Do you sort your brass?
- Thread starter Granite28
- Start date
The only brass i don't sort is certain batches of 9mm/45 acp range pickups. They are odd makes left over from sorting out the brass am familiar with/larger quantities. So yes, they may be considered partially sorted, and saved for situations where i can not be sure of retrieving my brass.
Welcome to the forum
Welcome to the forum
The benefits with handgun ammo is small, but with most rifle brass the difference can be huge. The external dimensions are very close to the same regardless, but the internal volume can vary quite a bit depending on the manufacturer due to the thickness of the brass used
Cases with smaller volume will produce greater pressure and velocity with the same powder charges. This means varying muzzle velocity with mixed brass, and less accuracy In some cases when working near max loads a load in one brand of brass may be just fine, but the same powder charge in another brand may be over pressure
I'll use 308 as an example. In my experience the difference between Remington, Winchester and Hornady is small enough to be safe. But you'll get smaller group sizes if all the brass is the same. I'll still keep the same powder charges with those 3 brands of brass, but develop loads in batches where all the brass is the same. I may load 150 gr hunting bullets in Remington brass, 150 gr target loads in Winchester and 165 gr loads in Hornady etc..
But when using Federal or military surplus brass I develop completely different loads. As a rule I use a little less powder to achieve the same speeds with those brands of brass. It is enough difference that the same powder charges I use with Remington brass could be over pressure in Federal or milsurp brass.
Average Joe
New member
No, not worth the effort, I just pick out the crap casings, like S&B, Herters, Maxxtech, CBC, and Xtreme ST. ( Xtreme ST are brass coated steel ) and toss them. They have tight primer pockets.
scatterbrain
New member
If it dosen't matter, it ain't worth the trouble to seperate the brass. If it does matter, then it makes all the difference in the world for consistant velocity and smaller groups. I break each headstamp down into 1 grain groups, and then when I am really interested, I break it down to 1/2 grain groups. Each step makes a difference, depends on what matters to you.
Yes I sort by Headstamp. I load on pistol rounds on a Progressive press and I depend a great deal on consistent feel to determine if something isn't right. An extra tight resize or an easy resize, easy or hard primer seat, all makes me stop to investigate why.
Then there is all the oddball brass that comes along and I load most of that when I know I'm going to be shooting somewhere that I know I am not going to be able to recover my brass
Sorting by headstamp only serves me as a means of consistency in feel of the press.
Then there is all the oddball brass that comes along and I load most of that when I know I'm going to be shooting somewhere that I know I am not going to be able to recover my brass
Sorting by headstamp only serves me as a means of consistency in feel of the press.
Geezerbiker
New member
I sort brass because I'm picky and who knows, it might make a difference. 
I make some AR .223 loads with PMC cases that I won't go looking for if the AR tosses them out of sight. So when I'm out of them, I'll have to figure out a brass catcher...
Tony
I make some AR .223 loads with PMC cases that I won't go looking for if the AR tosses them out of sight. So when I'm out of them, I'll have to figure out a brass catcher...
Tony
I do not sort handgun brass by headstamp, except when working up a new load to minimize variables. But most of my handgun shooting is at reactive targets and not for ultimate precision.
Rifle brass I do sort by headstamp except for plinking loads for which I use oddball mix of headstamp. For working up loads I use all LC brass and then for target loads it is either LC or all one commercial headstamp depending on the cartridge. Rifle cases can vary noticeably. If I was doing precision rifle or match shooting then of course there would be even more care taken to ensure minimal variance such as sorting by grain weight and number of firings.
Rifle brass I do sort by headstamp except for plinking loads for which I use oddball mix of headstamp. For working up loads I use all LC brass and then for target loads it is either LC or all one commercial headstamp depending on the cartridge. Rifle cases can vary noticeably. If I was doing precision rifle or match shooting then of course there would be even more care taken to ensure minimal variance such as sorting by grain weight and number of firings.
