First time reloading - cartridge weight question

[SigEd]

I wish I had this site available when I started reloading. It's great to see the support that the guys are offering to a newbie. I confess to weighing cartridges too.

Come to think about it...the internet would have been handy....or even a PC....and maybe a calculator.

I have a friend who owns a business selling reloaded ammo. I would go hang with him at his store and would reload ammo. He has Dillon reloading machines. I don’t quite remember the sequence, but when I was first learning to use the presses, the handle would stop, then you had to push it again to do the powder charge. I struggled with this at first. He sold the ammo in sealed bags and would weigh each bag of 25 rounds I completed. A couple of times, he would tell me I missed a powder charge in one of the cartridges. He would tear open the bag, weigh each cartridge and find the defective one. I’m assuming he was able to do this due to the precision of his scales and the consistency of his casings, bullets, and powder. His brass was military surplus so it was all one brand. That inspired me to try to weigh these, but now I see it is not feasible for a home operation.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

With all that has been offered advice, I DO NOT separate brass by brand for my 9mm,38/357. Sized, primed, charged, with the same bullet. This will make reliable functioning ammo.

 

[mfendley]

I sorted the brass which took a minute because I have a few thousand casings. I have 22 different brands . The gun range I shoot at lets you take brass other people shot that is on the ground or in the barrel. I never spent a lot of time digging through there or searching on the ground but if I saw a pile of revolver brass I would check it out. I took 25 out of each brand and weighed the empty casings with the primers removed and cleaned. I was surprised to see most of the casings for each brand were within 1 grain of each other, but casings of different brands can weigh as much as 10 grains apart. The more recognizable ammo like federal, Winchester, and Aguila seemed like their tolerances were a lot closer and consistent. I 3D printed custom casings holders for each brand so I can keep them sorted. Thanks for the recommendation of separating the brass, this was a good exercise for a newbie to go through.

In addition to the different weights, the casings will often have different capacities. This means that 5.0 grains in one brand will act differently than the same charge in a different brand case.

I like to run batches of 50, and keep everything consistent for that batch. Keep logs on how they are to reload, as some are tough to deprime, primers don't fit well (or require a different brand of primer), crimping after bullet loading is different, etc. Also note how they shoot, and once you find one or two combinations that work well for you, concentrate on those. I have done the same as what you are doing now, and have some combinations I prefer to load, and I clean and give away the other brass to members in the club. In return, they look out for, and save for me the brass I prefer.

 

[old codger]

I will second the advice to take all precautions to prevent a double charge. That can destroy a gun. Also take all precautions to prevent loading a case with no powder (AKA squib load). The squib load by its self will just lodge a bullet in the barrel. The danger is firing the next cartridge with the squib bullet blocking the bore.