Mixed brass accuracy??

Originally Posted By: Mtns2hunt...It makes me shutter to think of someone picking up range brass. Many times this stuff has been fired several times and been exposed to the elements. An accident waiting to happen...

Agree 200 %
 
All of my big game rifles are set up for long range ( only if needed ) so all of my brass is the same lot and separated in 1 grain increments. I buy the best brass I can and they are usually very good as far as weight.

My 223 brass is LC and is separated by year of manufacture only. This rifle is for coyotes only and the slight difference in weight is not noticeable in performance. Chrono numbers are excellent. I have never weighed them so I don't know for sure the weight difference if much.

All of my prairie dog / rock chuck rifles have the brass sorted by weight depending on quality of brass. Most are Lapua or Norma and those are fine but I still shoot some WW and those need to be weight separated to get good ES's for good down range performance.

My 17 Fireball brass was purchased in a 500 count lot. To get good consistent velocity these have to be weight separated. The smaller the case the more consistent the weight has to be to get good consistent velocities. If your just plinking then ES of 60 fps is not a big deal. And you can always blame your miss on the high ES's.
 
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I keep my brass annealed and trimmed to length but never have and don't plan on weight sorting. I don't usually mix head stamps but sometimes one slips past me. For the person that is an avid hunter, I think this is good enough although if weight sorting brass is your thing, then by all means do it. May as well sort bullets and primers to but its not for me. I'll never tell you its a waste of time because to many do it but I never felt the need for what I do.
 
I have found that a 1/2" gun ( 100 yards ) with non weighed brass performs more like a 3/4" - 1" gun at longer ranges due to the POI change due to velocity variations. In most hunting scenarios under 500 yards not a big deal and may not be worth it to most.

One thing to keep in mind is after you sort brass by weight you then have to keep each group separate for the life of the brass and this can be a hassle if you have brass that has a wide range of weight. My 22-250 WW brass has 5 weight groups and they have to be stored, cleaned, sized and loaded in their different groups. Once this lot is done it will be Lapua only where none of this will be necessary.
 
So how many reloads can one expect from a bolt action 3006 using charges at or near the starting data and FL sizing ? I always keep my brass seperated, but just load hunting loads with 150 gr bullets. Its all Rem. Win. Fed. brass.
 
Masshunter,
It all depends on how far back you set the shoulder of the case when sizing. Once you fire form your brass to that chamber, the lees you want to size it below that chamber’s dimensions. I had a sporterized 1903 ‘06 with a typical generous military chamber that would create case head separations after about 3 Reloadings. The gunsmith said the gun was within accepted specs (chamber was .004” oversize) but to back my sizing die off just enough to size the cases for easy chambering and no more. That stopped the head separations but I had to designate that size die and specific brass (military) to that rifle because the brass would no longer chamber in my pump ‘06. I got a small base size die for that one. I do not know how many more loadings I get out of the minimally sized brass but substantially more. I’m sure some benchrest shooters get quite a few loads out of each brass with their tight chambers and minimal sizing.
 
Thanks Hellgate, I should only necksize as I only have the Howa 06. Most of my brass is 25 to 35 years old and has only been loaded 2 or 3 times.
 
Neck size until the ammo gets a little harder to chamber then just barely F L size. Also keep an eye on the case length. The case could elongate and then the mouth of the cartridge could bite into the bullet or partially jam it in the throat causing higher pressures or difficult chambering. i.e. trim the case mouths when needed.
 
I always stick with the same case heads. That to me is reloading 101 but those cases might vary quite a bit by weight. I've tried shooting groups after weight sorting brass fighting shots that open .5" group to 1" groups but I find when you find a solid load it makes little difference. With that said I'm talking AR's shooting consistent sub 1" groups at 100 yards. Seems my AR's can be .5" one day and .9 the next. If I start shooting bolt guns more I probably will go into a bit more detail with my brass but all my AR's shoot under 1" center to center and I've come to the conclusion getting beyond that in such a platform will drive you nuts for no reason. I think sub moa is easily attainable with basic reloading but chasing .5" opens the door to myriad of variables that take it from hobby to work. On top of that who knows when you get a bullet that isn't perfectly balanced or their is a slight bit of parallax issue with vx1 level scopes.
 
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