Virgin brass ES vs Anealed Reloaded Brass ES???

[BuildingConceptsllc]

Got a question.... I need to load 200 rounds for my upcoming night shooting class with Frank and @CR2 SS.

I have plenty of virgin brass to use to load up the 200 rounds, but I will also have enough Reloaded Brass to do it with. The processed brass is properly anealed and sized 2 thou bump.

Which one will give me the lowest ES???

Obviously I can test it but my time is very limited between now and then so I thought I'd ask and see if any of you guys have tested it. Thanks

 

[918v]

Load up the brass you already have data for, meaning you know how it behaves.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

Load up the brass you already have data for, meaning you know how it behaves.

Ok, yeah that makes sense

 

[acourvil]

I generally get better SD/ES with brass that has been fired previously.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I generally get better SD/ES with brass that has been fired previously.

Yeah, I thought that would be the case just because of the brass movement. I figured the most consistent the brass would be is likely on the 3rd firing or 4th or 5th. So it's had a chance to grow and be bumped back and truly be only 2 thou short of MAX chamber size.

Have you actually tested the two?

 

[acourvil]

I have not done a back-to-back comparison, but I usually do preliminary load development with the virgin and then re-run it for once fired, and I do log my results. It’s a pretty clear trend that once or twice fired has better SD/ES than virgin, for me anyway. In addition to the greater brass movement for virgin, I get more consistent neck tension after the first firing.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I have not done a back-to-back comparison, but I usually do preliminary load development with the virgin and then re-run it for once fired, and I do log my results. It’s a pretty clear trend that once or twice fired has better SD/ES than virgin, for me anyway. In addition to the greater brass movement for virgin, I get more consistent neck tension after the first firing.

Yeah that makes sense too. I thought that would be the case but I figured it was worth running it by the Hide. I appreciate the info. With limited time and components, I'd rather not have to test it, and of course once I tested the new brass, it wouldn't be new anymore.... one lot of new brass may not shoot exactly like another so, it's best to use my 4x fired brass. Thanks again for the info and discussion.

 

[Steel head]

Load up the brass you already have data for, meaning you know how it behaves.

 

[Feniks Technologies]

All good advise. When it’s something important/expensive, it’s always best to go with a known.

For night shooting, you likely won’t be trying to reach out and touch anything too far. So your sd/es will likely be a non issue.

For my personal ammo, I dump virgin brass in the amp mate and let the robot anneal them (have found more uniform seating force doing this. Factory anneal seems to not be as consistent). Then mandrel/chamfer, and load.

Then I sell the fired brass for ~80-90% value.

As for prs type stuff, I haven’t found the difference between virgin and fired brass to be enough to overcome the time savings of not cleaning and fully processing brass.