Mixed headstamp accuracy/consistency

[Stanm70]

I just bought a nice .223ai from a dude on the hide. I also have an enormous amount of once fired brass. I was wondering if it was necessary I sorted? or if mixed will deliver fine accuracy. And if I have to sort will it varry greatly from batch to batch?

 

[lloydsmale]

i found through the years that the bigger the case the less it matters. Something like a 300 mag will usually shoot fine with mixed brass. It may shoot say a couple tenths of an inch worse but not enough to make a major differnce if your shooting game with the load not competeing in a target competition. But in small cases like the 223 it can make a big differnce and in the case of 223s it especially matters because of the wide veriety of cases. Commercial cases vary in capasity and they you have to throw in military brass which is all over the place in capasity, case weight and bullet tension. If im shooting it in an ar i dont worry about it but when loading for my varmit rig i keep specific lots of brass just for it.

 

[azsugarbear]

+1 on what lloydsmale said. With 223, mixed headstamp is OK for plinking but will give you fits if you want accuracy.

 

[Stanm70]

The brass is mixed federal brass. Its all federal just different headstamp markings. Is this still a big deal?

 

[azsugarbear]

For best accuracy, brass from the same lot is most desirable. However, since we are hunters and not bench rest shooters, you will probably find your accuracy with them to be quite good. As a precaution, I would resize them all, trim them and then weight-sort them just in case there are any that are way out of spec.

 

[boomtube]

"I was wondering if it was necessary I sorted? or if mixed will deliver fine accuracy. And if I have to sort will it varry greatly from batch to batch?"

"Neccessary"? Tell you the truth, it ain't all that well calibrated but I doubt you'll kill youself... nor shoot many one hole groups, but reloading/shooting noobs don't do that anyway. Maybe you'll test it and tell us?