mixed brass

[fastchicken]

 Hello all, I'm still in the research phase of starting to reload for my 243s, & 270 and have a brass question. I am a recreational shooter and whitetail nut and am perfectly content shooting factory ammo [just want to shoot more for the $], as all my rifles will shoot 1-2" @ 100yrds and 2-3" at 200yrds with the bottom line Fed., Rem., and Win. ammo, and even shooting mixed groups.
  I am not an accuracy hound, as minute of deer is fine with me, and having an ample supply of all three brands of brass, would someone [who isn't trying to shoot 1/2moa groups] notice a difference over factory ammo by reloading with mixed brass? I know I could separate and load all 3 kinds, but I'm not looking at developing a bunch of different loads for different brass. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[DANNY-L]

If they are all preped the same they will work just fine for what you are looking for and probably better than you are used to.

[KansasPaul]

I typically don't separate my pistol brass by head stamp but I separate my rifle brass. If you are just reloading plinking rounds it probably wouldn't matter. I will mix winchester, federal, pmc, speer, and mil surplus for all my plinking rounds - when loading a specific worked up load I only use brass that has had limited reloads and I usually stick to premium brass such as Starline. The issue that you may run into with different manufacturers brass is case thickness (especially in the neck) and case volume. My experience with military rounds is that that the mil spec ammo generally has a different case volume due to brass thickness.  (probably not an issue with the caliber you are shooting).  I've also found some inconsistencies with primer fit between different brass manufacturers.  

Regardless of what brass you use, be sure to check cases lengths and trim your brass - this maintains both safety and consistency.

Hope this helps...

Paul

[Graybeard]

Weight them. That will tell you more than anything else. Some might be so heavy that the same max or near max load in lighter cases is actually dangerous. As I keep telling folks you cannot predict what is gonna happen in such matters. If you want to know ya gotta load them up and shoot them.

[Reverend Recoil]

For 100 yds off hand 30-06 practice with cast bullets I load from a bucket of mixed brass.  With a reduced load of fast burning powder such as Reloader #7 at 100 yds, mixing brass seems to make no difference.  Mixed brass makes no difference with my standard issue M1 rifle.

[jhalcott]

What Bill (GB) says is true! What Reverend says is ALSO true! The difference is the loads used by each. A 'soft" plinking load can be made from a number of different cases. A hunting load should be made from cases that are very similar in capacity and strength. I have weighed thousands of cases,after sizing/trimming and prepping them. You will find one brand that weighs much more than the others. This difference is due to the thickness of the brass,and CAN cause a large difference in chamber pressures. A 5 or 10 grain increase in case weight could result in an overload when worked up in lighter cases. Also cases become work hardened from repeated firings. The necks get a little brittle and seem to hold onto the bullet tighter. Combine this with a thicker case, and you get much higher pressures. For best results use new or once fired brass to work up your loads. Then keep track of how many times you load them. Get rid of them before you have any serious problems.

[Steve P]

I have my plinking loads with some mixed brass.  The are under book max, BUT I still sort my brass so I shoot all FC cases then all Rem cases, then all Win cases, etc.  Makes a difference in impact point that can be noticable beyond about 75 yards.

Steve

[Darrell Davis]

Afternoon Fastchicken,

GB said it pretty well!!  Weighing cases is a good idea!

Will relate, again, a story I have told before, but it makes a point.

When the posters say they used mixed brass for plinking or reduced loads, that is good advice.

Back probably 20 years or so ago, I was working up loads for the youngest son's 06.

We had a bit of a drive to the range we wanted to use, so wanted to maximize the effort and do as much testing as possible while there.

Loading the 5 shot test groups, I ran out of the brass from the batch we had been using for Jerry's rifle, so went to the brass bucket and picked out a bunch of brass made by the same manufacture AND with the same style head stamp.

As it turned out, I used these ODD cases in the last two test groups, 2 - 3 cases out of each 5.

Working up, we saw no problems, the groups and pressures looking to be about what we would expect --- until we came to the final two test groups.

In those groups, the odd cases threw their bullets out of the groups, and in the final 5, showed greatly increased pressures ONLY WITH the odd cases.

All of the ODD cases were sized and trimmed before loading, but one of the last cases fired streached beyond the "needs to be trimmed" length in just that one shot, while the primer looked like it had been riveted in place.

The point is, sort cases by brand and head stamp style and then weigh to avoid any overly thick cases which could possibly put pressures over the top if your loading typical hunting pressure loads.

AKeep em coming!

CDOC