Survey: Who sorts their brass by brand prior to reloading?

[jcwit]

For rifle match ammo I used to, I'm now at the point where I reload the same 5 cases over and over, now at 80 plus reloads.

Shooting lead bullets for plinking in my 30 cal. carbine and my 30/30, nope.

For any of my handgun calibers, nope. Load em, shoot em.

 

[billybob44]

Same here..

I sort. Then if I feel something different when priming or sizing I know something is up.

^^^+1, along with the bell, seat,+crimp feel...Bill.

 

[bgcatty]

I sort everything and keep them in 50 rd groups. My shooting buddies all believe we reloaders are OCD to the 9th degree, but is is fun!

 

[exbrit]

Yes I sort

AS a long time re-loader I see quite a lot of differences in the various manufacturers brass. PMC, S&B for example use a heavier brass and consequently they will take more pressure to size, and will usually be a tighter fit as the bullet is seated. You can really feel the difference on a single stage press. In fact if I don't sort a load of range pick up, I can tell you when I hit one of their cases or several other oddball manufacturers All the brass is within SAAMI spec but that leaves some tolerance to play with..
For Plinking it doesn't make a lot of difference but for target work I want all parameters to be identical, hence I sort for sure.

 

[yournamehere]

It depends on the cartridge. You will never see any difference in a handgun caliber. simply load and go. In a precision rifle case sorting will make a TINY difference. But you cannot stop at "brands". You will need to fully prep brand new brass. (size, trim, uniform primer pockets and flash holes) Check them each for concentricity, pitch the crooked ones. Then weigh (or CC ) each one and put them together in lots separated according to interior volume.

In a box of 500 new pieces of quality brass, you will find about as much difference as you will find between brands.

If you are not looking to ring a tenth of an inch out of a 100 yard bench rest target, or a 1/2 inch out of a 500 yard target, that is a lot of work that most people will never see on a target.

I do tend to keep my rifle batches together simply to keep count of how ever many times they have been reloaded, even if they are mixed brands or years.

This. But most newbs or low volume guys will never get it. For people who mentally masturbate over cases like some do you can cook their noodle by also injecting how much does the ambient temp affect your powder?
The part about Leo's post on pistol brass is so true it should be a law. If the case isnt split and the primer pocket holds a primer there is no diff.
For rifle a consistant powder charge and consistant seating depth is the big thing.
I have to say that 99% of us will not be able to see a difference in a case in our targets. Its more about how well you shoot and your barrel.
BUT to each his own. I have seen guys who spend more time circle jerking over this and cant shoot for **** and if they spent more time at the range with a good solid reliable load and rifle they would improve more.

 

[Broom_jm]

Hmm, interesting thoughts, broad statements and some sort of phallic obsession?

Brass preparation absolutely makes a difference, when you start talking about truly accurate handloads. This is much more of a factor with bottle-necked rifle ammunition than it is pistol ammo, but even that can be improved upon. Whether it is your shooting form or the way you load your ammo, it's all about consistency. When you are selective about which brass you choose to load, and meticulous in how it is prepared, you can shave far more than one tenth of an inch off of a 100 yard group, especially as compared to factory ammo or indiscriminate reloads.

Most of the guys I've heard from who think going the extra mile in selecting and preparing brass for reloading doesn't make a difference, are those who are more interested in pulling the trigger on their guns a whole buncha times before the day is over. The bottom line is that serious hunters, in addition to benchrest shooters, put quite a bit of time and effort into the brass they load.

As always, success is in the details.

 

[tenring]

Oh Yeah!

 

[IndyND]

Thank you all for contributing and keeping this thread alive. Interesting group of opinions. I was a bit surprised that several people don't believe in sorting handgun brass at all. Sounds like there is plenty of experience to support focusing on efficiency and not obsessing about handgun brass for practice and plinking ammo. I think I will keep a separate stash of sorted handgun ammo for developing and shooting precision. I think its safe to summarize that most here do believe in fairly meticulous sorting of rifle ammo. Could it be that long gun shooters are often lower volume guys with more emphasis on extreme accuracy?

If anyone wants a more formal tallying of results I could do that, if so is there a way to put results at the top of a thread?

 

[yournamehere]

Hmm, interesting thoughts, broad statements and some sort of phallic obsession?

Brass preparation absolutely makes a difference, when you start talking about truly accurate handloads. This is much more of a factor with bottle-necked rifle ammunition than it is pistol ammo, but even that can be improved upon. Whether it is your shooting form or the way you load your ammo, it's all about consistency. When you are selective about which brass you choose to load, and meticulous in how it is prepared, you can shave far more than one tenth of an inch off of a 100 yard group, especially as compared to factory ammo or indiscriminate reloads.

Most of the guys I've heard from who think going the extra mile in selecting and preparing brass for reloading doesn't make a difference, are those who are more interested in pulling the trigger on their guns a whole buncha times before the day is over. The bottom line is that serious hunters, in addition to benchrest shooters, put quite a bit of time and effort into the brass they load.

As always, success is in the details.

Question. When you go to the range how many rounds on average do you go thru?

 

[rvb]

I was a bit surprised that several people don't believe in sorting handgun brass at all. ... I think I will keep a separate stash of sorted handgun ammo for developing and shooting precision. I think its safe to summarize that most here do believe in fairly meticulous sorting of rifle ammo. Could it be that long gun shooters are often lower volume guys with more emphasis on extreme accuracy?

If you are shooting your HG ammo out of a custom built bullseye gun, sorting brass might make a difference. Mixed brass, I still get phenominal groups out of stock guns (eg can keep them on a 7/8" paster at 10 yds, or 2.5"-3" at 25 yds from a stock glock, standing/unsupported).

