Do you weight sort primers?

[JEFFPPC]

Back in May I posted to this thread being skeptical about sorting primers. After some thought I decided to find out for myself. I sorted 1000 205m and found the weight difference top to bottem was 6 pieces of Varget which I shoot in both my 6 BRX and 6.5 x 47. Since I weigh to one piece of Varget it seems counter productive to not close this possible loophole. I now weigh primers. It's just like removing a bore brush to not drag it back over the crown. It may not hurt anything but it is not improving anything, so why not do it. Yes, now I weigh primers ...........and sleep better a night.

 

[Dave Way]

Back in May I posted to this thread being skeptical about sorting primers. After some thought I decided to find out for myself. I sorted 1000 205m and found the weight difference top to bottem was 6 pieces of Varget which I shoot in both my 6 BRX and 6.5 x 47. Since I weigh to one piece of Varget it seems counter productive to not close this possible loophole. I now weigh primers. It's just like removing a bore brush to not drag it back over the crown. It may not hurt anything but it is not improving anything, so why not do it. Yes, now I weigh primers ...........and sleep better a night.

I agree that it may not be necessary but can't hurt either. Saturday night I was in my reloading room working on brass and decided to sort some more 205M's since my sorted supply was getting low. One hour and twenty minutes later I had 900 done. It actually goes pretty quickly with the proper scale, rubber tipped tweezers and containers.

Dave.

 

[JMayo]

I play music and do a little popcorn shuffle while I weigh em ....

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

When they are all sorted out do you guys just load with the same sorted "batch" of primers untill they are finished? Use all that are weighing X and when they are done you just use the primers that weigh Y untill they are finished and move on to the next? Basically just making sure your batch of ammo is loaded with primers that weigh the same no matter what that actual weight of the primer is?

 

[JMayo]

For me yeah. Just like bullets and ogive measuring.
The middle/norm is the desired ones. The ones on the ends get used for sighters.

 

[Stepsjframe]

Weighing and sorting brass is just another obsessive mundane task that yields rewards that cannot be measured. Think about all the time you will spend sorting, then going to the range and shooting the sorted brass in groups, keeping track of the brass you sorted, cleaning everything separately, etc.

 

[JEFFPPC]

When they are all sorted out do you guys just load with the same sorted "batch" of primers untill they are finished? Use all that are weighing X and when they are done you just use the primers that weigh Y untill they are finished and move on to the next? Basically just making sure your batch of ammo is loaded with primers that weigh the same no matter what that actual weight of the primer is?

I just load from each sorted lot, no reason one is better than the other that I can tell.

 

[hammerjack]

If you guys keep this up l might have to start weight sorting my beer before I drink it.

 

[Bc'z]

If you guys keep this up l might have to start weight sorting my beer before I drink it.

Mine are 12oz.
Well now its 8oz.
Damn I need another beer now.
This sucks shooting and beer drinking are both consumable sports.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

ooooi think I need to try this

 

[JMayo]

Weighing and sorting brass is just another obsessive mundane task that yields rewards that cannot be measured. Think about all the time you will spend sorting, then going to the range and shooting the sorted brass in groups, keeping track of the brass you sorted, cleaning everything separately, etc.

Everybody liked playing with their toys in different ways, just read the post that go on and on about annealing, ballistics, chambers ...
Some think about it. Some fidget with it. Time goes by, we had fun !

 

[Joe Salt]

All we try to do is keep from mixing a heavy one with a light one it's not rocket science. If they all weigh the same use them till there gone now us the next batch you weighed.

Joe Salt

 

[Bc'z]

I'd still like to see a target shot from the lightest and heaviest out lying primers shot at the targets side by side.

 

[mikeeg02]

I'd still like to see a target shot from the lightest and heaviest out lying primers shot at the targets side by side.

So do it then. People have tested this. Not everyone posts everything on here. Far too often the keyboard shooters, and "experts" chastise the people who have tested things to the best of their abilities. And I am in no way condemning you to being one of those people. But I see it time and time again. And if its something you would like to see done, test it! Then if you're feeling generous, feed your results to the wolves and let them pick apart your test and tell you why your test isnt valid.

 

[gunnermhr]

All the top long range shooters I know sort primers by weight. Some take it to another level by seating with a pressure seater, seating to a desired depth. All uniform primer pockets and flash holes, some chamfer the inside of the flash hole. Some of these guys replied to this thread, some of which have had their ability questioned in a round about way. When the likes of dkhunt14, Joe Salt and tom makes a statement to the effect it makes a difference you can bet your paycheck it does. Do you know exactly where the weight difference is, i think not. But one thing for certain, if it's the best process you have, do it.

