Brass is brass, right?
 

I understand mixing brass from different manufacturers has ill effects on precision. But, does it matter if you mix once-fired with twice or three times fired, as long as all are from the same manufacturer?

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

Yea, it could matter, because neck tension changes the more your brass is worked. It gets work hardened. In your average hunting rifle, though, I doubt you'd see much if any difference, but you might.

Personally, I wouldn't mix brass this way. I wouldn't want to loose track of how many times my brass was used since eventually it could fail leading to ruptures, splits and so forth.

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

I agree with Solitary Man - up to a point. As for failures with cases, usually they can be prevented by careful inspection of each case, after cleaning and sizing. Incipent case head separations or neck- splitting is usually easy to spot.

Having said that, I will reiterate that I do agree that it is best not to mix up batches of brass. Besides the failure issue, if the brass is all mixed together, it's hard to have any idea of how many firings one is getting from a case....and indeed when it is likely that a case is about at the end of it's useful life. It's not difficult to keep the batches separated - it simply requires a little more care - and perhaps a bit more record-keeping. I separate my brass into different gallon-size ziploc bags. I simply mark the outside of the bags with the number of firings..and any other pertinent info. When reloading, I keep each batch separate, by pulling from each bag separately....and placing the finished rounds in different ammo boxes, with appropriate markings. I also attempt to cycle through all of my brass, before re-firing any of it (for example....I have 215 cases. I try to fire all 215, before I fire any of them a second time. I reload pretty much after each trip to the range - but I rotate the cartridges so I am always using the "youngest" brass first. In this way, I am able to keep my brass (mostly) all the same "age". This does not always work, but I try.)

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

IMO the addage of not mixing brass has more to do with safety than accuracy.

Especially military brass in some cases.....

There's marked difference in internal combustion room and this makes for higher pressures in some cases over others.

As a general rule one should heep his cases segregated to the extent possible.......accuracy may also be affected.

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

WRONG...you couldn't be more wrong if you tried! Brass is NOT brass..it is so varied that it's not even funny...one load in one brand may cause pressure problems gallore in another brand. The internal and external thicknesses are usually as different as night and day....there sometimes are differences in one brand of brass from the same company with different lot numbers. As a competition/benchrest shooter for many years, I've certainly seen the results of such a thought and it is dead wrong to think that ALL BRASS is the SAME..it is "NOT".

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

I have to agree with everyone else. Keep track of how many times your brass has been fired.

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

Okay I'll disagree just to be ornery. I use Winchester ,Remington and Federal brass in my '06 and can't see a wit of difference in hunting loads. Same with the .243. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend mixing military or off the wall brass ie. Imperial in the mix. But the more common brass all works fine. I've weighed them all and the Remingtons run a little heavier and the Winchesters run a bit lighter.....nothing to fret about. Now if you have aspirations of Camp Perry........that's another story!;)Regards, Rick.

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

I do not mix brass.If you doubt that it makes a difference,chronograph a few loads using different brass and you will see the difference.If you are using maximum loads,changing brass could result in pressure signs.

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

In my experence mixing brass is a no no.... I won't mix brands and i won't mix how many times it's been fired.

I've measured the capacity of hundreds of rounds (probable much more than that) of brass, and unless your useing "low pressure" loads, in my opinion it's not even safe to mix brass...

Drilling Man

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

I AGREE whole heartedly. Brass is not all them same!!!!Besides what has been said,different manufact.will have different volumes to them as well,which creates different problems and or results. vangunsmith

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

I'm new to reloading, but in a Nosler reloading book I have somewhere, there is a pic of different manufacturers cases cut away to see wall thicknesses. You can decisively see how the case brass thickness can vary greatly from one manufacturer to another and have different interior voulume measure..

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

Isn,t that what i said,that the volume is different!!!?? vangunsmith

RE: Brass is brass, right?
 

Test results today. Three win cases, 3 Rem cases, 3 Fed cases. Rifle...Sako L61R, '06, win primer, 51.5gr IMR4064, 150gr Sierra Pro Hunter. Results:

Winchester Brass ave speed 2940
Remington Brass ave speed 2922
Federal Brass ave speed 2946.

Now I ask, why fiddle withsorting the brass???? When they get old and the primer cases loose, I pitch them. I have no aspirations of Camp Perry and there are no safety issues here.

I then fired a 3 shot group with the three different cases at 200 yards....wind 15 mph right to left.Attached is the group.I rest my case and the bullet cases. :DRegards, Rick.