Marco Califo
New member
Pistol versus Rifle = No versus Yes
I sort my handgun brass by cartridge: 9mm, 40S&W, 45 ACP. For low-mid range practice and qualification loads any differences in those cases isn't going to make much or any difference. I do toss SPP 45, Blazer, Aquila, and steel.
Rifle is an entirely different animal. Particularly with 7.62 / 308 there is a LOT of variation between different head stamps. I do not think a good "any-brass" load exists for this chambering. Mixed brass is not homogenous and cannot be made homogenous. Different headstamps need to be sorted and separated such that all LC 18 are kept together. For example I have some desert pickup LC 5.56 and certain years 07 to 09. I can now identify every one of those cases and retire them. By the same token, my pull-down 7.62 LC 18, I know are unfired, are all identifiable.
You will want to keep track of what lots you possess, where you got them, and what you have done to them. I happen to do this by memory, and do remember those details. I started a spreadsheet once, but didn't feel I needed it.
The volume of brass I have would fill your bins in EACH cartridge. I use larger containers.
I sort my handgun brass by cartridge: 9mm, 40S&W, 45 ACP. For low-mid range practice and qualification loads any differences in those cases isn't going to make much or any difference. I do toss SPP 45, Blazer, Aquila, and steel.
Rifle is an entirely different animal. Particularly with 7.62 / 308 there is a LOT of variation between different head stamps. I do not think a good "any-brass" load exists for this chambering. Mixed brass is not homogenous and cannot be made homogenous. Different headstamps need to be sorted and separated such that all LC 18 are kept together. For example I have some desert pickup LC 5.56 and certain years 07 to 09. I can now identify every one of those cases and retire them. By the same token, my pull-down 7.62 LC 18, I know are unfired, are all identifiable.
You will want to keep track of what lots you possess, where you got them, and what you have done to them. I happen to do this by memory, and do remember those details. I started a spreadsheet once, but didn't feel I needed it.
The volume of brass I have would fill your bins in EACH cartridge. I use larger containers.
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Nope.
I use PPU for my 257 Roberts (it's headstamped 7X57), and 7mm-08.
Hornady for both of my 280 Rems, my 7mm Rem Mag, and my 250 Savage.
Wifes 223 uses LC 5.56.
And Norma brass for my 284 Win.
I didn't choose any particular brand over the other for any benifits real or imagined other than price and availability.
Pistol brass is range pickup.
I use PPU for my 257 Roberts (it's headstamped 7X57), and 7mm-08.
Hornady for both of my 280 Rems, my 7mm Rem Mag, and my 250 Savage.
Wifes 223 uses LC 5.56.
And Norma brass for my 284 Win.
I didn't choose any particular brand over the other for any benifits real or imagined other than price and availability.
Pistol brass is range pickup.
AgedWarrior
New member
I have always sorted by head stamp for both pistol and rifle, though it is not a big deal for pistol. However, I do lump some range brass together for light handgun target loads after I toss junk like Maxxtech, Aquila, Blazer, etc... I carefully sort all rifle brass. I used to use bins like the OP, but found they are too small to handle much of what I load nowadays; I use a lot of gallon zip-loc freezer bags to store brass once it is cleaned, sized, trimmed (where necessary). Bags are easily labeled and stored in large plastic stackable bins.
The necessity depends on the load and chambering and your purposes. Over time, in all calibers I shoot regularly I have gradually moved over either to purchasing new bulk brass or to buying enough of each lot of loaded ammo to result in a good quantity of once-fired brass for reloading. For rifle, I then sort out the most symmetrical cases for match shooting and use the rest for practice. I keep the two sets (match and practice) sorted into ziplock freezer bags by load history so that when a batch gets to the point it needs to be annealed or trimmed I know to run the whole lot at once. That saves time over setting up to do a few here and there.
For pistol, I can't see any practical difference in the performance of carefully sorted symmetrical brass and all the rest. This is basically because a pistol that holds 2 moa at 50 yards is very good, while a rifle that hold ½ moa at 100 yards is very good. That roughly 4:1 difference in very good guns is the difference that determines whether symmetry effects show clearly. Statistically, they will be present in the pistol group, but the effect on group diameter will be about 16 times smaller, which is why it becomes hard to discern.
