Thread: Brass importance?

I get the picture consistency across the board is everything in reloading - but what importance is there on the same brand or brass condition (ie once /twice / thrice etc fired)?

Can you mix brass without significant penalty for a short/mid range hunting round?

As long as it has been prepped the same as all your other brass I doubt you would see any differences on paper. Especially between brass that has a couple more firings. I don't sort it. I have new loads and 5-6 times fired loads mixed in my cartridge box and they seem to perform the same accuracy and ES wise.

I don't mix brands of brass for no other reason than I always tend to buy what goes best thru my rifle and stick with it.
Neck tension and projectile consistency is more important regarding accuracy Imo.




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A load may be at max in one type of brass and over max with another.

Best to sort them into their different lots, choose one and work with that. When they are worn out, biff them and go onto the next lot.

Originally Posted by R93

As long as it has been prepped the same as all your other brass I doubt you would see any differences on paper. Especially between brass that has a couple more firings. I don't sort it. I have new loads and 5-6 times fired loads mixed in my cartridge box and they seem to perform the same accuracy and ES wise.

I don't mix brands of brass for no other reason than I always tend to buy what goes best thru my rifle and stick with it.
Neck tension and projectile consistency is more important regarding accuracy Imo.




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I'd have to disagree.

If neck tension is important you shouldn't be mixing once fired with 5-6 fired brass as they will have quite different neck tensions.
On my 22-250 Rem, the sixth load has so little neck tension the if you de-chamber a round the bullet stays in the throat. That cartridge us a bit hotter than the 223 but you get the picture. Hard brass mixed in with soft is likely to see you getting random split necks as well. Anneal the brass every five or so (for 223, my loads probably need it every 3) firings to keep consistent neck tension.

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Originally Posted by Feather or Shoot

I'd have to disagree.

If neck tension is important you shouldn't be mixing once fired with 5-6 fired brass as they will have quite different neck tensions.
On my 22-250 Rem, the sixth load has so little neck tension the if you de-chamber a round the bullet stays in the throat. That cartridge us a bit hotter than the 223 but you get the picture. Hard brass mixed in with soft is likely to see you getting random split necks as well. Anneal the brass every five or so (for 223, my loads probably need it every 3) firings to keep consistent neck tension.

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(If prepped the same)

I anneal every firing. Use quality bushing dies without a button and as I said accuracy and ES are consistent from first firing till the brass is tired. Up to 8 or 9 goes on my Ackley on average.
Pretty good indication my neck tension is consistent I would have thought.

After loading a few thousand rounds you also can also feel any differences during seating and sort from there.



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I used 5 different types of brass in a 308 and still achieved a single hole group. But in saying that, it was a custom rifle and shot that with any load except factory rounds which struggled to hit a barn door. I even used cases with split necks and they still grouped perfectly.

But now I stick to the same make of cases most of the time.

If you can use one make of brass then that's the way to go.

Every rifle is different and some like certain types of brass.

Originally Posted by R93

(If prepped the same)

I anneal every firing. Use quality bushing dies without a button and as I said accuracy and ES are consistent from first firing till the brass is tired. Up to 8 or 9 goes on my Ackley on average.
Pretty good indication my neck tension is consistent I would have thought.

After loading a few thousand rounds you also can also feel any differences during seating and sort from there.



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I was wondering how you were getting consistency with mixed firing brass.
I agree, annealing every time should sort most issues. How often do you full length size? My cases start getting hard to chamber after a while. Also how do you know when to retire your brass if you have mixed firing batches?

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I modified my dies so I only neck size and bump my shoulder 2 thou after annealing every firing.
I need to use a body die around 5 firings. I mark my brass to tell me how many goes I am on.

I prep 3 random cases out of every new batch of sorted brass and fire and reload them until the primer pocket is a bit loose or a run with my body die which is at a fixed setting will not size the case properly. (Mainly during load testing anyway)

You would get a few more goes out of the brass in a turn bolt I imagine, but the R93 has no ability to cam during locking and tired brass needs to be culled earlier to prevent miss fires due to the built in mechanical safety of the system.

I am a tad anal when it comes to reloading rifle ammo and sometimes I forget not everyone else is, but yet I assume some things are a given like annealing to ensure consistent neck tension.
Should have mentioned that in my first reply.

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Originally Posted by Tussock

Its not an issue if its not an issue. I had Hornady brass I saved up from factory ammo. What a disaster. There was a couple of soft batches in there and when you thought everything was perfect on mild loads, stuck bolt. Velocity all over the place.

I

for my 308 i have a fair bit of Hornady brass that has been saved from factory ammo - should i be concerned about the quality of the Hornady brass in the short term?

@R93 i have no idea how to anneal, learning about this may happen down the track, so your opinion not to worry about mixing brass only applies if you anneal?

cheers guys

Originally Posted by LOC

for my 308 i have a fair bit of Hornady brass that has been saved from factory ammo - should i be concerned about the quality of the Hornady brass in the short term?

@R93 i have no idea how to anneal, learning about this may happen down the track, so your opinion not to worry about mixing brass only applies if you anneal?

cheers guys

I have used hornady exclusively in my remmag and its mint. Used it in my 308 as well and it was sweet, just changed to lapua as I got a good deal.
Buy a gas torch from bunnings and anneal away. Watch a few vids on you tube and you'll get the hang of it in no time.

Originally Posted by LOC

for my 308 i have a fair bit of Hornady brass that has been saved from factory ammo - should i be concerned about the quality of the Hornady brass in the short term?

@R93 i have no idea how to anneal, learning about this may happen down the track, so your opinion not to worry about mixing brass only applies if you anneal?

cheers guys

If you anneal and prep the same I have experienced no problems mixing the same headstamped brass from new, to brass that is on its last firing.
I have never mixed different brands of brass tho, so I wouldn't know from experience if that is an issue or not, other than what I have been told or heard.

As Gibo says annealing is a simple process. I don't have a flash machine.
I would like one for all my AR brass but you do not need one to achieve good results.

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