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Posted: 11/22/2014 3:39:40 PM EDT
[#1]
i used to sort all of my brass. i think i was just wasting my time and now i just keep all my lc brass together and i put all my non lc brass together and when i get a 1k of it i list it on gb. i just find it easier to keep all lc brass and sell all non lc brass.
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Posted: 11/22/2014 3:53:10 PM EDT
[#2]
I sort for only LC brass which I use for reloading. I have recently been coming across Hornady 223/5.56 brass that I have sorted out. The remainder of my 223/5.56 brass is lumped into a general container. I have enough of the LC and Hornady brass that I probably will more than likely never get to my FC, PMC, RP, AP, PSD, Winchester, and whatever brass.
V |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 4:02:33 PM EDT
[#3]
Since you're not loading max or match loads you can dump all of them together and use them for plinking rounds.
I only use Winchester for my match rounds and keep them seperate, but everything else gets mixed together and used for blasting ammo. The FC headstamps are OK to use now unless they were made in the late 80's - early 90's before Federal took over the LC ammo plant. I think they make all their cases there now so they don't have the thin webs like they used to. There is a minimum dimension on the web and Federal was making their AE 223 ammo with web dimensions about 10 - 20 thou under that size, which lead to the '' is this FC junk or not'' question. The IK stuff is OK to load, make sure it's not berdan primed first. Don't remember if it is or not. |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 4:29:09 PM EDT
[#4]
The issue I'm having that has me looking at sorting more than previously is that I'm now regularly shooting anywhere from 50-400 yards in competitions and on the range.
My 'go to' load with Hornady 55gr FMJBT or SP bulk is 'accurate enough,' but I'm also starting to load more SMK 69grs for the longer 300+ yard rounds, while I had a pretty big surprise with some Xtreme 55grs - my Hornady loads are 1-2 MOA@100, and good enough to hit plates regularly and consistently at 300, basically as accurate as you'd expect from a non-precision battle rifle and decent, but bulk, projectiles. On the flip side, the Xtremes at 300 on a target were like a shotgun blast in comparison, so I've been removing brass and brass prep from the equation (and still seeing crappy results with Xtreme 55gr so far). On the plus side of sorting, I use some Federal primer boxes (hold ~300+ cases each) for sorting non LC brass, so whenever one fills up w/cleaned, sorted brass, it 'triggers' a brass prep/load session for whatever brass it may be, in addition to whenever I do batches of LC processing and loading. Still interested in more opinions on this one. |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 4:31:57 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Since you're not loading max or match loads you can dump all of them together and use them for plinking rounds. I only use Winchester for my match rounds and keep them seperate, but everything else gets mixed together and used for blasting ammo. The FC headstamps are OK to use now unless they were made in the late 80's - early 90's before Federal took over the LC ammo plant. I think they make all their cases there now so they don't have the thin webs like they used to. There is a minimum dimension on the web and Federal was making their AE 223 ammo with web dimensions about 10 - 20 thou under that size, which lead to the '' is this FC junk or not'' question. The IK stuff is OK to load, make sure it's not berdan primed first. Don't remember if it is or not. Win .223 or WCC mil? I read the looong Federal thread with DF's web check 2" rod and calipers process, but am still unsure on the FC NN marked brass - my assumption is to cull it out from the Fed .223 stamped, and use the former 'as usual', and the latter as short range match fodder where I can't get brass back. |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 4:35:17 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I sort for only LC brass which I use for reloading. I have recently been coming across Hornady 223/5.56 brass that I have sorted out. The remainder of my 223/5.56 brass is lumped into a general container. I have enough of the LC and Hornady brass that I probably will more than likely never get to my FC, PMC, RP, AP, PSD, Winchester, and whatever brass. V Yeah, lol - I'm amusingly going somewhat in the opposite direction - I have more than enough LC brass, to the point that I've got jugs and containers full of it, while the rest is in relatively lower quantities, so I just sort it into Fed primer boxes holding ~300-350 cases...and once a box is full, I'll prep and load it. This doesn't change prep and loading LC brass, is just 'in addition'/to do whenever I fill up a box of X cleaned brass.. I may well never touch my 'mixed' boxes of cleaned brass, but it's also why I'm asking there are some different thoughts on sorting, or sorting in larger groups, e.g. by case volume. |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 5:27:34 PM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
