# Sorting brass by weght



## Bird (May 10, 2005)

How much variance in weight (grains) of your brass do you find acceptable? 

Keep in mind I'm reloading for hunting, less than 300 yards, mostly stock rifles (upgraded triggers) that are capable of MOA accuracy. I am usually the problem, not my rifles. 308 and 300 Win mag so plenty case volume. I'm not going to measure case capacity with water. I already sort by headstamp. Cases are cleaned, decapped and re-sized before I weigh them.

3-5 grains? 1-2 grains? It's silly for what kind of shooting I'm doing so don't worry about it? What say you 2cool?


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

I dont weigh them..


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## UnclePoPo (Jun 4, 2013)

CHARLIE said:


> I dont weigh them..


Same here.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

I have never weighed any of the brass that I reload and have reloaded.

TH


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Resize, clean, trim, and re load. I dont want to confuse myself and get too technical. HA


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## Bayoutalker (Jun 30, 2012)

What would the weight of the casing matter anyway? 

Cliff


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## boltmaster (Aug 16, 2011)

What is your reasoning for doing that?
Unless you are going for hyper consistent accurate and extreme hot loads that push the limit for use in a target bench rifle I can't see much value in sorting by weight and even then I don't know of anyone doing it. 
I do try to sort by MFG however.


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## DIHLON (Nov 15, 2009)

I just separate the NATO brass from the rest since supposedly NATO brass has thicker walls; or maybe it's the opposite. I don't remember.


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## Bustin Chops (Feb 3, 2008)

.308 is thicker than 7.62


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## Bird (May 10, 2005)

Bayoutalker said:


> What would the weight of the casing matter anyway?
> 
> Cliff


The idea being that since the outside dimensions of the case are fixed because of the chamber, a case that weighs more has less internal volume. The metal has to go somewhere right? Consequently, my load of 42 grains of 4895 in a 308 case will fill up the case more causing higher pressure. This in turn effects the bullet velocity which will change the POI.

I'm looking for predictable consistency. As an example, I'm getting SD values around 10 for my 300 Weatherby mag.


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## Texas T (May 21, 2004)

DIHLON said:


> I just separate the NATO brass from the rest since supposedly NATO brass has thicker walls; or maybe it's the opposite. I don't remember.


Pictures showing case thickness and chart showing case weights.
223 Rem Case Weight vs. Capacity 
Case Manufacturer Case Weight* H20 Capacity** 
Lake City 06 92.0 30.6 
WCC99 95.5 30.5 
Sellier & Belloit 92.3 30.5 
Remington 92.3 30.4 
PMC 93.5 30.4 
Hirtenberger 93.7 30.4 
Lake City 04 93.0 30.4 
Federal 96.3 30.2 
Hornady 93.9 30.1 
IMG (Guatemalan) 95.4 30.1 
Lapua (new lot) 93.4 30.1 
Winchester 93.9 30.1 
Olympic 97.4 30.0


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## Chase4556 (Aug 26, 2008)

I dont sort by weight, even for my 6.5 that I will be shooting 500+yds, I don't sort by weight. Highly doubt you will see much difference at 500yds, but I'm still new to the long range game.

When I'm trying to get consistency at 1000yds... I might sort by weight.

http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/12/31/reloading-tips-from-top-precision-rifle-shooters/

Finally, just 12% of the shooters said they weight-sort their brass. You may be surprised to see that number so low, but understand most of these guys are intentional about starting off with good quality brass from the same lot. When you do that, it can dramatically decrease the need to weight-sort brass.
Interestingly enough, there were only 3 shooters in the top 100 that said they did all 5 of the optional brass prep operations (annealing, neck turning, clean primer pockets, uniform primer pockets, and weight-sort).


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## mrsh978 (Apr 24, 2006)

For your application (s) - stay with one manufacturer of brass and don't over think process. Weighing is only done by those folks who have the end need for ultra tight groups - bench rest unlimited folks.


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## Bird (May 10, 2005)

Well, I actually sorted a bunch of my 308 brass by mfg and weight before I posted. Most of it is within 3 grains +/- of 161 grains. There are 8 cases that weigh right at 177 grains. So I have cases with as much as 9 grains difference in weight. Surely this would have a noticeable effect on the internal pressure. Guess I'll measure them by water weight capacity to satisfy my curiosity. All brass is Federal 308.


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## mrsh978 (Apr 24, 2006)

Ya I know , but for your application - doubt you'll see a difference. Btw. I quit doing it about 20 yrs ago ... I sleep better now


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## Bustin Chops (Feb 3, 2008)

texasT, this is true for .223/556 but the opposite is true for .308/762 and that is the op's question.


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## muney pit (Mar 24, 2014)

I found it to help some to weigh win 308 brass. I didnt see any improvement weighing the 178 amaxs. Its not gonna make a 1 moa a 1/2 moa gun but it hells with those odd fliers. I noticed it mostly at 600.


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

Man you guys are splitting Hairs!!..Good luck...I like TH been reloading over 50y ain't never weighed Brass


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## Bird (May 10, 2005)

Well since this thread has come back to life I thought I'd go ahead and add that I took y'alls advice and just sort by headstamp. I'm getting a lot more rounds loaded when I'm at the bench.


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## williamcr (Aug 8, 2006)

I have never weighed cases just head stamp sort.

I have got more into trying to keep my case lots together.

I shoot my Grendel and 338 lapaua out to 1000 yards with decent consistency.

One of the things I have started doing is annealing my case necks.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

IMO sorting by mfr is adequate, assuming the cases are of similar vintage. Example being 308/ 7.62 LC brass from the 50's vs. current mfr. Now a die hard bench rester may take one case and reload at the bench for a complete string. I've not found that necessary for load development or in a deerstand.. Hogs just don't give a flip!


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*Weight Sorting*

I sorted brass one time by weight, sure makes for a long day. What I did was first group alike head stamps then at random pull ten pieces and weigh them recording the weights. Then using my superior intellect I decide which one is right in the middle of the average weight and place it back on the scale. Then zero the scale and the overs go in one pile and the under in another. If you luck into a zero that can go into a third pile which is rare. Keep in mind all this brass has to be clean and trimmed exactly the same length which is probably more important than the effort it takes to weigh them. I think consistent neck tension and concentricity plays a huge part in good brass more than a tiny fraction of empty case. Gross differences might send one south in a group. If you have the time and ambition to go through a thousand pieces of brass and weigh each one go for it. I have sorted rimfire ammo and that is fun also and actually tightens groups up, it's just very time consuming.


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