Sort brass by Manufacturer?

[John Hill]

I have purchased 1,000 lots of both .38sp and 45 ACP and they are mixed range brass. If I trim all of them to the same length by caliber, is it necessary to sort by manufacturer such as keep all the Winchesters in one batch and Federals in another, etc.? When I say sort them I mean that if I make a certain load, does it matter if the brass is mixed?
Thanks
John

[blikseme300]

I don't bother with sorting by head stamp for 45ACP except to separate the SPP from the LPP. 38SPL I do sort to separate the full wad cutter brass from the others but not by head stamp. I never trim pistol brass as this would be a futile attempt to improve my shooting, others may see and do different, but to each their own.

[scottfire1957]

I don't shoot competitively, so sorting brass by manufacturer is not important to me.

[Coogs]

Only for competition or for some serious long range stuff. Plinkin', huntin' and for just shootin', no. Coogs

[noisewaterphd]

I do. Accuracy aside (which sorting will improve), the different brass thicknesses will make a slight difference in flaring, crimping, seating. Makes for smoother reloading.

I do keep a large bin of random mixed headstamps (many times fired, or brands I don't have enough of to worry about sorting) that I use to make my IDPA and 3gun ammo. Usually can't retrieve brass at matches, so I try to leave the stuff I don't care about, and bullseye accuracy isn't needed.

[randyrat]

38 special loading I found some R & P brass that has real thin walls..I'm loading some jacketed for a friend for some powder and the dang jacketed bullet almost drops in after re sizing. So I am pulling the R & P brass and saving that for fat lead boolits.. I have found this in other calibers also, but could not tell which head stamps.

[mozeppa]

used to...stopped and sold all my brass.

bought 60k in 9 calibers of starline ...happy i did!

[JWFilips]

If it is rifle I do: they all have a slight different volume case.
Not that bad for large cartridges but for under 30 cal They really can throw your groups askew

[sandman228]

ive met some who swear by it my father inlaw included . I do for rifle and revolver calibers . for my 9mm,40,and 45 acp I try to start out with matching head stamps but how often can you shoot a semi and never loose a few . as I loose a few I replace them then next range session loose a few more then replace them when reloading by the time there ready for scrap there pretty mixed up

[Duckiller]

I am doing good to sort my brass by caliber. Sometimes I also sort by dirty and clean. I do not shoot competitively. When bored I have been known to sort by head stamp, but only if a given caliber has lots of brass with the same head stamp.

[nagantguy]

For hand gun, no shooting idpa some three gun and a little ppc never, wouldn't bother trimming them either, not straight walled pistol calibers, don't have time found its makes no difference for the application and range in which I'm using them, when I got my first whizz bang super accurate long range rifle chambered in 7mm Weatherby I did those stamped Weatherby and those stamped norma, any diffrences in shooting out to 600 yards I could not tell MV was the same, standard deviation was under 10fps for both groups. For cases where there could/will be the possibility of getting mil surp brass say 223/5.56 or 06, military cases can/often are "thicker " and that leaves less case capacity, so we use our brains, sort them reduce by a % and work up.

[runfiverun]

since norma makes weatherby's brass I'm not too surprised.
I'm a sorter.
if I just want something to shoot my mil-spec 1911's with their tiny not so good sights I couldn't much tell you what was what.
in my 624 I could see different groups appear in different places from the different brass.

my Dan Wesson will shoot low left with 357 medium loads [versus sighted in for] light 38 special loads, and I can see a difference in brass [where they impact on the paper] amongst different makers with it too.

[bedbugbilly]

For pistol such as 9mm, 38 spl. etc.all I have ever used is range brass and I never sort. I don't shoot competition. For 45 Cplt, I use Starline which is pretty uniform in length -range brass 45 Colt range brass of mixed head stamp I sort by length if there is any variation. Rifle brass I do like to use all one head stamp for loadings so I do sort those.

[Hick]

I sort it. Makes a small difference in reloading-- but I'm not good enough for it to matter. The main reason I sort it is so that I can keep better track of how many times I've reloaded each batch (as in I keep a tally, RP set 1 has had 3 reloads, set 2 has 4 reloads, etc).

