for my swiss arms. I have only been doing things bit by bit while I learn, but the biggest accuracy gains I've seen has been (in order):
-lighter trigger
-Match sizing and seating dies (Redding)
-Better targets
-match primers
-Practice

When I started my groups were averaging 2.5" at 100

Now I've got my best load down to 1.1" at 100. And it's still decreasing as I find out what works and what doesn't and what else I can do to improve accuracy.

55 gr. Hornady Spire Point (#2265)
24.8 gr. Varget
Remington Brass
Federal Match Primer
1.873" Ogive length

 

[Quiet]

Your 1:10 is about the slowest practical twist for stabilizing the 69gr bullet. It is not surprising that your barrel would prefer 55gr-62gr bullets. I used to score well with the Hornady 68gr bullets in my 1:9 twist 20" AR barrel, but then Hornady lengthened them slightly, and the accuracy fell off in the AR, but they continued to group well out of my 1:9 twist 26" Savage barrel.
I have also noticed that flat base bullets group better at short range than boat tails, but even if the groups are not as pretty at short range, the heavier high-BC boat tail match bullets do perform better beyond 200 or 300m, especially if there is wind.

 

[beltfed]

I'm just going to say flat out that I have had the exact opposite expirience. I've got a swiss arms with a 1 in 10 twist barrel, and I can't for the life of me get anything to shoot good in the 68, 69 and 70+ grain bullet weight. I've tried ladder tests, I've tried incremental seating depths, I've tried everything and the cheap ass 55 gr. Hornady flat base spire points blow the $24/box Seirra matchkings and 68 gr. Hornady Match bullets out of the water. Consistanly.


I have just started reloading in Nov., and also for my swiss arms. I have only been doing things bit by bit while I learn, but the biggest accuracy gains I've seen has been (in order):
-lighter trigger
-Match sizing and seating dies (Redding)
-Better targets
-match primers
-Practice

When I started my groups were averaging 2.5" at 100

Now I've got my best load down to 1.1" at 100. And it's still decreasing as I find out what works and what doesn't and what else I can do to improve accuracy.

55 gr. Hornady Spire Point (#2265)
24.8 gr. Varget
Remington Brass
Federal Match Primer
1.873" Ogive length

It's good to hear of your improvements. Have you tried the Hornady 60s yet?
Another group I'd look at are the Bergers 60 through 64 grain Varmint match bullets.