Weight Sorting Brass

[Hawk in WY]

I have approximately 200 pieces of Hornady headstamp 6.5 CM brass, all range pickups.

All appear to be once fired.

Weight sorted and got the following, approximately:

Under 151 grains 10%
151+ to 151.5 10
151.5+ to 152 15
152+ to 152.5 15
152.5+ to 155 40
155+ 10

Different lots obviously. The first handful measured 151 to 152 so I was expecting a tighter range.

How anal should I be?

Should I resort the 152.5 to 155 into smaller groups?

Then what? What is an acceptable range within lots?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Lunchbox27]

Load up charges, find your load, chrono and enjoy. I have been down this road of weight sorting. Cases, bullets, hell even primers. I found that I was more likely to pull a shot or blow a wind call then the weight of said items causing the problem.

 

[hgr2]

I only sort brass by weight when I have lost the will to live

 

[Emouse]

I have approximately 200 pieces of Hornady headstamp 6.5 CM brass, all range pickups.

All appear to be once fired.

Weight sorted and got the following, approximately:

Under 151 grains 10%
151+ to 151.5 10
151.5+ to 152 15
152+ to 152.5 15
152.5+ to 155 40
155+ 10

Different lots obviously. The first handful measured 151 to 152 so I was expecting a tighter range.

How anal should I be?

Should I resort the 152.5 to 155 into smaller groups?

Then what? What is an acceptable range within lots?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

you probably need a larger batch to enable to get enough cases within a set weight range to allow for enough cases to complete a standard practice or match? With lower capacity cases you need to stay within a half grain capacity i.e 143 to 143.5 grs. In larger case capacities its less critical. Good prep, promer pockets and especially neck skimming will get you significant improvements in producing consistent ammo. even out of MIL brass. Good luck.

 

[BJames]

Back when I was weight sorting, I saw 8 grains difference between lots of Hornady. 3-5 grains difference in the same lot. They all shot the same fps, good enough deviation and spreads. It does make a small incremental difference, I do it for the occasional F-class match, but for steel? You’re better off spending the time making more ammo, or dry firing or best of all, being on the line burning those rounds up.

 

[47guy]

internal capacity is more important than dry weight...if your going to weigh them weigh them with water.

 

[300ATT]

For benchrest or f class you might consider weighing Brass but for Steel you really only need consistent 1/2 MOA performance out of the gun/Ammo.
Test it. Load 5-10 cases of the same weight and the same number with cases with most spread and come back and tell us the results. I bet you won’t see enough difference to notice.


Ps dropping your box and scattering your wt. sorted ammo will suck the life right out of you.

 

[Stpilot12]

Been down this road....

 

[mdmp5]

I've wasted about an hour of my life I will never get back sorting brass

 

[300ATT]

I wasted more than that ... dang ...

 

[mdmp5]

I wasted more than that ... dang ...

When I went out the next day, only to find that my loads were not even the least bit better than they were before the sorting, that was it for me. Never again will I sort anything

 

[300ATT]

Yeah, I sorted, loaded, sorted and then accidentally dropped the box heading out to the car ... it shattered and the rounds went everywhere. I shot them anyway and could not tell the difference - never again...

For shooting steel I find a load that will reliably shoot 3/8"-1/2" and then stop. You will win any steel match with a gun/ammo that will hold 1 MOA if you can also dope the wind to 1 MOA. For steel, there is little value in sorting brass unless you are into "mind over matter" approaches and all the sorting helps you "believe" that they will shoot better ... might work who knows ... go test it and find out.

FWIW, 20+ years ago it was common practice for Palma teams to sort *loaded* ammo by weight at international matches. They did this because at international Palma matches the host country supplies the ammo and all competitors are required to shoot what is provided. They did find that heavier cartridges tended to shoot slightly higher at 900 - 1,000 yards and sorting them prevented a shooter from being "surprised" and "lifted" out of an X or 10 ring.

 

[Rob01]

As I said in the OP's other duplicate post:

Did you fully prep and deprime them before weighing? If not then the weights are irrelevant as some factory brass, even the brass handed down by the Gods themselves Lapua, have different OALs which can add or subtract weight or primer variations if the brass wasn't deprimed. Also as you know weighing isn't really a good way to find internal capacity which is what it is supposed to do.

I have used Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass since 2008 and never weighed a piece. Prep and load and works great.

Link to other post
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/weight-sorting-brass.6890041/

 

[SparkyHD1]

To properly weight sort them you should load them,Shoot them,Deprime, clean,resize, trim, then weight sort

 

[300ATT]

Sparky is right. If you are going to weigh the brass do it right. IMHO, its not worth it unless you are shooting benchrest or F-Class which is benchrest on your belly.

 

[CUBUFF89]

Good discussion. Sometimes I find I get too wrapped up in the minutiae. Reading others experiences helps bring me back to whats important.

 

[Alphatreedog]

Oh yeah . And shiny . Yas gotta sort by shiny .
Just jokin . I am still learning and don't know shit from shinola . Range report and pics paleez .