For a while, I was sorting .223/5.56 brass primarily into 3 groups - LC, non-crimped commercial, and 'mixed non LC military crimp,' and it worked out well enough, as I wasn't loading near max loads nor for super precision. Lately, I've jumped to 'full' sorting, after noting the 'oddball' PMP brass, and doing more load testing for accuracy. I've still got a 'mixed' collection of brass post-sorting, along with the more typical further sorted out brass (LC, Fed, PMC, Rem/RP, Hornady, TAA, PMP, PPU 5.56) - in most cases, I just don't seen enough of them to split into their own containers yet, although I have another ~8K or so to get sorted, so that may change... Just wondering what others are doing, and why...and a question on a pair of headstamps. I segregate those also... into 1 quart Ziploc freezer bags, labeled on the outside, big enough to read.... eventually you will have more....I use those for small load testing of different bullet / powder combinations 1. I have some 'random mil brass,' headstamp simply say 'M193' up top and a 2 digit year on the bottom - e.g. "M193 08" - not a clue whose brass this is. Anyone? Likewise, I've got some 'IK' mil brass that is apparently from Yugoslavia - anyone with experience reloading it to say it's good to go or 'avoid' for some/any reason, or if it's made by a known mfgr and just stamped differently? "M193 08" Is Centurion sold from AIM Surplus..... IK is from Yugo and said to have SMALL flash holes.... Which brings up one of the reasons I separate it all... small flash holes will ruin your reloading day 2. WCC, IMI, and I think one other headstamp have nearly identical case volumes. PMC, S&B, and Remington (RP) likewise, are nearly identical on case volumes. Any reason not to group those together (2 groups)? I don't segregate various headstamp be volume... because of the difference in the brass construction.. not all brass is constructed the same, I feel like I am removing a variable that way.  ...... from this article...http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/x-ray-spectrometry-of-cartridge-brass/
3. Last one - I've read many threads on the 'questionable' value of FC .223 brass. I've been separating these, but am I wrong in assuming the "FC 0N" vs "FC .223" brass is mil-spec NATO brass, possibly off the LC line, and can be further split out and loaded reliably (the FN NN brass)? more or less the same answer as before.... LC brass has to meet specific USGI specs... FC brass may not need to I do have a question for you.... How are you cleaning all this brass ? |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 6:36:10 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
"M193 08" Is Centurion sold from AIM Surplus..... IK is from Yugo and said to have SMALL flash holes.... Which brings up one of the reasons I separate it all... small flash holes will ruin your reloading day I don't segregate various headstamp be volume... because of the difference in the brass construction.. not all brass is constructed the same, I feel like I am removing a variable that way. http://accurateshooter.net/Blog/brassxray02op.png...... from this article...http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/x-ray-spectrometry-of-cartridge-brass/ I do have a question for you.... How are you cleaning all this brass ? Interesting, will read the article, although it seems like Winchester and another are virtually clones of each other, but then you seen the measurements were from different calibers. Any more info on the 'small flash hole' brass? Is there more out there than IK? Sounds like it's best put away for a 'rainy day' (meaning, I'll probably never get to actually processing and/or loading it.. ;) ) RE: cleaning - and now you know why I don't already have that ~8K sorted yet - cleaning is step 1, then examine brass after clean as part of sorting. While I like the 'bling' of wet tumbling, it's just added steps and wait time, IMO, so I'm still tumbling w/walnut + capful of Nu-Finish. I can clean ~400-500 at a time in a Cabelas (made by Berry's) tumbler..then have another batch going while sorting the first, rinse and repeat... |
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Posted: 11/22/2014 10:07:17 PM EDT
[#9]
Quoted: For a while, I was sorting .223/5.56 brass primarily into 3 groups - LC, non-crimped commercial, and 'mixed non LC military crimp,' and it worked out well enough, as I wasn't loading near max loads nor for super precision. Lately, I've jumped to 'full' sorting, after noting the 'oddball' PMP brass, and doing more load testing for accuracy. I've still got a 'mixed' collection of brass post-sorting, along with the more typical further sorted out brass (LC, Fed, PMC, Rem/RP, Hornady, TAA, PMP, PPU 5.56) - in most cases, I just don't seen enough of them to split into their own containers yet, although I have another ~8K or so to get sorted, so that may change... Just wondering what others are doing, and why...and a question on a pair of headstamps. 3. Last one - I've read many threads on the 'questionable' value of FC .223 brass. I've been separating these, but am I wrong in assuming the "FC 0N" vs "FC .223" brass is mil-spec NATO brass, possibly off the LC line, and can be further split out and loaded reliably (the FN NN brass)?  Beware of the PMP brass. It is much heavier than the rest you mentioned. I load it a full 2 grains lighter than LC, Win, PMC, RP, ect. FC 223 brass is better than it used to be. When I get some I sell/trade it off.
