Sorting brass and weighing finished loads

T

Tinbucket

New member
I've been reloading for some 40+years.
I always sort my brass by mfg and keep brass from one box or one case together.
I weigh my finished rounds anyway.
And in the progressive press for 5.56 etc always sample th loaded rounds by weight.
When loading max velocity loads in high capacity cases. I always weigh the charge, and always use a dowel to check all the charged cases in a block.
When building a load I always use the single stage press and fire three or four rounds from it and check cases priemr etc before setting up that load in the progressive press.
Someon told me I was an amateur and didn't know what i was doing.
Anythign wrong with these measures?
 
Do your cartridges go bang consistently and do the bullets go where they're supposed to? If so, does it matter what some guy said?
 
Well, he was probably being critical of weighing the completed rounds and checking powder charges with a dowel rod, but whatever works and you are comfortable with is fine.
 
Someon told me I was an amateur and didn't know what i was doing.
Anythign wrong with these measures?
Click to expand...

I do not reload to make anyone happy; again, I was at the range with a very disciplined reloader, between us was a shooter that was doing everything he could do to pull the trigger on his S&W Model 66, he tried pulling the hammer back, he tried to swing the cylinder out and then he attempted to rotate the cylinder. We stopped shooting and secured our tables then we offered to help. He had managed to load his ammo with a case, primer and bullet with no powder. His pistol locked because he had a bullet stuck in the forcing cone. We drove the bullet back into the case and then swung the cylinder out and removed his fired and unfired cases and rounds.

He then immediately started filling the little holes with more of his reloads; we stopped him because if he did not know his last attempt at shooting resulted in a case with no powder how did he know if the next 6 rounds had powder. We wanted to know he had a double charge in the next round etc.. We offered to help him with his reloading, we offered to loan him equipment, we offered him all the ammo he could shoot that day and all he got was mad, he packed up his stuff and went home.

Point? The last chance a reloader has to check his reloads is just before he pulls the trigger. A reloader that know the weight of his components can weight a loaded round to determine if he has too much powder and or if he has no powder. But for me; there is nothing entertaining about pulling the trigger and not know what is about to happen next. I am the fan of forming good habits, when weighing loaded ammi it helps to have a digital scale.

F. Guffey
 
Anythign wrong with these measures?
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Not if you are happy with them. If you didn't post them here, no one would have known about them.

We could have assumed you did it just like "we" do, as different as that might be.
 
First, absolutely not.

Amateur is not the word that comes to mind at all.


Each of us has a feeling for what makes a process safe. If that's your comfort zone then keep it, its certainly a good way to do it.

If I had a single issue it would be the stick to check the powder.

If it picks up grains on the end you may wind up with a bit of cross pollination though I don't think it would affect things much if at all.

Maybe not at all

Something with a hard surface comes to mind but that's a nit pick.

I do check each load for pistol, I don't for rifle (granted I shoot large rifle and a zero load won't budge the bullet) Pistol it will

Your way is better.
 
I believe most reloaders have a plan to insure the quality of their loads. It becomes a ritual of sorts when checking each step as the process continues.
I also believe that there are differences in those rituals from one individual to the next. The important thing is that what ever you do produces safe loads for you.
 
I always sort my brass by mfg and keep brass from one box or one case together.
I weigh my finished rounds anyway.
And in the progressive press for 5.56 etc always sample th loaded rounds by weight.
When loading max velocity loads in high capacity cases. I always weigh the charge, and always use a dowel to check all the charged cases in a block.
When building a load I always use the single stage press and fire three or four rounds from it and check cases priemr etc before setting up that load in the progressive press.
Someon told me I was an amateur and didn't know what i was doing.
Anythign wrong with these measures?
Click to expand...

Like someone below already said, I do not load my own ammo to impress other people. I do it for me. My 2 cents is that: as long as it is accurate enough for what you are doing, and has the requisite knockdown power you need for hunting (if it is intended for hunting), and is reliable, and above all else, safe, then you are doing just fine.

Some folks weigh cases, check case capacity, measure bullets, roll cases, turn necks, anneal, check case metal composition with a mass-spectrometer (kidding), and a whole slew of other things.

Some folks just size, prime, charge, seat, and fire....and trim when the case gets too long.

Nothing wrong with either approach.
 
I load mainly on a progressive press and use a powder checker die, I have not had a squib or double charge. knock on wood. I have a routine and stick with it, if I have any doubt I clear all cases from the press and start over. I pull the bullet from any questionable round check the powder. Never fire a questionable round.
 
With the variation in weigh of brass and bullets all that weighing a loaded case will do is assure there's "SOME" powder in the case.
I used a homemade "powder check" die in my sequential .223 loader. All it does is tell me there's enough powder to get the bullet downrange. Beyond that, I scale check every 10th round to ensure my measure isn't clogged or malfunctioning(if the check weight is off, I only have to pull 9 bullets to get back to my last correct drop).
 
What could be amateur about the method? Weighing the charge, using the dowel, and then weighing the loaded rounds is kind of redundant, but anyone calling it amateur probably doesn't know what they are talking about.

Taking all these measures might be considered overly cautious and many new reloaders are overly cautious so maybe that is what he was thinking, but calling it amateur wouldn't be correct.
 
Someone told me I was an amateur.
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Are you selling your handloaded ammo for profit?

