Results sorting brass?

[cmor]

This is probably a dumb question, but now that we have Labradars and it's so easy to get good velocity data whenever we shoot, has anyone made a serious attempt to use it as a brass sorting tool?

My plan is to start with 100 rounds of my best attempt at perfect hand loads in a single 100 round box. Record all shots and make sure that I put the brass back in the same place in the box when I shoot. Keep track of flyers and note their shot number (brass location).

After shooting all the rounds, put the brass associated with flyers to the side, and then sort the rest of the brass by velocity.

Then reload the "good" ones and repeat the process. If it is worthwhile, I should see better results the second go around.

Please poke holes in the plan, and or point me to info on results of similar testing. Thanks,

 

[savagedasher]

This is probably a dumb question, but now that we have Labradar's and it's so easy to get good velocity data whenever we shoot, has anyone made a serious attempt to use it as a brass sorting tool.

My plan is to start with 100 rounds of my best attempt at perfect hand loads in a single 100 round box. Record all shots and make sure that I put the brass back in the same place in the box when I shoot. Keep track of flyers and note their shot number (brass location).

After shooting all the rounds, put the brass associated with flyers to the side, and then sort the rest of the brass by velocity.

Then reload the "good" ones and repeat the process. If it is worthwhile, I should see better results the second go around.

Please poke holes in the plan, and or point me to info on results of similar testing. Thanks,

If the brass has been fire fourm and you keep the powder drop the same . It's start in the right direction . Without knowing if the primers are the right one and your seating depth is not correct to keep your bullet speed low it's crap shoot. But it is far better then nothing. Good luck Larry

 

[Sheldon N]

I once helped crunch numbers in excel on a project tracking velocity with different loading methods and variables. As a side part of the project I did look at whether prior velocity was a predictor of subsequent velocity for the same load. I was unable to find any sort of correlation that would help with brass sorting to improve SD/ES or reduce flyers. Not to say it isn't possible, but I wasn't able to find it.

Things to consider as possible spoilers of your data... work hardening of brass from one firing to the next, potential sizing variations as a result of that work hardening / brass springback and/or technique, inconsistencies in primers as the source of variation, powder charge weight variation if you don't have a high end scale, etc.

A side comment on your testing... Rather than doing the actual sorting and pulling out flyers when you test, just shoot all 100 cases and record the velocity. Then shoot the same cases again and record the velocities again. You can do MUCH more with the data this way, since you can run hypothetical scenarios and look at the results. You can look at potentials such as "if I had pulled the fastest 5 cases and slowest 5 cases, would my ES improve? If I had divided the brass into two 50/50 lots of fast and slow, would my SD and ES improve, etc.

I'd be glad to help run numbers if you aren't proficient with Excel.

 

[dmoran]

Good plan in my opinion, as long as its with a proven load !.!.!
Suggest to number each case with a sharpie, so the velocity string number and the case number match.
Donovan

 

[Sheldon N]

as long as its with a proven load !.!.!

Agreed, especially on this point. The test only will work well if you are starting with a load that's accurate and already has a low SD/ES. Otherwise, the phenomenon that you're trying to observe gets lost in the noise of an already variable data set.

 

[cmor]

I agree that starting with a random load would be pointless.

I am going to start with a load that I developed for my F Class rifle. I've been able to shoot clean 200 point 20 shot strings with high x scores with it at 600 yards, so I'm pretty comfortable that I've done my best to have a good starting point.

My thinking overall is that this might be another tool for tightening things up.

Point well taken that it would be best to shoot them all more than once to see if there's a correlation between individual pieces of brass and velocity outliers and/or flyers. This will mean keeping track of each piece of brass during cleaning, brass prep and reloading though.

 

[ireload2]

Just shoot one case over and over first and save yourself a lot of trouble.

 

[dannyjbiggs]

I would love to hear what you come up with on your test! I would only say, if you are getting low 2 digit/high single digit ES's, why bother?

Dan