sorting 223 brass

[short range]

I have aprox 400 Lake City brass of various head stamp numbers. Is it best to sort them by weight or by year on the head stamp ? I will be loading them for my AR-15, not for competition, just for trying to shoot aprox. 1" groups at 100 yards. I will be using Hornady 55 gr Spire Point bullets.

 

[FroggyOne2]

Sort by year

 

[short range]

thanks FroggyOne2, why is it better to sort by year vs weight ?

 

[Catfish]

I never bother sorting myy 223 brass. I mix military and commerical and can tell no difference when shooting off handed. If your going to go for the best possible groups from the bench then sort them, but if they are for hunting for get sorting them.

 

[markm87]

I never bother sorting myy 223 brass. I mix military and commerical and can tell no difference when shooting off handed. If your going to go for the best possible groups from the bench then sort them, but if they are for hunting for get sorting them.

Agreed. Waste of time for what the OP is trying to accomplish. Internal case volume variances are negligible for most .223 brass. There's some oddball cases like PMP that have whacked out volumes, but almost everything else is pretty close.

 

[Shynloco]

Sort by year

Have to agree with Froggy on this one as the stated goal is accuracy. It's the same theory as lots being the same in the greater probability that the cases will have been made using the same material, same machines and conditions making the brass. That amounts to reducing yet another variable that leads to better accuracy. Thats why the serious and top shooters in competitons strive to get the variables down to the least possible. For any other purposes such as hunting or plinking, sorting means ZIP!

 

[short range]

Thanks everyone, Like I said, I'm not competing, but I like to do things that help with accuracy, so I will sort the brass by year, and do a test to see what difference it makes.

 

[ronemus]

I did an experiment several years ago to determine just how much effect brass weight has on .223 loads. I used WW brass (sized, trimmed and deburred, primer pockets uniformed, flash holes deburred, and neck turned) , WSR primers, charges of RL-15 or N-550 powder weighed to 0.1 gr, and 75 gr A-Max bullets. Using the lightest and heaviest cases (sorted from 1000 once-fired I had on hand), I had two lots of 10 cases with a 3 gr difference in weight. The average muzzle velocity difference was 16 fps, just a bit more than the 12 fps due to 0.1 gr of powder. I choose to sort 0.5 gr lots of brass for my long range loads, but the effect will only matter at 800-1000 yards - the vertical displacement on the target from such a small velocity change is negligible at shorter distances. Unless you control all other sources of variation, the effect of brass weight is negligible.

 

[jb]

i weighted abought 1200 mixed range .223 brass. weighted from 85.5 gr to 106.6 gr . the differnce in water weight of 2.3 gr so be warned.

 

[FroggyOne2]

Everything you do is to control the veticle dispersion.

 

[Taildrag15X]

Everything you do is to control the veticle dispersion.

+1

 

[short range]

I can see how sorting by the internal water volume can effect accuracy more than sorting by case weight. I'll have to sort some that way, and do a test using the highest and lowest volumes. I use the RCBS digital scale and dispenser, and I if the charge is off by .01 gr, I dump the powder back in and re-dispense it, I think it's just one of those many variables that can effect accuracy, even if by a small amount.