brass

[cmillard]

what is the point of weighing new unpreped brass and segregating that brass. after you prep it it will have to be resorted anyhow--or does case prep not change the weight of the cases that much? i do all my sorting after all the prep work is done--or is that the wrong way to do it?

 

[Preacher]

I always shoot my brass first and then do the case prep afterwards, and then do the weighing part... nothing wrong about that...

 

[cmillard]

do you at least trim your brass after sizing?

 

[Preacher]

I don't trim it till it's been shot either, and in most cases it don't need trimming
unless your just making it all even...

 

[RJinTexas]

I lightly chamfer and deburr the case necks and deburr the inside of the flash holes on all new brass except Lapua and Norma. I use a RCBS Trim Mate case prep cener for these task as it quick and greatly speeds up these boring time consuming tasks. To insure everything is straight and to better uniform neck tension I always run my brass through a bushing neck die using Imperial dry neck lube, avoiding the messy residue of spray lube and therefore eliminating the need to tumble or whip clean the brass. I then load and shoot, I never trim cases or uniform primer pockets until the brass has been fire formed.

Regards
RJ

 

[tenring]

The theory behind weighing brass is to retain those of same weight, assuring that the internal capacity is similar. This should produce a consistent burn rate. If you trim first then weigh, you will lose that advantage.

 

[Ackman]

The whole reason for weight sorting brass is the idea that cases weighing the same will have the same internal volume.....that cases weighing more or less will have more or less volume. But new brass isn't all the same length. So unless it's first trimmed to the same length whether new or after firing, weighing it couldn't possibly accomplish anything. Now it doesn't take much brass volume to make a couple grains of weight.....a small sliver will weigh one grain. That weight can be distributed anywhere on the case, including the rim and extractor groove. (How many times when reloading have you had some cases that fit the the shellholder tighter than others? Occasionally one will just barely go in.) I spent an afternoon weighing and measuring .223 case volume (with a couple different headstamps) and found the heaviest cases actually even had the most volume. Sorting cases by weight would have accomplished nothing. Except maybe for someone to talk about how the first thing they do is "weigh and sort each case" in order to establish what meticulous handloaders they are.