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Posted: 11/23/2014 12:18:07 PM EDT
[#10]
rtpguy, All you need to do is set aside a lot of brass for your precision loads. You say you have a bunch of LC. I'd just pull it aside and use it. You can even separate it down into years and then by weight if you wanted to.
I do it pretty much like you. I have LC, then all other crimped military, then commercial, then crimped commercial (Fed & Rem). I have a bunch of Rem non crimped commercial so I use it for all my "hand loads" I weight match some 50rd lots for my varmint ammo. My son has a nice lot of LC 11 he uses in his. All else is just used for range fun. My friend loves FC brass. That's one reason I got so much Remington brass I'd trade him the FC for Rem. 
dryflash, Thanks for the specific info on the PMP. |
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Posted: 11/23/2014 11:20:52 PM EDT
[#11]
I have a lot of the PMP brass.
The brass is very high quality, and taught me first hand why it's important to work up loads. Why? I got pressure signs one step up from the start load.
The ammo was very reasonable during the run up to Y2K.  IIRC $140 per k, a friend and I bought some to put away, and it is great shooting ammo. |
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Posted: 11/24/2014 11:49:42 AM EDT
[#12]
I think I'm going to make some minor changes in my sorting.
PMP (pimp brass?  ) gets sorted out, and it seems like IK brass will as well, for the time being (small flash holes, couldn't find too much on this being a real issue though, so anyone have more info here?).
Will split out FED .223 vs FED NN until I get some time to load and compare both vs standard loads w/LC brass on range and chrono + post-examination. I think the current 'mixed' brass will more or less just split into mil mixed vs commercial mixed, and I'll keep my other separations...will likely just use the mixed and FED .223 for hoser competition stages if I can't collect my brass. Good enough for now - I don't mind sorting it as long as I've got a container for a specific headstamp, as it keeps me sharp on examining each piece of brass before reloading. |
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Posted: 11/24/2014 12:53:32 PM EDT
[#13]
Isnt PPU brass supposed to be stuff that should just get scrapped? or has their quality gone up?
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Posted: 11/24/2014 3:44:15 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I think I'm going to make some minor changes in my sorting. PMP (pimp brass? ) gets sorted out, and it seems like IK brass will as well, for the time being (small flash holes, couldn't find too much on this being a real issue though, so anyone have more info here?).Will split out FED .223 vs FED NN until I get some time to load and compare both vs standard loads w/LC brass on range and chrono + post-examination. I think the current 'mixed' brass will more or less just split into mil mixed vs commercial mixed, and I'll keep my other separations...will likely just use the mixed and FED .223 for hoser competition stages if I can't collect my brass. Good enough for now - I don't mind sorting it as long as I've got a container for a specific headstamp, as it keeps me sharp on examining each piece of brass before reloading. It's easy to "fix" IK case small flasholes. I use a Lee Universal decapping die to swage the flasholes larger. The secret is to lube (case lube) the decapping pin every other case. Otherwise the decapping pin will pull out of the decapping stem. I use Imperial, a little on my finger to apply. |
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Posted: 11/24/2014 9:23:57 PM EDT
[#15]
dryflash is right... it easy to fix small flash holes.... as long as it is not midstream with other "normal" flash holes.
Otherwise you might not notice your depriming pin has been pulled out in one of those top rounds in your pile. Other known to me small flash hole .223 / 5.56 brass is.... Hirtenberg 5.56 ...Headstamp : HP .223 5.56.....( I think the 7.62x51 also ) ...... fairly unlikely that you would see any this ... but it is still around. Guatemalan 5.56... Headstamp : IMG 5.56 , w/ 2 digit year..... some still out there. Igman 5.56 ... Headstamp.....IK w/ 2 digit year 5.56x45 One other reason to segregate my brass just came to mind also.... I have some LC brass that has horribly off center flash holes.....while it does not seem to effect accuracy, it can bind up the reloading process... Look at this thread for an image and results of reloading the case. http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=557510 |
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