Is it necessary to keep brass sorted (# of firings?)

[SOcalsurferx]

As the title says, is it necessary to keep my brass sorted according to how many times it has been fired. It is all Lapua brass from the same lot. I am mainly concerned with whether or not there wuold be any differences in accuracy from a case that has been fired 2x and a case that has been fired 4x. I fully prep all my brass the same every time it is fired (tumble, neck size, trim, clean primer pockets, chamfer, brush, etc.)

I have it all seperated now but am finding how this could be quite a pain to keep this way.

Thanks!

 

[fdshuster]

I've always kept brass sorted, in 20 or 40 or 50 round lots. For those of us who do not anneal the case necks, I believe as the brass ages and work hardens, (after 15 to 20 loadings with my Lapua), there may be differences in bullet pull between cases. I would not want to mix 3x fired with 25x fired for an extreme example. Also, with the factory chamberings, (like 223 Rem), when one case neck splits, usually after 12 to 14 loadings, I know I can expect to see more follow. Same applies to the case head seperation ring that may begin to appear and give warning of a future failure in that critical area. At least when these warning signs begin to appear, I know to stop using that lot of brass for "serious" purposes. So, is it necessary? To me it is, and worth the little extra time .

 

[SmokinJoe]

IMO, accuracy shooting is all about reducing the variables as much as possible. Therefore, the number of firings is just as important as most other variables that you try to reduce/eliminate, just as you go through a regimen to re-prep your brass before reloading it. Specifacally, if you mix brass that has been fired different numbers of times, you will introduce varying neck tension, bump back, body sizing - any dimension that the die is trying to repeat, since brass work hardens as you cycle it over & over. Hope this explanation helps you a little.

 

[SOcalsurferx]

Thanks guys, ya, that makes perfect sense. I need to get some little trays to keep the brass segregated.

 

[TheSnake]

Trays to keep brass segregated? I thought I read on the Zip-Lock bag boxes that they are good for storing brass. ;D

 

[Rust]

Brass work hardens with each firing/resizing cycle. In order to match the neck tension, brass should be kept sorted by the number of firing/resizing cycles.

At some point it's a good idea to anneal your brass as work hardening is not exactly uniform from case to case even with the same number of firings, and hardened brass splits the necks sooner.

 

[Gearheadpyro]

+1 to the above. I keep my brass sorted in 50 round lots. I've got a bunch of the plano ammo boxes and they work great for this.

 

[SS427]

+2 to the above. I keep mine sorted in MTM boxes is the only difference. These boxes come in at least 3 different colors, so I color code the same caliber for different guns. For instance .223 for my Remington goes in a green box, for the Savage I use a red box, and for my Wby I use a blue box. I use Avery labels on them to record loads and part of a label to keep track of how many times I have reloaded.