Weiging cases

[srhaggerty]

What are your tolerances for weighing cases?

[boomtube]

Mine varies by cartridge.

.222 = .2 gr.
.22-250 = .3 gr.
.243 = .4 gr.
.30-06, 7 mm mag = .5 gr.

etc. But, it's all arbitrary and I'm comfortable with that variation. I don't really know how much variation it would take to affect accuracy, never tried to find out.

[nheninge]

I find a lot of brass I like and cull the top and bottom 5-10% or so. I don't put a whole lot of stock in case weights, but I do take the time to turn necks so the case necks are all the same thickness. If you don't neck turn or do a lot of brass prep, then you may want way tighter tolerances. Some of the win brass I have used has had as much as a 10 grain spread, but first I sort by neck variance (much more important IMHO), and then turned all necks to exactly the same thickness.

I am not trying to stuff 68 grains in a 65 grain case either though! I feel that what you DO with the brass is much more important than the weight.

[Michael Eichele]

From a benchrest standard the tolerences should be tight and worth sweating over. Then again, a competition may be won by .0001"

From a long range hunter's stand point it isnt nearly as critical. Most LR shooters are happy with .4 to .5 MOA. This is acceptable accracy for hunting even at long range.

As long as brass is from the same lot OR the case volume is the same or very close to it, it isnt worth worring about IMHO. I have spent more time than I care in the past weighing cases and filling them with water etc.....and you know what? None of it made me shoot any tighter or better.

The things that did were using cases of the same lot AND preping them properly. Concistent neck tension is critical as well as straight necks, uniform pockets and no burrs in the flash hole. Take care of those things and you will get the desired results.

[Moman]

I'll second what Michael said. I did buy a case neck sorting tool from Sinclair last year and I think that it is making a difference. I have been keeping all of the .001 brass in a group and the .002 brass in another group.