Mixing Alpha Brass Case Lots

[TripleOption]

I've got some 6GT Alpha OCD brass, but I'd like to get more so I don't have to do brass prep as often.

Has anyone mixed Alpha brass case lots and seen a noticeable change in performance from lot to lot? Just trying not to subject myself to unwanted higher SDs with no way of unsorting them once they are mixed in with each other.

I also don't want to drop $130 on 100 of them just to try it out.

Anyone experiment with this before?

 

[AMwood]

I’ve mixed lots of Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor with no noticeable effects. I can appreciate attention to detail but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. Unless there’s a major change to the materials or manufacturing process, I have to assume shops like Alpha and Lapua have pretty low variance thresholds between lots.

What’s the alternative? You shoot the same lot of cases until they’re toast and are forced to buy another lot and find out for yourself if there’s a difference anyways?

 

[kthomas]

The results will probably be better than mixing Hornady lots.

Guess it depends on what your overall goals and performance objectives are.

If your goal is to have the tiniest possible SD/ES and groups, it's not really advisable. If you're not BR shooting, I'm not sure if you would be able to shoot the difference. SD may be slightly higher, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was still in single digits, given you have good reloading practices.

Hard to ultimately say without trying it. But I would feel much better mixing lots with higher quality brass with tighter QA/QC then cheap brass.

 

[TripleOption]

Yeah, I shoot PRS matches, so the utmost tiniest groups aren't required.

Might just have to drop the $130 on a case and give it a go.

 

[kthomas]

Yeah, I shoot PRS matches, so the utmost tiniest groups aren't required.

Might just have to drop the $130 on a case and give it a go.

For PRS it won't be detrimental.

You could always keep the brass/loads separate, and shoot brass #1 on day 1 and brass #2 on day 2 if that makes you feel better.

 

[supercorndogs]

You could mark and mix 30 or 40 cases to start. I would just keep two lots and deal with it. I would not want to mix brass with different numbers of firings.

 

[4O6shootist]

I've got 3-4 lots of 6gt mixed together, 1200pcs, some 2x fired, some 6x. New, the cases varied 1.7gr case weight, oldest lot the lightest, newest the heaviest. Once formed, I shot groups on paper at 500y with single lot brass, and groups with mixed lot brass. All groups half moa with same poi. Mix away.......in my opinion.