Realistically, how much difference can different brass make?

[pneumagger]

I'm looking into the prospect of reloading and, being ignorant of reloading, was wondering:
How much difference can result using a different kind of brass for an established load? Is it particularly dangerous?
I've always saved my brass, despite never having reloaded... so I have quite a bit of mixed.

I realize there are three primary reasons to reload; to save money, to maximize precision, or achieve maximum power. Perhaps a combination of two of those. Obviously, if you've developed a max power load it's probably best to keep everything consistent so you don't hurt anything. In fact, from what I've read, it's not even safe to shoot a max power load in a different gun than what was used to develop that load. So lets only consider reloading cheap ammo and reloading precision ammo.

For reloading ammo with a budget/plinker load does using new brass, used brass, or different headstamp brass make much of a difference? Is it safe? I think it would be convenient to develop a plinking load that uses cheap lighter bullets and average velocity/pressure and not have to worry what kind brass I have onhand. Is this a resonable expectation when reloading?

For reloading match ammo with consistency/precision in mind does using new brass, used brass, or different headstamp brass make much of a difference? Is it safe? I'm only talking about creating an acuurate, but not necessarily max velocity load for precision shooting. Although for precision loadings, I would have to imagine that every component variable might need to be the same to get match-quality results. Or is the type of brass used not a big factor in overall load consistency/accuracy?

[mg81]

You will find variations in brass, different thickness, hardness, case capacity, primer hole, etc. Not only between manufactures but different lots from the same manufacture.

All of these differences add up to variations in how the ammo is going to perform and variation is bad if you want the same thing to happen each time you pull the trigger.

All of that being said I mix brass all of the time, especially with pistol ammo. I doubt the vast majority of shooters would notice a difference between any modern made brass from the major manufactures (including a mixture of them) when shooting with a pistol in most situations. Which is good because most pistol work uses up a lot of ammo. I would go crazy trying to sort my 38 special and 9mm brass.

Now if you are doing rifle work you may want to eliminate a few of the variables that I list at the start. You might start to notice these in your group size. But if you are doing off-hand, rapid fire shooting it may not matter that much and sorting all of your random .223 ammo may not be worth the hassle, I certainly would not.

But for all of my bolt guns (and any of my guns that I do generally do slow, precise fire) I generally try to keep them the brass the same manufacture, purchased at the same time. My handloads are generally anything but max so my brass lasts a long time in these guns and it is easy to keep the brass separate, so I do. I think it helps and my group size agrees.

[Ramius]

What kind of press will you be using to reload? Because that will matter.

I use several progressive presses and check my brass. Notice I said check brass, not sort it. You can get a 9mm case stuck inside a .40 case, or a .40 case inside a 45 case. When running a progressive like the Dillon 650, it can run out 800 - 1100 rounds/hour comfortably. If you get a 9mm case inside a 40 cal case, your tempo gets disrupted, you can snap the decapping pin or jam up the machine. I have had cases that got stuck inside of sizing dies because one wrong case slipped through.

Mixed head stamp brass in handguns are no big deal, just load them up and go shoot.

For plinking and volume shooting calibers like 223. I sort my brass because some of the military brass primer pockets are tighter (some are crimped primers too). Because I use larger Federal small rifle primers, I have to throw away brass that might work with say CCI. Again, running on a progressive, if you push too hard, you can detonate a primer in the priming station if you try to cram a primer into an undersized piece of military brass (ask me how I know this!)

I sort my 223 brass. S&B in one, LC in another, Federal in another, Remington, etc. When I am loading if there is any resistance that is out of ordinary in the priming stage, I pull the brass from the station. This slows my reloading rate down to about 600 rounds/hour.

My 308 brass and 338 brass is inspected individually because I shoot very hot loads. They are sorted by head stamp, reload cycle, and gun. After 6-8 cycles I set the 308 brass aside for one final trim and they are delegated to final firing out of a semi-auto 308

Your expectations for reloading budget/plinker loads is normal. I know a lot of folks load lighter loads (say 185 grain 45 or 115 grain 9mm) because they get more bullets per lot and want the most for their money.

For precision loading, you will spend a lot more time working on the load/rifle. But this is where you are going to recover the cost of your equipment. Look at how much a case of Federal Match or Black Hills Match 308 runs today. How many rounds do you need to recoup?

Lastly buy your components in bulk. I get 25,000 primers and 32 lbs of powder at a time and it really helps.

[RamblinMan]

For handguns and carbines, and anything that chews up a lot of ammo, I mix brass, mix primers, use a volumetric powder throw, whatever works, and I generally still get good accuracy. I don't think you would ever be able to tell the difference, unless you were doing benchrest testing on a handgun or some such nonsense.

Your statement about having to tailor max loads to a specific rifle applies to precision loads as well. If you want maximum precision, you want to hold as many variables constant as possible. Different barrels will "like" different projectiles, surface material, seating depths, and pressures. So you're stuck tailoring ammo to your scoped bolt-actions, basically. For me, a bolt action rifle has a specific lot of brass, period. Once that brass starts separating, I start over.

As far as the high priced brass though... I am of the opinion that that is just a question of how much prep work you want to do. If you're going to be deburring inside/outside primer pockets, deburring inside/outside case mouths, reaming out primer pockets, turning the necks, etc., I don't think you need to uber-spensive stuff. Just get some bulk brass (all from the same lot, of course) and treat it to some serious pampering.

You missed the best reason of all to get into handloading though... FUN! It seems like a lot of work, and it is, but it is an extremely rewarding hobby. Good luck.

[dbrown]

I reload because I really enjoy it. I thought I would save money reloading and I'm sure that I do with some calibers (308 subsonic for sure) but reloading has allowed me to shoot A LOT more for the same amount of money spent.

One item that has helped me is a stainless steel tumbler. I was finding after several reloads that the corn cob and tufnut were not really cleaning the inside of the case. Over several reloadings it had gotten quite dirty and my velocity standard deviations were getting worse. I'd highly recommend it.

Enjoy