Mixed lots of handgun brass

[flabbydan]

Please forgive me if this question has been asked before.  The search feature doesn't seem to be working.
Does using mixed lots of the same brand of brass (of relatively recent manufacture) make much difference when reloading handgun cartridges? 
Dan

[Tom W.]

It shouldn't, unless you're going for competition.

[PaulS]

If it is all the same make you are way ahead of most of the guys out there. If you are real eager to make sure that it is all perfect you can weigh the brass and put it in piles of brass by weight. You have to size and trim it all before you weigh it though because that way it is all the same dimension on the outside. The heavier brass will have less internal volume. That's important because for every grain of extra brass you have about .2 grains less powder that can go in the case. Your powder weighs about 1/5 as much as brass so if the case is the same size on the outside and weighs 5 grains more than your average case it will have to have the load dropped 1 grain to keep the pressure the same.
For the most part you will be fine shooting mixed lots of the same make case. I weigh my pistol brass because I use H110 and it nearly fills the case. I need to keep in mind how much my brass weighs.

[Catfish]

Very few people are good enough shoots to tell the difference with mixed brands of brass let alone different lot of the same brand with handguns.

[PaulS]

Catfish,
Thank you! I haven't had a complement like that in a long time.

[Siskiyou]

When I am reloading 38 Special or 357 Magnum brass for practice I am not concerned about brand names.  I have a five-gallon bucket full of brass swept off the floor after combat shoots.  If it makes sense and I am into one brand of brass I will separate it out.  But when shooting at silhouette targets from 3 yards to 60 yards it does not provide me any benefits.  I do separate .357 brass when loading full house loads.

But when it comes to loading for an auto loader I separate my brass to insure proper bullet seating, crimping, and functioning.

[Lloyd Smale]

Heres my take on it. IF your looking for the altimate in accuarcy yes it may help. When im shooting bullseye or even ppc in competiion i shoot only once fired matched headstamp brass. It may give a slight advantage in accuracy but the main reason is reliablity. I dont want a junk piece of brass to cause a hangup or a split case from tired brass in competion.  Ill buy a bunch of matching headstamp brass and load my comp ammo with it. Once its fired its usually left on the ground but if i do pick it up i put it with the practice brass and thats mixed and im not going to bother seperating brass for practice. I havent trimmed handgun brass in 20 years. Sure it may give more uniform crimps but ive never seen it make a bit of differnce on the bench. One exception is handgun hunting ammo. I dont know if its neccessary but I guess im anal enough to do it in that circumstance. Its nothing for me to shoot 500 rounds in a day and i just dont have time to sit and seperate brass and trim brass. Id rather be spending that time shooting.

[S.S.]

I was in competition for a lot of years and the only thing I found
that really made a difference was overall length of the case before loading.
If they were all the same length before reloading, it allowed for a very uniform crimp
from case to case.

[Evil Dog]

At one time (like 20 years ago) I used to separate brass by headstamp... can't really say that it was ever worth the trouble.  Now the only sorting I do is between plain brass and nickel plate.

[gypsyman]

Charles Petty did an article on this several years ago. Can't remember if it was in American Handgunner, or Rifleman magazine. He made a fixture to hold a .45 barrel. He actually was writing an article on how good different barrels shot. What he found out was that an old WW11 barrel that he had picked up at a gun show shot the best,with one of his hand loads, and the brass was not segregated. There are so many variables in a handguns, mixing of brass is a small one. Unless it just makes ya feel better by doing it. We keep trying peace, it usually doesn't work!!Remember(12/7/41)(9/11/01)gypsyman

[LarryL]

At one time (like 20 years ago) I used to separate brass by headstamp... can't really say that it was ever worth the trouble.  Now the only sorting I do is between plain brass and nickel plate.

Hi Evil Dog,

Why do you separate the nickel plated cases vs the brass cases?  I have several hundred brass cases, and a couple hundred Pro Load nickel plated cases that I reload for my .44 mag.  They've all been reloaded 2-3 times now. 

Larry

[flabbydan]

Thanks for all the input fellas!!

Dan

[rbwillnj]

I did a bunch of Ransom Rest testing a few years ago to find the best load from my 1911.   I found that by trimming all the brass to the same length, and by using one brand of brass, I was able to take my group size to 1" at 25 yards vs 2.5" with mixed untrimmed brass.   That's a big enough difference to make a difference in my scores.  None of the brass was once fired.