[Cherokee]

What Hick said. Except, I do have some well used 45 ACP mixed I don't feel bad about leaving at a match.

[shoot-n-lead]

The only way I sort my straigtwall brass is...sized/primed and fired. I an not into bullseye shooting and mine all produces acceptable accuracy.

[6622729]

I have purchased 1,000 lots of both .38sp and 45 ACP and they are mixed range brass. If I trim all of them to the same length by caliber, is it necessary to sort by manufacturer such as keep all the Winchesters in one batch and Federals in another, etc.? When I say sort them I mean that if I make a certain load, does it matter if the brass is mixed?
Thanks
John

I sort pistol and rifle by headstamp. 9mm, .223/5.56 and 300aac. It's a one time thing as once they're sorted I work with 100 round boxes at a time so they stay sorted. I do this for all of the reasons mentioned in this thread. I especially like my sorted brass after it has been form fired in MY gun. I can feel the uniformity at the reloading press.

[dudel]

I do. Primers feel is different with different brass. When I sort by headstamp, it's much easier to detect a primer seating problem. Same thing for seating. I keep bins by headstamp for brass I have lots of to make it easy to replace the ones lost at the range.

[matrixcs]

I sort for a couple of reasons. Some mfg. brass tends to crack/split on second or third use,
tight or loose primer pockets as DUDEL stated, thicker or thinner walls and the main reason is I am fastidious.
BTW: I know it does not really make a difference in MY reloading and shooting.....

[CraigOK]

I sort out fed, rp, and win brass and leave all the other head stamps together. It's as much about me having a stream of OCD as any practical purpose. I dont trim pistol brass though...its cheap enough to just replace and not waste the time.

[toallmy]

I sort everything by headstamp , it makes me more comfortable when loading handgun ammo . when I look across my charged loading block ,I like to see a level powder charge . And for the rifels all the work that goes into that brass . I am very picky about my rifle brass.

[dale2242]

Sorting brass by head stamp is a habit I started years ago.
I do not trim handgun brass .
I trim all my rifle brass....dale

[William Yanda]

To quote the late Geo. Nonte, (I think I have this right)-"It can't hurt." With brass of the same head stamp, at least you have a better chance of similar brass thickness, material characteristics, volume and as a previous poster mentioned similar primer pockets.
It probably isn't necessary for those of us who are not trying to wring the last degree of accuracy from our loads, but it is something we can do that is related to our hobby and it only costs our time.

[Garyshome]

I did it for 9mm but the others are mixed. When someone is selling all the same headstamp in a caliber I would pay a little extra for it.

[georgerkahn]

William Yanda -- I like and agree with your Nonte quote! One thing I consider, too, which appears unmentioned, is when purchased brand new, all cartridges in a box have the same head-stamp, fonts used in i.d., and even shade or color of the brass. Hence, if I obtain a bunch of picked up range brass, perhaps I'm way out of whack here -- but I ASSUME, say, all the .30/06 ID'd with similar headstamp was from, perhaps, the same lot and all were fired and reloaded (if applicable) the same number of times. Sadly, any given hand-full of range brass may have examples of once-fired, to "it's already got neck cracks and/or incipient separation is but one squib loading away"! Plus, the rule I've noted is the volume afforded in the case does in fact vary from manufacturer and lot. Military '06 cases generally do have significantly less volume than modern commercial cases. And, as the case volume decreases for any given load -- the pressure increases!
Just some rambling here... again with kudos vis that Nonte quote.
geo

[wv109323]

You may find some brass has a particular chararistic. Remington .45 ACP brass has thin walls. Thus mixing it with others will cause less of a taper crimp on the Remington rounds.
.38 Special +P brass has a little thicker case. Loading it with others may cause higher pressures or bullet resizing when seated. People shooting the S&W model 52 shy away from +P brass.
i never trim pistol brass.

