Can used assorted brass achieve small groups?

Bigoledude

I can better afford the brass on ebay that is swept up from shooting ranges. I am shooting a Taurus Raging Bull and a Marlin 1894, both in .44 mag. My rifle is a remington 30-06. My carry gun is a Springfield 1911 in .45ACP. I'm guessing the rifle would be more sensitive to brass selection?

I figured I would sort by brand first. Then separate the nickel from the brass. Maybe I would next weigh them. How would you sort the brass further. Is it a waste of time? Will I never get the tight groups that shooting the same lot would produce? I'm not shooting competition but, I like tight groups just like most folks.

ContacFront

You could then sort them by weight.

I have not resorted to that level of being * yet but some have and will swear by the method.

Just really depends on what you are looking for. I dont even sort brass for my rifles, just make sure I prep them correctly.

chunkstyle

Once you get some that's matched by brand, metal, and weight, load and shoot a light load out of them. This will fire-form them to your chamber, and make them closely matched in shape. Then, neck-size and reload a full strength charge.

bpost

The truth is with the guns you have you are not going to see a big repeatable difference, no matter what the brass mixture is.

The 30-06 will be more sensitive to brass variations than the others but within safe reloading levels you won't see much difference.

It is the mind game that is helped by sorting brass. Accurate shooting is as much as a mind game as equipment. If you go to the trouble to reduce the possible variables you will feel more confident in your shooting. You will shoot better.

Good luck, happy shooting!

dakotashooter2

The only way to truely know is to try it. Each gun is an individual and some will be more sensitive to "matched" brass than others. I have 2 243s that will shoot 1/2 moa all day with reformed milsurp 308 brass with little or no special treatment.

perry shooter

Hello I think you will find that MILITARY brass is thicker and have smaller cap. then civ cases so you IMHO may see a difference. in pressure and intermixed you may see larger groups in rifle . I have tested 1000's of loads in 45acp in a ransom rest in doing this testing you need to settle the gun in the rest I used mixed brass to settle the pistol and sorted brass for test GUESS what they both shot same group size . Not just one time but many times . The load and the machine repeatablity is what makes good loads vs. bad ones . Now with bench rest rifles I dont think this would apply. "PRAISE THE HARD-BALL GUN"

RCrosby

The only one I'd really worry about would be the '06. As pointed out, military brass tends to weigh more (read, "less internal capacity, higher pressure") In addition to that, often mainstream commercial brass (Federal, W-W, Rem.) can vary alot, one from the other. A reasonable, not Max. load by the book, in one case can be too damn hot in another. If you're shooting anything more than mild loads, I'd definately keep the rifle brass seaparated by manuf. Beyond that, and an occasional spot check for reasonable consistency of weight, I'd not worry about it.
Good luck.

roysclockgun

You won't notice much, if any difference if you do as others have already mentioned. Most important with mixed brass is don't load hot. Fully resize and trim cases. And, you will never know how many times brass has REALLY been fired, when you buy used, so look close and each piece of brass and throw away any that appears to have cracks, swells or dents lower then the throat area.