I guess you really should weigh your brass

[rbTanzan]

PS: the "light" 270 Win brass is Hornady and the "heavy" brass is Starline, with Winchester close to Starline. The bullet is a 118gn Hammer Hunter. When the opportunity arises next month I am going to work on balancing loads with the different brass to produce compatible ballistics.

 

[DJ Fergus]

A fellow I work with stopped sorting by checking h2o volume. He measures case head thickness with a dial indicator & sorts. Much faster than filling them. He won an F-TR state championship several years ago by incorporating that method.

 

[tech30528]

Take me thru the reasoning behind sorting center fired brass by weight? The only thing I can think of it crimp pressure based on neck thickness.

 

[del2les]

Take me thru the reasoning behind sorting center fired brass by weight? The only thing I can think of it crimp pressure based on neck thickness.

If all other measurements are consistent, the varying weights will "usually" indicate varied case volume (wall thickness) and give varied pressure and velocities.

If one is attempting to work up a consistent and tight group, velocity, etc, it is best to start with high quality brass, the same lot and even then, one "may" wish to weigh or check volumes. It depends on what your goals are. An ES of 50-60fps and 3/4-1 MOA may not mean much shooting medium to large game at 300yds or under, but when reaching out to double or quadruple those distances, it becomes huge. Smaller game/varmints even more so.

Many years ago in BR, not only did I purchase high quality brass, but also, I would ensure all measurements were as exact as possible and then weigh and sort. We were addicts and very annul in attempting to shoot extremely small groups. I even did some of this for precise varmint loads, but as quality of most everything improved, not so much now.

 

[Chas1]

JF, quality new brass all same lot is well worth the investment. Used brass of unknown origin isn't compatible with load development. Good luck

+1 I only buy new Lapua when accuracy is the goal. Now if it's spray and play or just blowing something up then I'll use once fired.

 

[L.Sherm]

+1 I only buy new Lapua when accuracy is the goal. Now if it's spray and play or just blowing something up then I'll use once fired.

I agree when Lapua or ADG makes the brass for a specific caliber but thats not the case especially the WSM line

 

[JFriesen]

Ok results time.
regular Hornady brass 380gr loaded wt
Ave 2547 fps
Light match brass 370gr loaded
Ave 2500 even
Heavy Hornady match brass
2630 fps. Pictures attached. Not sure what happened on my last shot in last group. And zero cool time just loaded and rolled. In my ruger american- That I dang near payed for in brass saving buying 1x vs new lapuas

 

[Lenny Foffa]

I think you should weigh all you brass, and get several little Blue Plastic Ammo boxes and once weighted keep them separate and clearly labeled . I shoot a 308 Savage for Score "Bullseye" Shooting. Using New Winchester Brass I have a blue box that has nothing but 154.0 to 154.9 Grns and in that box that hold 50 . I have 26 cases that weigh 154.0 to 154.3 in rows 1 to 6 then 15 cases that weigh 154.5 to 154.9 in rows 8 to10 . then in another box there are cases in the 155 weight range , then another box for cases in the 156 grn weight range. ECT. I weigh my new cases after neck sizing, trimming , chamfer , de burring and inside neck cleaning. I find 4/10th of a grain to be pretty good for practice. As I get more Winchester .308 brass, I will tighten the tolerances to 2/10th of a grain. I like to bring 20 rounds of a finished load to a score match . For my 6mm Bench Rest rifle I separate by 1/10 of a grain max. For my hunting loads, I like to keep the .270 Win Brass to 4/10th or less. So 25 to 28 rounds are made in brass that is 186.0 grns. to 186.4 grns. and is ok for my .270 Win Deer rifles. I will reload , and polish all cases after each range session, and after the final range session ,take 10 rounds from that batch with me on the deer hunt . I M H O ,I think its worth the extra effort to have uniform brass ,to make more precise completed rounds.

 

[Hunterjones]

This is not a slam on Hornady, but sometime a few years back, in the midst of the last component crisis I bought two 50 piece boxes of BRAND NEW Hornady brand 30-06 ammo when they showed up at a local gun shop. I had pretty recently acquired a couple of very accurate rifles in various calibers so I started weighing ALL brass I bought. Not every single case all the time but say 10-20%, MORE if there's was a lot of variance and less if there was little variance. In those two boxes of brass there was almost 40 grains variance in weight.
I have not bought any of their brass since then......

 

[JFriesen]

I have zero complaints about Hornady brass. My daughter and I sorted 400+ Pieces today. The light match was sorted into 152-154.9 gr and 155-158 grain. About 50-50. The rest was from a different era and was 166-168 grain. She got some practice with more than or less than math.

 

[L.Sherm]

To each his own but 6 grain spread sorted into 2 groups is to much for me.
I've weighed 100 ADG and the spread on that 100 was 2 grains

 

[JFriesen]

Well to put everybody to ease I order 100 lapua tonight for my sub $500 plinker rifle. And yes I will weigh it. But no, I will not fill every case with water.

 

[FEENIX]

Ive just bought my first Custom Rifle in .308 so I really appreciate this discussion. Just to through another question on the grill; What Standard Deviation in brass weight is acceptable??

Any Recommendations on Powders, Primers for LRPRS?

I new to the Precision Load Development Game so I am looking for Best Practices...

Even right down to specific dies.

"IF" you search, there are plenty of reloading information, esp. in .308 Win. Out of respect to @JFriesen, you might also want to post your query separate from the OP. This will yield responses specific to your query. Good luck!

 

[FEENIX]

I have zero complaints about Hornady brass. My daughter and I sorted 400+ Pieces today. The light match was sorted into 152-154.9 gr and 155-158 grain. About 50-50. The rest was from a different era and was 166-168 grain. She got some practice with more than or less than math.

Seeing your daughter getting involved with your hobby (and hopefully, hers too) made my day. Carry on, please.