Case Separation by Manufacturer

[B52U]

I stand corrected. Carry on!

No worries man. It's a very common notion. I still think it's worth sorting even with that minute difference in volume for top accuracy. For everyday practice loads not so much.

[KenpoCop822]

Well then, it seems I can stop punishing my children by having them sort brass and come up with more devious interventions to have them attain the proper behavioral attitude. I'm not trying to shoot nads off of gnats with this stuff. If I start going for that, I'd likely try to get some match brass. Without saying too much about where I get brass from, the majority of the .308 brass that I get is Hornady Match, so I'll likely develop around that.

I was also going to build a reloading cabinet system taking into account different headstamps, so that will make things a lot simplier.

[markm]

Well then, it seems I can stop punishing my children by having them sort brass and come up with more devious interventions to have them attain the proper behavioral attitude. I'm not trying to shoot nads off of gnats with this stuff. If I start going for that, I'd likely try to get some match brass.

We have some Lapua .223 brass, but never use it as regular brass shoots just as good.

Without saying too much about where I get brass from, the majority of the .308 brass that I get is Hornady Match, so I'll likely develop around that.

My favorite .308 brass flavors are Lake City LR Mk 118, Lapua, and most recently MEN 7.62. Win/Hornady/Black Hills, etc have thin necks that just don't work well for me. If you go with Hornady, stick with it, because whatever you come up with might not be directly compatible with thicker necked brass. For example... if I run a Hornady case in my LEE collet neck die, the tension can be so low that bullets slip in the necks.

[ww2farmer]

I don't sort .223, .30 carbine, .300blk, 38spl, 357mag, 45LC, 380 or 9mm brass. Cases just get tossed when primer pockets loosen up, the brass looks "bad" or I get splits. I don't anneal.

.308, .30-30 + .30-06 brass gets sorted by mfg. and then by # of times fired. After the third firing of each I check case with a paper clip for head seperation, if none, I load and shoot a 4th and check, if none I load an shoot a 5th time and check. 308 gets tossed after 5 no matter what. 30-30 gets used until the neck splits which is not long as they have thin brass at the neck. 30-06 commercial cases get tossed after 5 no matter what. Military 30-06 is weird........LC, and WW2 era brass that finds it's way into my pile often gets the "toss after 5" treatment, but smetimes goes much longer. but Greek HXP brass is really solid stout stuff, and I have had a dozen loads on some cases with no signs of head failure, and only tossed it due to neck splits.

45acp brass get sorted by primer pocket size

I don't hot rod any load for anything. I tend to load all my plinking ammo quite conservative going for reliable function and acceptable practical accuracy over top performance, and any ammo I load up to or at factory levels is usually on virgin, or once fired brass, and is ammo I store away in cans with dessicant, and I seal the neck's/primers for "future need", along with a lot of factory/store bought/mil surp ammo, and not regularly shoot with anyways.

[Bimmer]

Well then, it seems I can stop punishing my children by having them sort brass and come up with more devious interventions to have them attain the proper behavioral attitude...

Have them fill primer tubes... Or buy one of those hand-trimmers and set them to work.

[masan]

Well then, it seems I can stop punishing my children by having them sort brass and come up with more devious interventions to have them attain the proper behavioral attitude.

I have 500 pieces of brass that I need to neck up to .308 and then turn the necks...

[bigedp51]

Using Quickload there is 6,000 psi difference in chamber pressure between a case capacity of 28.0 and 30.6.
That being said the vast majority of cases are very close in capacity so just be careful with your mixed brass.
I buy my brass at http://brassbombers.com/223-556-Clea...-2LC-S0050.htm
.223/5.56 - Cleaned, Deprimed & Swaged - LC Only - 500 Pieces $59.00 free shipping. And the only thing mixed is the headstamp date.



And besides the flash hole web thickness .223/5.56 brass hardness varies, meaning Lake City 5.56 brass is the hardest. (made Ford Truck Tough)



How Hard is Your Brass? 5.56 and .223 Rem Base Hardness Tests
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...ardness-tests/

[Bret]

If it makes any difference, I know that this is all once fired brass.

How do you know this?

[KenpoCop822]

Without giving away to much (to protect the guilty), the place where I get it from only uses commercially manufactured ammunition from wholesalers.

[Bret]

OK, just wondering if you were getting taken advantage of. I see fired range brass sold all the time at local ranges (and on eBay) as once fired. I'm sure that it is mostly once fired, but they have no way to know if it all is. I know that I leave my multiple times fired brass on the floor sometimes.