Like Jeff mentioned, we weight powder to the kernel with scales and balances that cost $1000 and more. Trim necks, weigh brass, sort bullets by weight, bearing surface, base to ogive, overall length etc, then trim and point a bullet to gain just a little bit of BC. For the time invested it seems ridiculous not to sort primers by weight.

But, to each there own, you could just go to walmart and buy a box of factory ammo and shoot it out of a $5000 precision Benchrest rig topped with a $3000 scope. Let us know where you place in any match.

It isn't one thing that make a difference, as i believe Alex said, it's everything that you apply that makes a difference.

 

[Bc'z]

So do it then. People have tested this. Not everyone posts everything on here. Far too often the keyboard shooters, and "experts" chastise the people who have tested things to the best of their abilities. And I am in no way condemning you to being one of those people. But I see it time and time again. And if its something you would like to see done, test it! Then if you're feeling generous, feed your results to the wolves and let them pick apart your test and tell you why your test isnt valid.

Mike I've been picked apart time and time agian on this forum.
"You'll never get a factory sporter to shoot consistently" blah blah blah.
Tell me agian what I cant do, my pos rifles truly do shoot in the .3's and in my discipline "hunting" I guess it's about all I need.
Only a couple times and I can count on 1 hand someone said nice job loading.
As to weighing primers I'm not gonna do it at this time.
Although I'm in the process of acquiring parts to put together a rifle to shoot local matches. Maybe then?
So unless someone shows me definitive proof of targets I'll just have to take your word for its benifits.
I have more important things to do with my time, and I'm not buying a $750 scale to do it.

 

[Joe Salt]

Bc'z Last match Mike and I sat side by side at our 1000 yard match, we both shot ten shots under five and a half inches! Do you think we done that with factory Ammo.
Just because I think something helps me doesn't mean it will help you. That's the reason most of us don't have a problem sharing our Ideas.
So you test my friend and you tell me what works for you and then I'll pic it apart and tell you your wasting your time.
Every time I go to the line I'm testing something, one thing at a time only.

Joe salt

 

[mikeeg02]

Mike I've been picked apart time and time agian on this forum.
"You'll never get a factory sporter to shoot consistently" blah blah blah.
Tell me agian what I cant do, my pos rifles truly do shoot in the .3's and in my discipline "hunting" I guess it's about all I need.
Only a couple times and I can count on 1 hand someone said nice job loading.
As to weighing primers I'm not gonna do it at this time.
Although I'm in the process of acquiring parts to put together a rifle to shoot local matches. Maybe then?
So unless someone shows me definitive proof of targets I'll just have to take your word for its benifits.
I have more important things to do with my time, and I'm not buying a $750 scale to do it.

You can certainly make a factory gun shoot, if it will let you. You wont find an argument from me on that. My first year back into it I shot a savage 6br factory gun in short range ground hog matches, (200-500) and I did everything I could to make it shoot better. I was on the heels of the full blown custom guys for the aggregate of the season, and some of them are very good shooters. I root for the underdogs and people that find the ways to make things work better. And maybe you don't even want to shoot competitively, maybe you just want a very accurate rifle. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Depending on the distance you shoot, the discipline you're shooting, the goals you have, and how competitive you want to be, will decide how much you need to do. Can you afford to have one shot (or more) come out of your group at 1,000 and open it up to a 10"er? (And in conditions that you should have shot a 4-5"er) Not if you're going for the aggregate. But then again, maybe you're comfortable with having that happen.

I dont mean any of that directly towards "you" and only used that as person I am asking those hypothetical questions to. We all have our limitations, expectations and desires in this game. Thats what brings most of us together, and even makes us butt heads from time to time.

 

[Bc'z]

Bc'z Last match Mike and I sat side by side at our 1000 yard match, we both shot ten shots under five and a half inches! Do you think we done that with factory Ammo.
Just because I think something helps me doesn't mean it will help you. That's the reason most of us don't have a problem sharing our Ideas.
So you test my friend and you tell me what works for you and then I'll pic it apart and tell you your wasting your time.
Every time I go to the line I'm testing something, one thing at a time only.

Joe salt

True I'm always testing things myself.

 

[Stepsjframe]

I am not one to weight sort, but I did do some weights yesterday to get water volume for quickload.

One peculiar thing I found when comparing Lapua and Remington, the Lapua mean case weight was 176.36 and SD of .68 (only 6 random cases fired in same rifle as RP), the RP was 170.85 with an SD of 1.0

The volumes, however, had the Lapua at 57 grains of h20 with an SD of .78 and the RP at 57.58 with an SD of .32


Now I did not cherry pick anything just grabbed 6 of each case, all with WLR fired primers. My sample size is small but off the cuff, had RP ahead with closer case volume.

Just an observation