[Don Fischer]

I only sort rifle case's. Habit from loading jacketed bullet's. Ran over into cast rifle bullet's. Has always meant better accuracy to me. Different brands of case's also have different volumes of capacity which will change pressure to some degree but different case's will give a larger extreme spread in velocity. At longer ranges 250yds plus, it make's quite a difference in accuracy. But I have never sorted handgun cases by head stamp. Then again I don't shoot handgun's at very extreme ranges, normally not past 50yds and seldom much past 30yds. I never considered trying for a 1' minus group at 100yds with a handgun. I'd probably be a sorry sight trying it! With my 9mm I have no intention of ever shooting target's for fun or small game with it. Max range I'm practicing now is 20'. How good does a handgun, any gun, have to be to hit a 12"x12' target at 20'? Even in my 38 and 32 I don't sort headstamps, never seemed that important to me. But then again I have never shot match other than 22RF.

[Don Fischer]

I forgot to mention. I have never trimmed a handgun case. Most the stretch on rifle case's come's from pulling the neck over the expander button. I loaded up some 243 jacketed bullet's using a Lee die without the expander button, forget what it's called. i've only done those case's a few time's but have not had to trim at all. With straight wall handgun ammo case's I just don't see firing or sizing causing a problem.

[Budzilla 19]

If it's rifle brass,I sort them by headstamp, just an old habit! And trim them when needed! pistol brass, not so much. I do sort the wadcutter brass when I find in .38 special range pickups. .38 +P has a thicker brass? Well, I guess you are supposed to learn something new every day. Be safe.

[RogerDat]

I figure why not? It is reasonable to expect that different brands of brass might have some differences in characteristics so I keep them separated by head stamp. I also tend to use the odd or limited count head stamps for special projects or a box going to family where I may or may not see it again anytime soon. E.G the large quantity of federal .38 stay with me as bulk SWC or RN ammo, the partial boxes of Hornady, Speer, and Winchester go to friends and family. The few hundred R-P is what I would use for odd loads. I too pull out WC brass for re-use as WC reloads.

Small box of brass with 3 or 4 plastic coffee cans to sort into and I can sit and sort while watching TV during the commercials or when dear wife has the remote and the entertainment is only of moderate interest to me.

I do trim revolver brass from range pickups to get same length for consistent roll crimp first time I use them. My own store bought I don't trim. I just started on auto loader reloading and can't see how one can get consistent case volume with variable length cases from range P/U brass of many makes without doing an initial trim. After that figure it should stay consistent.

[rush1886]

To quote the late Geo. Nonte, (I think I have this right)-"It can't hurt." With brass of the same head stamp, at least you have a better chance of similar brass thickness, material characteristics, volume and as a previous poster mentioned similar primer pockets.
It probably isn't necessary for those of us who are not trying to wring the last degree of accuracy from our loads, but it is something we can do that is related to our hobby and it only costs our time.

Col. E.H, Harrison, in his Cast Bullet manual, states that "brass sorting". has the least effect of anything, on accuracy. My copy is out on loan right now, or I'd find the page and section for ya'll.

It is the one sentence in that book that has stuck with me for many years. Having said that, I do sort, mainly, as has been mentioned, to keep track of the first in, first out principle.

[lotech]

Don't remember where I read it or when, but someone did an article on mixing and segregating pistol brass and the effect on accuracy. Naturally, the like brass shot better, but I don't recall how much better.

From personal experience... I may have compared mixed brass handloads with segregated ones, but don't remember, so can't comment as to whether or not it makes a difference. I use same brand pistol brass. I avoid picking up stuff at the range, but I'll certainly use brass given to me, especially if it's once fired. I still separate it. I try to buy pistol brass in lots of 500 or 1,000. I realize it's gone up in cost, but if one takes care of brass and doesn't overload it or bell case mouths excessively, it lasts an incredibly long time. I don't trim handgun brass or do busy work like cleaning primer pockets.

As for rifle brass, I've found significant differences in case capacity, including different lots of the same brand. This can make a big difference on a target, particularly as range increases. Recently, I found a 10% difference in case capacity with different batches of Winchester .222 brass. 10% to me is a big variation. Chronograph showed a velocity difference of around 100 fps. I've found variances with larger rifle cartridges, but none as great as 10%. Still, probably best to always separate batches of rifle brass, even among the same brand / headstamp. Another good reason to buy new and use all the same lot.