Weighing your brass

FrancF

Some do, Some don't, with factory brass have you found an advantage to it?





NRA Life Endowment Member

Kdub

Nope - wasteful undertaking, in my opinion - and, I've been reloading some 45 years now.

Will, however, keep brass segregated by mf'r and by lot, when possible.

Keep off the Ridgeline

FrancF

Kdub-
I ask this in another forum boy talk about a can-o-worms!
http://www.reloadbench.com/ubb/Forum22/HTML/000300.html





NRA Life Endowment Member

JustC

It does matter,..but ONLY AFTER FULLY PREPPING THE LOT. There is no need weighing brass that has not been cut to all the same OAL, deburred, chamfored, primer pockets uniformed, and flash hole deburred. Once that has been done,..you quickly see how uniform a set of factory brass can be. Turn the necks and it gets even slightly better.

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?

Pinhead

What JustC said. He's dead on the money.

ContacFront

Justin,

Is there a big difference in weighing brass or not? I am using Federal Gold Medal brass and they have a big tolerance when it comes to weight.

Average from 79.0gn to 82gn.

If brass weight is so important how do companies like Black Hills and Federal Gold Match ammo be so consistant. Do they weigh their brass prior to sending it to the production line?

Just curious if the pay off is worth the efforts.

old single shots

I have been reloading for 35 years.Unless you are into serious benchrest competition weighing brass serves no usefull purpose.

JustC

CF,..will you see a difference in a sloppy factory chamber? NO. The weighing difference (AFTER MATCH PREPPING), will show any case that has a "wall thickness" that is far different that the "curve" of the lot of brass. if it is much thinner than average,..it will have a greater capacity, thus lower pressure, thus lower velocity,..and on the other end,..if it has an unusually thick body,. it will have less capacity, thus higher pressure and higher velocity. The better the rifle,..the more these differences show up. Factory rifles are rarely accurate enough to determine that.

How mad is the spread in your brass? The benchrest rule is no more than a 2% variance. But,..if you have not made each case the exact same as the rest in all the aforementioned aspects,..weighing it means nothing.

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?

Tailgunner1954

I prepped some 500 pieces of Rem brass (mixed lot#, 30-06), weighed and sorted them to +/- 3gr (in +/- 1gr lots) from average. I ended up with 250 matched pieces and had a few pieces that were 50gr (yes, fifty) below average and a couple that were 25gr above the average.
If the rifle and the shooter are capable, it can make a difference. Will the average guy with a stock factory rifle notice it, probably not. Will the practiced guy shooting a accuracy tunned rifle notice, you betcha.
Other methiods include measuring the water capacity (weighing alone can give a false number if part of the exterior is different, IE: the extractor groove is deeper) and fire sorting (groups are fired and cases that produce fliers are culled)

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Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.

D.K.

Less important as it used to be. Brass is actually getting
better as it comes from the factory. They are even removing
the primer hole flashing now!

D.K.

What is good, bad or uneccessary might depend on whether
you are making hunting loads or benchrest loads! Remember
the pprocess is only as good as it's weakest link. You
can make ammo better than your rifle can shoot. Hell, I have
a friend that makes the best ammo possible, and owns the most
accurate gun I've ever shot...but...hehe...my friend is a
lousy shot!

D.K.

Contac....John Barsness says that weighing brass in not
necessary for hunting loads, but that if one does want to do it
for MAXIMUM precision...10% variation is the target!

easygo6

Benchrest, extreme varmint ranges, CRITICAL accuracy, just for FUN!!

Benefits can be rather small and there is usually room enough for improvement in other equipment, load, shooting skills that the improvement is not realizable except by the best, most experienced shooters, using excellent equipment and loads.

shoff14

So for the you guys that do way your brass. Do you keep the high and low wieght brass separate from the close to spec. brass? Then only use the close to spec. brass when you want to be even more accurate?

Tailgunner1954

My matched brass I keep seperated for my bolt gun. I give the culls away (after I go through all that work I'm not going to risk having it get mixed back in). Brass with a different headstamp/finish gets used for plinking ammo in my Garand.

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Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.

mrbruce

I always go one step further than JustC, (maybe he should be one of the moderators, as he's usuall dead on stuff0 after all have been blueprinted to the best of my ability I weigh them, and then run them over my Junke Bullet comparator and segregate them into lots. You should see the difference in plain old everyday brass, and the good stuff when it's finished. Ground-hogs may not notice the differene but I sure can.
I had one tuned .284 case that was giving me fits until I bought the Vern Juenke Comparator and found out it was lopsided enough to go off scale. It never shot close to the same place, and it was not noticable to the naked eye.
I finally slit it down the middle and then found it heavy on one side.

Gun control is hitting what your aiming at.

JustC

Depending on the weight spread,..I'll seperate the lot into groups that vary by no more than say 2-3%. So if you have cases that weigh in on average at 100gr's,..then the first lot would go from 100-102/103gr's then the next lot would be say 97-99gr's ect or 103-105gr's. I will sort those cases to get the lots as close iin tolerance as possible, that is why buying brass in lots of 200-300 is a good practice for match shooting. If I have a thick case like Mrbruce,..I find that with the neck micrometer and toss that case or use it as a fouler round for the match.

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?

mrbruce

justc,
That particular case had been neck turned, and my neck mic didnt show it.

Gun control is hitting what your aiming at.

JustC

mrbruce,..ahhh, the neck turner hid it from you[;)] I hate those kind of issues when it takes 5 loadings to catch it. But then again,..no other sport would be frustrating enough[:D]

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?