Finally, as mentioned, there are a few cartridges out there for which some more serious difference in case capacity exists and that can affect pressure and velocity enough that you wouldn't want mixed headstamps in the loads. 300 Win Mag is the biggest offender. At the low end, TulAmmo cases run 87.5 grains case water overflow capacity. At the high end, Norma runs 95.5 grains case water overflow capacity. That's the range. A full load of H4831 for the Norma case behind a 210-grain SMK, would be highly compressed and produce about 27% higher pressure, 150 fps more velocity and a yard less drop at 1000 yards in the TulAmmo case, according to QuickLOAD. So you don't want to mix those cases up. Remington is close to TulAmmo. Winchester is closer to Norma, so a big difference exists in domestic 300 WM headstamps as well.
For pistol, I can't see any practical difference in the performance of carefully sorted symmetrical brass and all the rest. This is basically because a pistol that holds 2 moa at 50 yards is very good, while a rifle that hold ½ moa at 100 yards is very good. That roughly 4:1 difference in very good guns is the difference that determines whether symmetry effects show clearly. Statistically, they will be present in the pistol group, but the effect on group diameter will be about 16 times smaller, which is why it becomes hard to discern.
Finally, as mentioned, there are a few cartridges out there for which some more serious difference in case capacity exists and that can affect pressure and velocity enough that you wouldn't want mixed headstamps in the loads. 300 Win Mag is the biggest offender. At the low end, TulAmmo cases run 87.5 grains case water overflow capacity. At the high end, Norma runs 95.5 grains case water overflow capacity. That's the range. A full load of H4831 for the Norma case behind a 210-grain SMK, would be highly compressed and produce about 27% higher pressure, 150 fps more velocity and a yard less drop at 1000 yards in the TulAmmo case, according to QuickLOAD. So you don't want to mix those cases up. Remington is close to TulAmmo. Winchester is closer to Norma, so a big difference exists in domestic 300 WM headstamps as well.
Hammerhead
New member
There's a lot of crappy brass out there these days, so inspection is critical, and as long as I'm inspecting anyway, may as well sort.
No surprises at the press or the range with sorted brass.
No surprises at the press or the range with sorted brass.
FrankenMauser
New member
Depends upon the cartridge, firearm(s), and load in question.
Generally: Yes.*
And I go beyond that, to keeping individual lots of rifle and revolver brass separate in ammo box quantities.
For certain things, like a 9mm plinking load: No.*
But handloads in mixed brass were carefully worked up in mixed brass and tested to insure safety. I don't just arbitrarily work up the load in a random lot of brass and then reload in whatever else is available. I test a very specific set of mixed cases that I have inspected and measured to establish minimum and maximum case capacities, plus everything in between - all-in-all representing more than 40 head stamps in the case of 9mm - and then go on to further testing with 'general purpose' mixed brass.
*.223/5.56 range pickup is a special case. I can't know the origin of every piece of brass, or if three different piles of WCC are from the same lot. So, there's less work there for certain loads/uses; and a lot more work (up to weight and capacity sorting) for other loads/uses.
Generally: Yes.*
And I go beyond that, to keeping individual lots of rifle and revolver brass separate in ammo box quantities.
For certain things, like a 9mm plinking load: No.*
But handloads in mixed brass were carefully worked up in mixed brass and tested to insure safety. I don't just arbitrarily work up the load in a random lot of brass and then reload in whatever else is available. I test a very specific set of mixed cases that I have inspected and measured to establish minimum and maximum case capacities, plus everything in between - all-in-all representing more than 40 head stamps in the case of 9mm - and then go on to further testing with 'general purpose' mixed brass.
*.223/5.56 range pickup is a special case. I can't know the origin of every piece of brass, or if three different piles of WCC are from the same lot. So, there's less work there for certain loads/uses; and a lot more work (up to weight and capacity sorting) for other loads/uses.