How Much Difference Does Brass Make?

[Wismon]

How much difference does it make to switch brands of brass? (Or to play bass in a brass band?)

I have one rifle that's not performing as I expected, but I suspect that the brass I'm using is on the soft side. If so I bet thicker or stiffer brass would allow more pressure to build up within the chamber so that the slower power in question might perform per the load manual.

Whatcha think?

[LE]

Don't know much about brass, but do know they say it makes a difference. I would say the biggest difference would be heavier brass has less volume, so this would tend to inrease pressure somewhat. Probably due to less volume which would fill the case up more with the same grains of powder. This could then also give a better powder burn before the bullet hits the barrel. Just a guess.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Wismon, I just depends on what I'm doing. If I'm loading ammo for casual shooting I just use any old brass, mix and match. For a few of my rifles I use brass that is matched as best I can. I trim it and weigh it. I keep the matched stuff and thrwo the rest in the mix-matched box. To a large extent this is only for some of my 30-06, 25-06, 308 Win, 308 Norma and 270. Most of the rest is mixed lots, or mixed brands. For my purposes and the majority of my shooting my method works just fine.

On occasion I will do otherwise. I have never gone so far as to measure the volume of the cases but I understand that some guys do. I suppose if I ever got into target shooting to and obsessive compulsive degree I would do so. Thank God I'm not there yet.

I used to sort brass but it became a full time job, so I stopped.

Oh yeah, to answer the question. It makes a difference, sometimes.

Alan

[Wismon]

Sounds good. I plan to give it a try. It should prove intersting, if nothing else.

[Bill Gunn]

I mix a lot of mine for general shooting, and still get pretty close to MOA.

For serious target and long distance target shooting I use better brass, sorted, and trimmed to get below 1/2 moa.

I Think (JMHO) that the most improvement is achieved by cleaning the flash hole, with the inside being the most important. It surprising how nasty some of them are on the inside. I've seen some where the primer hole punch even left a small flap of brass inside. Only takes a minute to do 20 with a battery drill and a Sinclair flash hole cleaner.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/images/uploads/5474_4490_large.jpg

[tommyt]

If so I bet thicker or stiffer brass would allow more pressure to build up within the chamber so that the slower power in question might perform per the load manual.

Whatcha think?

If your wanting more Pressure How about Crimping and adjusting the amount of Crimp ?
Tommyt

[Hi Ball]

It can and does make a lot of difference when you speaking of shooting very small accurate groups with a pistol or rifle.:)

[Ol` Joe]

How much difference does it make to switch brands of brass? (Or to play bass in a brass band?)

I have one rifle that's not performing as I expected, but I suspect that the brass I'm using is on the soft side. If so I bet thicker or stiffer brass would allow more pressure to build up within the chamber so that the slower power in question might perform per the load manual.

Whatcha think?

You won`t affect the burn rate much with a change in brass. You might try a different primer or a bullet style with a little more bearing surface.
To be honest, if you aren`t getting manual velocities, you are amoung a big crowd of reloaders. Most manuals are a little optimistic with their loads IMO. Especially the ones that report velocities from long test barrels and not what you can expect from a std factory tube of shorter lenght. I try to find the most accurate load today, and don`t pay much attention to velocity anymore. If I need more then the cartridge I`m loading wants to give switch to a bigger cased cartridge.

[Wismon]

Thanks for the info folks and sorry for the late response.

Tommyt, I do crimp my rounds, actually.

Ol Joe, I don't chase velocity either. Me no want rifle go kerbooment. Besides, if I really want velocity all I have to do is use the Reloader series of powders. But I'm still not comfortable with how the double based powders seemingly get more velocity without uping the pressure. Something doesn't figure there, unless the added nitro makes a slower powder be able to compete with a faster single based powder.

I was just asking because of one stubborn powder in one stubborn rifle. I need to quit being so stubborn and instead use a different powder for that round.

[ColoYooper]

ACCURACY IS CONSISTENCY.

For my target loads:

1) I don't mix brass
2) I purchase 200 cases.
3) I trim all cases to a specific length and debur the flash holes.
4) I sort all 200 cases by weight and keep the middle 100 cases.
5) I use a wall thickness gauge and keep the best 50. ( less than 0.002 variation )
6) I file a small notch in the rim of the case indicating the narrowest side measured. This is loaded notch up to maintain consistent initial harmonics
7) I annel the necks to soften the brass. This prolongs the life. I repeat this every 4 loadings.
8) For competion, I sort each loaded round by weight, and shoot the lightest to heaviest in order.

Other than that...brass doesn't mean a thing.

[Wismon]

Wow, sir, you’re in a different realm from me.

[ColoYooper]

Thats only for my 1000yrd competion loads...for my hunting loads I bypass the notching step.

[Fuzzball3]

I've found modest differences in the effects of brass but never anything massive. It's more of a good load tweak than salvation for a rifle that won't group tightly.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Fine explanation Fuzzy.

ColoYooper, That's about as involved as I've ever heard of. Just the same I wouldn't want you shootin at me at 1000 yards.

Alan

[Fuzzball3]

"Fine explanation.."

Well, I often read/hear folks saying, in effect, "I do this and so...all done for finest accuracy", as if the fact of their doing it substantuates its worth but they NEVER give any data as to the effects of all their meticulous work. Is there any information in that lack of information? I 'spec so! :D

I've been at this long enough to have tried about all of the picky "tricks" and TOOLS. I've found most of them useless unless/until our groups are consistanly half MOA or better. And that's about the limits of accuracy with factory rifles/stocks/scopes and factory bullets used on conventional benches, rests, etc., anyway. So, most of the super fine tweaks we may like to use are actually NOT much help!

Okay, I still do them too, just for the confidence factor, but I know I'm fanning the wind with a lot of it.