For rifle, as I said before, it depends on your application. And you are allowed to load different batches differently, too; you don't have to load every round the same. If you are doing 3-gun or practicing 1-5 drills with your AR, sorting is a rediculous waste of time. If you are shooting 1k yds or shooting benchrest matches or only care about group size, then sorting is absolutely necessary. YOU have to figure out YOUR goals and what effort you want to put into YOUR ammo. The only other reason to sort is if you are pushing max loads, then case volume differences can become a safety issue.



-rvb

 

[shibumiseeker]

Thank you all for contributing and keeping this thread alive. Interesting group of opinions. I was a bit surprised that several people don't believe in sorting handgun brass at all. Sounds like there is plenty of experience to support focusing on efficiency and not obsessing about handgun brass for practice and plinking ammo. I think I will keep a separate stash of sorted handgun ammo for developing and shooting precision. I think its safe to summarize that most here do believe in fairly meticulous sorting of rifle ammo. Could it be that long gun shooters are often lower volume guys with more emphasis on extreme accuracy?

If anyone wants a more formal tallying of results I could do that, if so is there a way to put results at the top of a thread?

Sorting handgun brass makes no measurable difference.

Sorting rifle brass can make a measurable difference but only to the types of rifle shooters who are striving for accuracy that is well beyond the average rifle shooter. If you can appreciate the difference between .5moa loads and .4moa loads and YOU are a good enough shooter to wring that difference, then sorting brass is worth the effort. MOST shooters are not that good.

On the flip side, doing things like that, cleaning guns that don't need it, etc, are all ways people have of playing with their toys to extend the pleasure. If that's what floats their boat then more power to them, but I live for the numbers and measurable differences, else I'm too lazy to bother, which is why I don't sort handgun brass except for my nuclear-well-past-safe loads and that is a safety margin thing, not an accuracy thing.

 

[clelaj]

Reloading for revolver and do sort by case length in groups of 0.010 inch to keep belling and crimping a little more consistant. Also a chance to look over the cases for splits or other defects.

 

[yournamehere]

Sorting handgun brass makes no measurable difference.

Sorting rifle brass can make a measurable difference but only to the types of rifle shooters who are striving for accuracy that is well beyond the average rifle shooter. If you can appreciate the difference between .5moa loads and .4moa loads and YOU are a good enough shooter to wring that difference, then sorting brass is worth the effort. MOST shooters are not that good.

On the flip side, doing things like that, cleaning guns that don't need it, etc, are all ways people have of playing with their toys to extend the pleasure. If that's what floats their boat then more power to them, but I live for the numbers and measurable differences, else I'm too lazy to bother, which is why I don't sort handgun brass except for my nuclear-well-past-safe loads and that is a safety margin thing, not an accuracy thing.

You put it in a better format than I did. I hope I didnt step on any toes with my first response. We all pursue the shooting sports in the way we each like best.
For what I do I am happy to get what most would consider match grade ammo by reloading but less than half MOA rifle rounds serve no purpose for me at this point. It would be great but not worth the extra hours at the bench. But then again I do appreciate the dedication of those who seek it.
For me 1-2 MOA is within what I need for practice and 3 gun. Thats why so many used to use Scharch brass but its unobtainium now.
IF I can get Black Hills type groups or better Im good to go.

It seems most agree that for straight wall pistol stuff brass prep is mostly, clean, check for splits, and load it.

Reloading for the sub MOA crowd is almost a joined at the hip hobby with the bench rest type shooting.

 

[2in1evtime]

I keep my rifle brass sorted by rifle it was shot in myself, as to pistol i sort by brand as it get full length sized everytime anyways. as to round count, use it till you cant anymore

 

[LarryC]

Sorting handgun brass makes no measurable difference.

Sorting rifle brass can make a measurable difference but only to the types of rifle shooters who are striving for accuracy that is well beyond the average rifle shooter. If you can appreciate the difference between .5moa loads and .4moa loads and YOU are a good enough shooter to wring that difference, then sorting brass is worth the effort. MOST shooters are not that good.

On the flip side, doing things like that, cleaning guns that don't need it, etc, are all ways people have of playing with their toys to extend the pleasure. If that's what floats their boat then more power to them, but I live for the numbers and measurable differences, else I'm too lazy to bother, which is why I don't sort handgun brass except for my nuclear-well-past-safe loads and that is a safety margin thing, not an accuracy thing.

I agree with the above. My son & I have reloaded for well over 20 years, was OCD about it in the beginning, but did not see any reason to segregate any Handgun loads by headstamp after a few years experience. For rifle loads - occasionally for working up target loads we do sort. About the only real difference we have seen is if we are working up a fairly hot load in military rounds like 30-06 or .308 - There is quite a difference in the powder capacity of the thicker brass used in some of the Military headstamps vs commercial brass. Sometimes compressed loads won't even fit in the Mil brass. When loading this type load we do sort the brass.

 

[nothing4u]

For rifle its seperated by head stamps and how many reloads. I do not sort head stamp for non max loads for pistol, but it is sorted by how many time it's been reloaded.

 

[davedolli]

It depends. For plinking loads, no. For high accuracy loads like for my rifles or hunting loads, yes.

Ditto




Dave

 

[bluewraith]

Closest I get to sorting my brass is picking the nickle cases out from the brass cases.

That, and LPP/SPP in .45acp, of course.

 

[red_zr24x4]

The only sorting I've ever done is to pick the different calibers out and put them in their own pile.

 

[Dirtdart504]

Rifle, yes. Pistol, no.