BennyS
Member
Do you separate your pistol brass by manufacturers head stamp or just mix all together by caliber?? I load 45 and 9mm for target shooting and separate them all. starting to get annoying!! LOL
Seperating pistol cases
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ronnie gore
Member
cases
as a rule I don't separate them, with the exception of seller& bellot 9mm as they have very tight primer pockets.
if I am loading carry loads I do use all the same cases, target loads don't get the treatment.
as a rule I don't separate them, with the exception of seller& bellot 9mm as they have very tight primer pockets.
if I am loading carry loads I do use all the same cases, target loads don't get the treatment.
6thtexas
Member
I separate mine. I have found that groups fired at 25yd.+ yards tend to string vertically with mixed brass. I guess it is due to the different internal capacities of different brands. I also save all my wadcutter brass for wadcutter loads as they are cannelured for such.
joeintexas
US Veteran
I know a lot of folks at the gun club here that separate their brass by headstamp, personally I don't. My carry ammo is factory Hydroshock so it isn't a concern, my range ammo is various headstamps and I haven't noticed a significant difference in any of it. I can't shoot the wings off a fly at 20 yards with any of it anyway, if I hit a paper plate everytime I'm happy.
italiansport
Member
What's a headstamp? Is that like a clean primer pocket?
klausinak
US Veteran
I segregate all of mine by headstamp, but I'll also admit that I really don't think it does anything except feed my OCD a little more. Of course I do a lot of contradictory things in my reloading habits. I sort by headstamp, refuse to weight-sort anything; I have to trim revolver & rifle brass, but trimming pistol brass is a waste of time. I'm not trying to say that one way is better than the other, it comes down to how anal do you want to be? If you've got the time & it makes you feel better, then go for it 
.
-Klaus
.-Klaus
I don't separate my 9mm brass since it is loaded for the others in the family. They all just pull the trigger and hope they hit the target........no big deal, so why bother ?
I do have a box of 50 that I use in testing loads with that are the same lot/make. After 5-6 reloads I toss them into the "Mixed" pile for light target loads.
I do have a box of 50 that I use in testing loads with that are the same lot/make. After 5-6 reloads I toss them into the "Mixed" pile for light target loads.
OLDNAVYMCPO
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
The only time I ever separated pistol cases was when loading .44 Mag for shooting competition in IHMS a long time ago. I have a friend who is a shooting buddy and he religiously separates all cases by headstamp. Can't tell it makes a difference at the distances we shoot.
bobbyd
Member
When sizing or flaring on a single stage press, I can most definitely feel the difference in dimension, thickness and hardness of different makes of brass. This is often so distinct that I have gotten pretty good at ID-ing the manufacturer by feel alone. (Especially true for R-P brass which is about the thinnest and weakest of all, Speer which is often shorter, Herters which is harder etc.)
If the variation is this noticeable, it simply must affect the neck tension and how the case grips the bullet, and thus accuracy,
I sort my brass by major headstamp but still end up with a residual amount of mixed leftovers which are not worth sorting down any further.
I can clearly tell the difference between mixed-lot groups and single headstamp groups which have far fewer fliers and unexplained misses.
This all, of course, is somewhat gun dependent as some guns are not particularly accurate with any ammo. It is, however, evident with higher accuracy guns where ammo deviation matters.
If the variation is this noticeable, it simply must affect the neck tension and how the case grips the bullet, and thus accuracy,
I sort my brass by major headstamp but still end up with a residual amount of mixed leftovers which are not worth sorting down any further.
I can clearly tell the difference between mixed-lot groups and single headstamp groups which have far fewer fliers and unexplained misses.
This all, of course, is somewhat gun dependent as some guns are not particularly accurate with any ammo. It is, however, evident with higher accuracy guns where ammo deviation matters.
OP
BennyS
Member
That's why I asked the question! Didn't say I noticed a difference, just wanted opinions if I was wasting my time
m657
Member
I found most of the OCD details have less to do with the POI than most of my own variable daily attention to the basics of sight alignment and trigger control.
If I can make consistent "groups" of appropriate size rather than rat droppings in a dresser drawer pattern, I'm satisfied.
Recently I came up with 2 separate loads for my 627V8 PC at 40' that gave me 8 shots well in under 2" square. Most of them were touching each other. That works for my needs.
If I can make consistent "groups" of appropriate size rather than rat droppings in a dresser drawer pattern, I'm satisfied.
Recently I came up with 2 separate loads for my 627V8 PC at 40' that gave me 8 shots well in under 2" square. Most of them were touching each other. That works for my needs.
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I bought a bunch of "once fired" nickel cases both in .38 and .45. I must have a lot of time on my hands because I was curious as to how many different head stamps I had. I counted 15 different .45 ACP out of 1750 cases. I obviously didn't do this all at one time, it was over the time I took to de-cap and size them. I don't separate them when I'm reloading, just doesn't make any sense for me to do so.
When I was shooting match's I would sort brass for match loads, but practice ammo is not sorted.
klausinak
US Veteran
This ^^^ speaks volumes! It doesn't keep me from my little OCD quirks though, I've even been known to clean a primer pocket on occasion
.-Klaus
Never.......A waste of time.
