My first comment is ,Nothing is a wast of time if it
makes you feel better about what you are doing.
The next thing is using any medium to check volume
except maybe water.
The reason I question this is because I have wildcated
several cartriges and in my quest to find the case volume
to start the loading process this is what I found.
Powder of any type was very inconsistant because it can
be compressed or vibrated to change its volume.
Filling a new case that had been sized,trimmed, debured
and a spent primer placed in backwards with water was
the most accurate.
By prepping the case as described and placing it on the scale
and adding water with an eye dropper until it reaches the
top of the case (flush ,no dome) you will have weight in grains
and not have to convert from CC,s like when you use a Burrette
to measure volume in CC,s.
"Saami measures all cases in grains of water volume"
My problem with doing all of my cases this way is time,so
I do one and then weigh it this gives me a base line to work
off of.
The only time it is nessary to know what the actual volume of
a case is when you wildcat a round and there is no loading
data for it you have to try and find a case of similar capacity
and bore diameter to have a safe starting point for reloading
or you just want to know how much you increased the volume
by changing the dimensions of the parent case.
When weight sorting all you are interested in is consistency
between each case so that standard deviation can be improved.
Just my 2 cents worth
J E CUSTOM