Weighing new brass

I purchased 4 boxes of new 28 Nosler brass today (Nosler brass). Began sorting them by weight and all of a sudden started getting several way off - checked and sure enough it was two different batches of brass.

So I separated and the one batch was had 41 all the same weight and 9 that were all within.03 grain (lighter).

I kept rechecking within my "matched" brass as a check weight to make sure my scale (RCBS Chargemaster) returned to zero and it was every time.

I then went to the next batch and it was on average 1.5gr heavier- but within the batch only 15 matched - the rest were +/- 1.25 grains.

Is this acceptable? I appreciate the feed back.

I also neck checked run out on a Sinclair concentricty gauge and all were within .0001".

Thanks!

For me, that would be acceptable, but most of my shooting/hunting is within 400 yards.

Reloading can become frustrating in that it can be difficult to control all the variables. Do you weigh to the tenth of an ounce of powder, a hundredth? Do you weigh every single case? If so, how much variation do you allow? Do you weigh each bullet?

For me, reloading is fun and keeps the cost per shot lower than buying factory ammo. Those that shoot competitively will probably find my approach unacceptable. If I had access to longer shots on game or I was trying to punch holes in targets at 1,000 yards, I'd be more refined in my approach.

I'd say think about what you are going for and then determine the appropriate level of refinement your loads need to complete the task.

In my personal experiance. Weighing brass has been an excersize in stupididty for the most part.

paying strict attention to Neck tension, precise powder weighing and seating depth have been the most practical use of time.

Dont spend time weigjing cases. The internal volume after fireforning is what would matter. Primer pocket plugs, alcohol, and a precision scale would be needed to detwrmine internal volume. I would use that brass as is.

I weighed all my brass when new into 1 grain groups 237-238g, 238-239g etc. Currently I just finished up shooting the first group and am now on the 238-239g group.
I can find absolutely no difference out to 600 yards so far. I have culled out the heaviest and lightest brass and I'm going to load a few of them to see how they shoot.
I have a feeling they will shoot just fine.

I know competitive bench rest shooters strive for every advantage they can get but out to 600 yards I see no difference in +/- 2 grains of brass weight.

Maybe 1000 yards or longer is a different story?

Waste of time ! Too many other factors than can influence group size...unless your in bench rest competition with a PPCyour wasting your time...

Frank in the Laurels said:

Waste of time ! Too many other factors than can influence group size...unless your in bench rest competition with a PPCyour wasting your time...

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I've got to agree, I drove myself nuts weighing brass and could not really find it making enough difference to show up even at extended ranges.
Trimming to consistent lengths and being as precise as possible with my charge weights along with ensuring my bullets were all plus or minus .01% in weight made all the difference I could measure with any consistency.

I have found bullets from several different manufacturers often having unacceptably large variances in weight both over and under their labeled weights.

WildRose said:

I've got to agree, I drove myself nuts weighing brass and could not really find it making enough difference to show up even at extended ranges.
Trimming to consistent lengths and being as precise as possible with my charge weights along with ensuring my bullets were all plus or minus .01% in weight made all the difference I could measure with any consistency.

I have found bullets from several different manufacturers often having unacceptably large variances in weight both over and under their labeled weights.

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Well lets think about this for a moment. Why on earth would you want to weigh brass? Now checking volume is a completely different issue and it does make a difference. But to measure it accurately is the challenge. I am working on a method but do not want to say until i get confirmation back from CCI that this will not damage a primer.
Measuring volume and sorting brass makes perfect sense and will affect the accuracy in the vertical direction. Anything in horizontal excluding outside forces like wind and jerking the trigger are the shooters fault anyway. It does make a huge difference at long distances when a minute of angle goes from 1.047 inches to over 11. Just my humble opinion and a lot of hours trying to develop an accurate repeatable very low standard DivP.

I sort by weight. I can't say that it makes a difference in terms of accuracy, but it does make me feel better with respect to consistency and case failure.

I use the outliers for fouling rounds or dummies.

With premium brass The numbers run pretty tight, but with lower grade stuff I can't see any harm in culling cases that weigh several grains +/- the average.

WildRose said:

...ensuring my bullets were all plus or minus .01% in weight made all the difference I could measure with any consistency.

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.01%? ****, I need a better scale!

One time... I had 50 once fired pieces of Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor cases from the same lot. Hornady brass can have a pretty big weight swing.
Numbered the cases and sorted then by weight with fired primer in. Recorded in a spreadsheet. The sorted by volume with a mixture of water/alcohol. Did the volume sorting twice for verification. All recorded in the spreadsheet.
Found that 9 outta 10 cases sorted the same by weight as they did by volume and the ones that sorted differently by volume wasn't a by much.
I concluded that sorting by weight does have a direct correlation to the volume of the cases. It is not a 100 percent correlation but it is very close. So now, I just sort new brass by weight and use the outliers for foulers and plinking rounds.

Not a waste of time if you have more than 3-4gr of brass content difference. I see a difference in velocity between brass that has 5-10gr difference. Within 3 grains, you won't notice a difference out to 1000+.

Barrelnut said:

One time... I had 50 once fired pieces of Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor cases from the same lot. Hornady brass can have a pretty big weight swing
Numbered the cases and sorted then by weight with fired primer in. Recorded in a spreadsheet. The sorted by volume with a mixture of water/alcohol. Did the volume sorting twice for verification. All recorded in the spreadsheet.
Found that 9 outta 10 cases sorted the same by weight as they did by volume and the ones that sorted differently by volume wasn't a by much.
I concluded that sorting by weight does have a direct correlation to the volume of the cases. It is not a 100 percent correlation but it is very close. So now, I just sort new brass by weight and use the outliers for foulers and plinking rounds.

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I did it in reverse. I had 113.8 grains of material in two identical Hornady cases. One weighed 4.5 grains lighter than the other. Check out some You tubes on how cases are made. If you extrude a material several times the wall thickness will have different thicknesses. Different thickness or caliper (not caliber) will absolutely result in a case with consistent weights and different volumes. Weight is not volume unless you are weighting the material to reference the volume. this can be in grains or engineering units. i does not matter the units.
Now if the brass cases were spun cast in a vacuum furnace from a tooled die we would not be having this conversation. I have worked in several foundries and extrusion plants and know extrusions are not perfect by a long shot.

Steve Sheasly said:

Well lets think about this for a moment. Why on earth would you want to weigh brass? Now checking volume is a completely different issue and it does make a difference. But to measure it accurately is the challenge. I am working on a method but do not want to say until i get confirmation back from CCI that this will not damage a primer.
Measuring volume and sorting brass makes perfect sense and will affect the accuracy in the vertical direction. Anything in horizontal excluding outside forces like wind and jerking the trigger are the shooters fault anyway. It does make a huge difference at long distances when a minute of angle goes from 1.047 inches to over 11. Just my humble opinion and a lot of hours trying to develop an accurate repeatable very low standard DivP.

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Variations in brass weight will coincide with differences in volume. More brass, less volume, less brass more volume.

really? So If I take a steel cylinder and weld weight on to the outside of it the volume changes -- as an example.