I weighted my brass. I am NOT happy with this brass.

Now I am trying to figure out which to load and which to set off to one side.

How consistent does it need to be?
1gr off?
.5gr off?

How close does your powder charge have to be?
Brass is about 8 times heavier than powder.
If your cases vary by 8 grains their internal volume would vary about the equivalent of one grain of powder.

If I am looking for super accurate rounds for a varminter or bench rifle, then I want the brass to all be within 1-3gr. For big game hunting rounds, I sort by 3-5gr. Anything over or under by more than that gets used for something else like dummy rounds. Doesn't happen very often though.

Better results from weighing bullets that brass IME, as long as you are turning necks and don't get weight gain from a signifcantly thick neck.

I suppose if your a benchrest guy or the anal retentive type it could be an important issue. If you like to shoot a lot and hunt a lot, I don't think it's all that important. I gave up on a lot of the minutia that can be involved in handloading a long time ago. I still shoot small groups and kill animals.

I am working on a couple different 7.62x51 (308 to most people) loads.

The most important will be subsonic where a few FPS will be significant.

quote:

suppose if your a benchrest guy or the anal retentive type it could be an important issue. If you like to shoot a lot and hunt a lot, I don't think it's all that important. I gave up on a lot of the minutia that can be involved in handloading a long time ago. I still shoot small groups and kill animals.

Nothing is worse than ignorance in action.

THANK YOU THAT SUMS UP A LOT OF THE POSTS ON HERE AND GUYS SWEATING THE THING THAT DON'T MAKE A SHIT DIFFERENCE WITH HUNTING GUNS.

They should worry about more trigger time AND PUTTING AS MANY BULLETS DOWN RANGE then washing scrubbing drying weight sortting and all that other

quote:

Originally posted by ddunn:
I weighted my brass. I am NOT happy with this brass.

How consistent does it need to be?
1gr off?
.5gr off?

Weighing brass is not necessarily the test for consistent case volume we sometimes make it out to be. Brass weight can vary in a lot of places, e.g. casehead, which will have no or negligible effect on accuracy. A lot of BR shooters don't sort their brass for consistent weight.

I still weigh sort mine for target rifles, but I let the brass sample decide how much variation is allowable. I highly doubt you'll need variation as low as .5 or 1 grs to get a usable sample. The brass that falls outside my weight variance tolerance, I use as fowlers. But I also sort for case neck wall variation and other criteria.

- mike

Please forgive my cynism - man, you must have alot of extra time available but if going though all these Gyrations is important to you - then have at it.

I guess consistancy is important as I ensure my brass is the same length, sized the same, kept in batches but that's about it. Never weighed a case or bullet in my life and I've all kinds of rifles that shoot itty-bitty groups (for example - all of mine) and some of the Target rifles encroaching into Benchrest quality.

I would imagine if you really wanted to find the ultimate JND (Just Noticable Difference = is it measureable?) I'd weigh a completely loaded round and attempt to determine if the differnece is enough to make a difference (what amount would that be?) .5 grain or 5 grains - Dunno?

There's gonna be a huge variance in JND depending whether you're loading a .338 Lapua or a .22 Hornet.

Before going through all this Minutia I'd go to the range, hang some paper and shoot at it. If the groups are small I'd save the time set aside for Minutia and re-invest it for something really worthwhile; like hunting or shooting instead.

I'm not much into weighing things. Especially my fat ass but that's another story. I do what I call "fire cull" my brass. After I fire form my brass, I trim to lenght and start developing my load or shoot the brass as a unit. If I get an unexplained flyer, I mark the case and set it out. When I reload that unit, the marked cases are reloaded normally and if they do not nuzzle back into the group, they get pitched.
Whether I am hunting game or shooting paper determines how astringent my culling is.

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Never weighed a case or bullet in my life

You should try it somtime.
Most of the time it is an exercise in boredom though you will often find you have two different populations of brass in your lot.
One time I did find that some old brass and new brass from the same manufacturer varies by 17 grains (25-06). That is the only reason to weigh brass for me. Just to find the occasional wild variations.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunt-ducks:



THANK YOU THAT SUMS UP A LOT OF THE POSTS ON HERE AND GUYS SWEATING THE THING THAT DON'T MAKE A SHIT DIFFERENCE WITH HUNTING GUNS.

They should worry about more trigger time AND PUTTING AS MANY BULLETS DOWN RANGE then washing scrubbing drying weight sortting and all that other

When working up something new, I think controlling all the variables possible is the smartest decision.

Once I have something working, then I can let some variables play themselves out.
But if I don't control all the variables, how will know if something doesn't work because it will never work, or because I let some variables run their course.