brass: how much does it impact accuracy?

[Dr. Vette]

One more question, I have never used brand new brass...always spent brass I got for free from our range. I have read you should fire form your new brass which means shooting all new brass. That seems awfully expensive and a waste. Is there anything you can do during the fire forming process that will at least benefit working up your load or does first firing need to be done with lower charges...etc.

Lapua does make 30-06 brass. Now THAT I would - and did - buy. I found some on sale earlier this year and can't wait to load it up. One more project on my "to do" list...

Here you go:
30-06 Springfield Unprimed Rifle Brass 100 Count by LAPUA AMMUNITION & COMPONENTS

I just load it and shoot it, sort of like shooting factory ammo. You may change the load a tiny bit once they are formed, but you can still use them for development purposes.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Lapua does make 30-06 brass. Now THAT I would - and did - buy. I found some on sale earlier this year and can't wait to load it up. One more project on my "to do" list...

Here you go:
30-06 Springfield Unprimed Rifle Brass 100 Count by LAPUA AMMUNITION & COMPONENTS

I just load it and shoot it, sort of like shooting factory ammo. You may change the load a tiny bit once they are formed, but you can still use them for development purposes.

thanks! Hmm not sure if I need 100 pieces though. This is my only 3006 and it is strictly for hunting and never for shooting target. The MOST use it will see, as long as the scope holds zero, is the initial load work up then each year 2-3 shots to verify zero and group size has not changed and then 2-3 shots during the season. We only get 1-2 rifle tags, so I am saying 2-3 just incase I miss or need a second shot. That means at most I will be using 6 bullets a year and that is if I do NOT take out any of my other hunting rifles so I was only thinking I would need 50 bullets which should last me a pretty dang long time. It doesn't appear they sell them in batches of 50 though so what do you think of hornady brass? Again this is not a competition gun, it will strictly be used on whitetail deer out to a MAX of 500 yards (at least for the foreseeable future).

 

[Dr. Vette]

thanks! Hmm not sure if I need 100 pieces though. This is my only 3006 and it is strictly for hunting and never for shooting target. The MOST use it will see, as long as the scope holds zero, is the initial load work up then each year 2-3 shots to verify zero and group size has not changed and then 2-3 shots during the season. We only get 1-2 rifle tags, so I am saying 2-3 just incase I miss or need a second shot. That means at most I will be using 6 bullets a year and that is if I do NOT take out any of my other hunting rifles so I was only thinking I would need 50 bullets which should last me a pretty dang long time. It doesn't appear they sell them in batches of 50 though so what do you think of hornady brass? Again this is not a competition gun, it will strictly be used on whitetail deer out to a MAX of 500 yards (at least for the foreseeable future).

With 100 you'd have a lifetime supply.
Otherwise buy 100 and sell 50 of them. You will find a buyer easily.

 

[Dave York]

I do know that changing brass can impact accuracy but I wanted to hear if anyone has had to do this and what they have noted for accuracy change. The reason I ask is I have a couple loads worked up for rifles using factory remington brass that I got at the range. I am having a hard time finding remington brass and I am thinking about going to another brand. For a 500 yard rifle how critical is this? Will I need to work up a whole new load or will I mostly see maybe a change of say .3moa...I read an article once which had a guy using several types of brass but everything else was same such as powder primerd and seating depths and although accuracy did change it was not much...from worst being .7moa and best being .3 MOA. Yes I understand that is significant to some but for a 500 yard rifle I'd think that would be ok as long as my rifles were still below 1 MOA. Thoughts?

I have used most brands of brass but that said I have a 5 shot group here in 308 using RP brass which measured .312" which is not too shabby.
Now I also use Lapua brass most of the time as it's quality and uniformity is hard to beat, but it's not cheap, the Lapua brass with same loads has shot so close to being the same, it is the same, it seems to matter when using the same brass, do not mix different brands in the same load batches.
FYI that 308 load was with 44g AR2206H powder, Fed 210 primers, and Nosler Custom Comp 155g HPBT pills, not bad at .312" (5 shot group).
Winchester brass measures up fine but is probably the softer in most pistol calibers, a simple check is to drop each brand from the same height onto a hard surface and listen to the differences which shows the higher density of the brass among the different brands some will sound like they are aluminium and others sound like good brass.

 

[MNbogboy]

One more question, I have never used brand new brass...always spent brass I got for free from our range. I have read you should fire form your new brass which means shooting all new brass. That seems awfully expensive and a waste. Is there anything you can do during the fire forming process that will at least benefit working up your load or does first firing need to be done with lower charges...etc.

To achieve the most out of any brass it is often said that 2 to 3 firings to fully stabilize it for the rifles chamber. This would also apply to "range" brass. Brass flows in the web area during initial firings. This is evident if you uniform primer pockets, they need additional cleanup for those first 2-3 firings. The web area gradually "work hardens" and pocket depth stabilizes.
I have recently found that annealing every firing has its benefits also including maintaining bump settings & seating repeatability.
After the 2-3 initial firings final volume & weight sorting can result in very consistent brass. This of coarse after all uniforming (pockets & flash hole), annealing, sizing & trimming.
After all prep there may be a few fliers within the fully worked up load. May be attributed to many things but internal differences within brass of equal weight and volume may affect ignition & combustion.....i call this shoot sorting...usually I mark (number) all brass in a lot with an electric etcher. Easy to keep track when recording during load development.
Agreeing with others brass brand, prep, sorting, maintenance & care is one of the most important components of handloading.
My .02,
Randy

 

[Mram10us]

Brass makes a big difference. Here is an example of the same primer/load/bullet but win vs fed brass. 300 yards. Day 1 of trying out a base load for a 7-300wm I built.