Newbie question here! Just getting started in the reloading business.

Over the years, I've collected several different brands of brass for my 22-250. Could I potentially see differences once these rounds are reloaded based strictly on the brand of brass?

Plus, I just bought a new 204 Ruger and I'm looking to put together some rounds. Should I buy one brand of brass and stick with it? Any recommendations to start with?

Thanks from the reloading rookie!

Yes, the quality and consistency of brass does make a difference. Brass varies in internal volume, neck thickness, neck wall consistency, flash hole size and I'm sure in a lot of other ways too. The more consistent you get your brass, the better the chance of a good result.

In addition, a load which is safe in brass of brand A may not be safe in brand B - primarily due to differences in internal case volume.

All in all, it is best if you have just one brand of brass - at least for one particular load, and preferably for all loads for one particular rifle (to make it easier to keep brass separate for each rifle). It would be even more ideal to have just one lot of a particular brand of brass, but it is all a question of how practical it is for you to distinguish between different brands and lots.

- mike

depends what you consider a difference if your a paper puncher yes if your a hunter maybe, I don't get anal about hunting brass I use mainly Win. but some FC some Hornady some LC match some Starline brass I don't buy any high $$$ crap because I have found it makes little difference in the field what makes a diff is where the first shot goes and trigger time.

I do sort my brass by mfg and prep all cases flash hole, chamffer necks inside and out.

if i'm going on a PD hunt with say a 22-250. 500-700 rounds I try to keep it at mfg brass that shoots the same as I don't have that much of one brand of brass and you can find 2-3 types that will shoot damn close to each other.

I don't just load for 2-3 guns but 20+ CF rifles

In your situation what I do is take all brass of a certain head stamp and seperate by weight. That commonly gives good accuracy. Don't mix and match diff brands as it can lead to pressure problems due to differing internal volume.

Good Luck

Reloader

This may give you some insight.

When making up cases for a wildcat no attention was paid to keeping the cases sorted by manufacturor. The repeatabilty was not that great.

Upon sorting the repeatability greatly improved. The point of impact, however, was slightly different from one group of brass to another.

The chemistry, geometry, ductility, strength and other characteristics in brass cartridge cases can vary quite a bit; causing differences in performance. roger

Simple answer ...

EVERYTHING used in reloading makes a difference.

Well put Steve........
Anything that you can do in the reloading process to eliminate or reduce variations of any kind may help reduce group size.

On a forum named for accuracy, assuming you have a rifle capable of 1/2 MOA or better at 200 yards or more, you might go even further.

I would think we might be remiss if we failed to mention that there are differences in cases not only between brands but also within brands, usually from lot to lot, as the brass alloy can be changed and/or the dies are replaced at the factory. It is worth checking the weight and neck wall thickness of each and every case if you are looking for the absolute best accuracy possible from your rifle. "Manufacturers" have also been known to change the actual maker (yes or no, Virginia, not all the brands have their own factories) or for various reasons a maker may outsource some or all their production at times.

Some people will go so far as to actually measure the interior capacity of once fired cases, as they do not trust the weight only method. Some of us who got oddball brass a few years ago when Lapua outsourced their .223 match brass have been known to go to that extreme.

quote:

Originally posted by ricciardelli:
Simple answer ...

EVERYTHING used in reloading makes a difference.

The real question is:

Does that difference mean anything to you?

Does shaving 3/100ths of an inch off a group mean anything to even the above average deer hunter? Prolly not...

quote:

Originally posted by rnovi:

quote:

Originally posted by ricciardelli:
Simple answer ...

EVERYTHING used in reloading makes a difference.

The real question is:

Does that difference mean anything to you?

Does shaving 3/100ths of an inch off a group mean anything to even the above average deer hunter? Prolly not...

If there are three levels of accuracy:
1) Deer hunting 6 moa
2) Varmint hunting 1 moa
3) benchrest .1 moa

When I was trying to get my rifles too shoot 1 moa, I was getting information that might be useful for getting from 1 moa to .1 moa, but it did me no good for getting from 6 moa to 1 moa.

I no longer:
turn necks
sort brass by weight
sort brass by brand
chamfer flash holes
test with a 40X Leupold
shoot with an adjustable rest
measure OAL with a Sinclair bullet comparator
weigh each charge
fuss with the crown
take allot of velocity data
Buy one ounce triggers

What I do do:
Go to the range on low wind days
Shoot a 50 yards, not 100, if the wind is 5 mph
jam the bullet into the lands
Throw away the expander ball
Use the scope the rifle will wear.
Get the Copper cleaned out of the bore.
Float the barrel and bed the action
Shoot from bags that will be used in the field
Concentrate on the technique of shooting
Be satisfied with accuracy that is good enough for the task.

quote:

Throw away the expander ball

Interesting list you give, tnekkcc. I have also thrown away my expander ball (for my 303 anyway, since I have 'lost' my hornet sizer dies).

I have seen considerable differences of the POI with the .222 Remington when using different brands of brass (RWS and S&B). The same happened with the 30/06 where even within the same brand (Norma) 2 considerably different weights can be found.
If I remember it well, the difference was about 8 or 9 grain.