does brass matter?

joshmb1982

when reloading for plinking/target shooting, and hunting, does the manufacturer matter? for this purpose is remington so much better to justify the expence? is once fired brass worth buying? is it worth it to buy the nickle plated brass? seems to only be a few ectra bucks per thousand.

e8gm

For just plinking and punching paper I don't worry too much about the brass. Especially for a pistol. For my rifles, I always seperate my brass by munufacturer. I'm not sure if I'm just * that way or if it really makes a difference, but it increases my confidence in the ammo I load so I do it.

ginmartini

I usually use winchester brass for my 222. It depends on the accuracy you are looking for in my opinion, but unless you have a top custom gun you probably wouldn't notice a difference. You could start a huge debate about nickle cases.

joshmb1982

ok just did a search on the nickel plated brass and that answears that. dont think im gonna go there

perry shooter

Different brands of brass may differ in thickness and a MAX load in one brand may be over Max in another brand . IMHO brass cases have longer life "NUMBER OF RELOADS" in pistol cases then nickel. For plinking mixed brass is ok. For Target shooting in matches use same brand for all your brass.

shooterone

I do a lot of target shooting and reloading. In pistol, 45acp. and 38sp., I do not seperate my brass. Just keep reloading till I gotta throw it away. Then just replace with whatever American brand is on the shelf. "Hornady, Win. Rem. ect.". They are all mixed up. For rifle shooting, I do seperate them by manufactor. I do not mix my rifle cases for 308win. and 243win and 30-06. I shoot the rifles cases in boxes of 20. same brand. When that batch starts of go, cracked necks, ect. Then I throw the whole batch away and start a new batch of 20. Gus.

greystone

It really depends. The higher priced brass will probably be more uniform all around and that will effect accuracy. But if you buy the cheaper brass and spend some time working with it you can improve its quality considerably. Uniforming the primer pockets and deburring the flash holes will will do a lot

nononsense

joshmb1982,

"does brass matter?"

Of course it does. That is unless of course you're only interested in making noise and holes in paper.

How can you determine the level of accuracy of any firearm if you can't demonstrate consistency?

One good group doesn't mean that a firearm is accurate. Consistent group size indicates the level of accuracy. Most folks just assume that lower levels of accuracy are related to the firearm or shooter only. In reality, the quality of the cartridge case not only affects the absolute accuracy of individual groups but also the overall consistency for the life of the firearm. Then you have to include your handling and reloading of the brass cases. Besides all of the common factors that need to be attended to, the quality of the brass will have an effect on neck tension and the bullet release from the neck or the case mouth.

Most of the time, cost is the factor that we use to determine the quality of the cartridge cases. This is fine for most brands but there are exceptions. Hornady brass is the first one that comes to mind. While it is near the top of cost, it's not near the top of quality. Nosler is in that same position; quality doesn't equal cost. Sure, it's good brass but not as good as what the price leads you to believe.

The best and most consistent cartridge cases are from RWS, Lapua and Horneber. Norma falls below these. The next level down can include just about any of the others on any given day because of the lack of consistency. The only Hornady cases that I use are for the .375 Ruger and the .300 RCM because I can't make them from any other cases or I would. I don't bother with Nosler at all. Federal cases are soft. If I use Remington and Winchester, I buy larger lots (1,000 or more) and sort by weight and then go through the accuracy steps I deem necessary and then sort again. If the neck wall thicknesses are off I dump the whole lot. In some instances, I would have been better off buying the more expensive Lapua cases. In others, fireforming usually brings the cases very close together and satisfactory for consistency.

Like I wrote above, if your interest is in making noise and holes in paper, use what's cheap. If you become concerned for accuracy and consistency, your cost and work levels rise accordingly.

Best.

jonk

It also depends on your needs and definition of accuracy.

For instance I shoot a lot of 8mm Mauser. Both surplus and handloads. Now some of the surplus is pretty miserable, some is excellant. My handloads though are VG for my needs.

What are my needs or demands? Well I'm happy if the gun will shoot between 1 and 2 MOA reliably.

To achieve this, with the load worked out otherwise, sorting brass isn't absolutely necessary. Yes, when I shoot a match, I sort brass and if I have enough to bother, will weigh it.

Now on the other hand I've been considering getting a Savage 12 BVSS or LRPV. These guns aren't quite benchrest guns but certainly are of high enough quality that they are capable of sub MOA or even 1/2 MOA groups.

You better believe that if I'm shooting down a gun that cost nearly $1000 I'm going to make every shot count, and will use sorted, weighed brass.

So it's all in what you need. Yes it matters and yes it adds a little accuracy, but it is all in what is acceptable to you.