No? . . . Then you're an amateur.

So am I; along with most everybody else here.

You've been loading for years. Sounds like you've created good habits for yourself and load conscientiously. It's always good to keep an open mind and get new ideas from others. But I don't see anything productive in calling someone an "amateur." Seems like that person was more interested in spewing negative energy than conveying anything constructive.
 
I have been reloading a long time Started in 1967 . Have I made mistakes yes (we all do) most people will catch a mistake fast and fix it . I have had the no powder thing the no primer thing and the upside down primer thing .

If you reload long enough you will make a mistake and that is why we check and recheck all loads .

To the OP after 40 years you can school me anytime .
 
"...told me I was an amateur..." Hard to be that after 40 years. That sounds like a young buck who thinks one can only load with a progressive.
Bit obsessed though. There's no need to separate cases by brand, weighing loaded ammo, dowels or "...fire three or four rounds from it and check cases primer, etc. before...". Mind you, it doesn't bother anything except your time.
 
Tinbucket,

You are being more careful than a lot of people have the patience for. It sounds like the person who said you were an amateur meant to imply a pro is someone more casual or careless about their loading process, but for a technical reason, he failed. In one sense, he's right though. A professional ammunition remanufacturer will be cranking through way too many rounds to exercise the individual cartridge care that you are. But that guy's not building super precision ammunition, either.

If your commentator tried telling any known group of benchrest champions that they are being too careful and fussy with their loads, they'd laugh him out of the room. But he is also right about another thing, those champions are technically all amateurs. There is no way to make a full-time living by being a champion benchrest competitor. Amateur doesn't mean, 'not good'. It means not getting paid to do it for a living. That's your commentator's technical failure. If you go back to the 19th century and before, a number of the world's top scientists were amateurs; folks who'd inherited enough money to indulge their interests and to give them time to study and experiment as they pleased.
 
You guys that weigh reloading components & loaded rounds don't have anything on me:

Federal, brass, Gold medal match, once fired, cleaned & de-primed, ready for loading:
Box # 1, 08-08-15: page 9

Column--------1---------------2----------------3---------------4----------------5------------
Row:
01) ----------082.6----------082.7----------082.9----------083.3----------083.0-----------
02) ----------083.2----------083.0----------082.9----------083.4----------083.2-----------
03) ----------083.2----------083.0----------083.5----------082.8----------083.0-----------
04) ----------082.5----------083.0----------083.3----------082.7----------082.7-----------
05) ----------083.0----------083.3----------083.1----------082.6----------083.4-----------
06) ----------082.8----------082.9----------082.7----------082.9----------082.9-----------
07) ----------082.6----------083.0----------083.4----------082.9----------082.7-----------
08) ----------083.1----------083.2----------083.0----------083.1----------082.6-----------
09) ----------083.3----------083.4----------082.9----------083.1----------082.8-----------
10) ----------082.7----------083.1----------082.7----------083.0----------083.2-----------

Total: -------829.0----------830.6----------830.4----------829.8----------829.5------------4149.3/5= 829.86
Average: ---82.90----------83.06----------83.04----------82.98----------82.95------------414.93/5= 82.986
Highest: ----83.30----------83.40----------83.50----------83.40----------83.40------------417.00/5= 83.400
Lowest:. ----82.50----------82.70----------82.70----------82.60----------82.60------------413.10/5= 82.620
Differ: --------0.8--------------0.7-------------0.8-------------0.8--------------0.8-----------------3.9/5= 0.78
1.0 Total Dispersion: (82.5-83.5)

081.9: (2) XX
082.0: (2) XX
082.2: (1) X
082.4: (1) X
082.5: (1) X--------------------------------------------
082.6: (4) XXXX
082.7: (7) XXXXXXX
082.8: (3) XXX
082.9: (7) XXXXXXX
083.0: (9) XXXXXXXXX
083.1: (5) XXXXX
083.2: (5) XXXXX
083.3: (4) XXXX
083.4: (4) XXXX
083.5: (1) X--------------------------------------------
083.6: (1) X
083.7: (1) X
083.8: (1) X
083.9: (3) XXX
084.0: (1) X
084.1: (2) XX
084.2: (3) XXX
084.3: (1) X
084.4: (4) X
 
Some good information here. I load straight walled cartridges (or close) and I load them all on a single stage press. Weighing finished rounds is interesting but I inspect 100% as I build them anyway. Not saying it is a bad idea to check, especially if done on a progressive. I have time on my hand so my process works for me. Your mileage may vary.

1895gunner
 
Nothing that I know of can match the weight consistency of Federal Premium Gold Medal Match cases. I have 450 once fired cases now that the total variation is 1 grain. Will make for nice reloading cases. Weighing out bullets (projectiles) will show you who make consistent weight bullets. Zero, Magnus, & Penn to name a few.
 
There is nothing like being able to keep up with more than one thought at a time. I sort brass, again, I have 20 round boxes that have the same cases in the box they came with. I understand most are confused but I purchased unprimed cases from Federal, Norma, Remington and Winchester, the cases came sorted, all I had to do is keep the cases together, that included 'after tumbling'. Keeping cases sorted has never been something that locked me up or drove me to the curb, when I tumble I have as many as 10 different head stamps. To get the cases back to where they started all I have to do is sort by head stamp. I know; that is confusing to most.

F. Guffey
 
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