Thread: When can you weight sort brass ?

Is it best to do this on the brand new brass when it comes from the factory ?
Or perhaps
after first firing, size, trim length and uniform the pockets maybe even flash holes ?

I used to do it after first firing and brass prep. It definitely helps to cull out the few black sheep outside the bell curve. You just have to remember what you are doing with them when you are tumbling all your brass later on :-)

Whenever you want to. But what outcome are you hoping for?

Any stage of reloading Id say as long as it's consistent. How I think depends a bit on use. If it's for any form of range or target work where you get "sighters" in some form then a technique I've copied from US PRS guys is to weight sort in a progression from heavy to light and fire them in rough order.

Probly not the right approach if you are using them on game at extended ranges . . .

Life’s waaaay to short to be spending any of it weight sorting brass or mucking around with primer pocket and flash holes

Originally Posted by Sakoswarosorted

Life’s waaaay to short to be spending any of it weight sorting brass or mucking around with primer pocket and flash holes

Depends on the brass, I found up to nearly 10 grain variation in case weight of Hornardy 6.5 PRC brass - yikes!

Originally Posted by Tentman

Depends on the brass, I found up to nearly 10 grain variation in case weight of Hornardy 6.5 PRC brass - yikes!

What did you find in terms of measured difference in results with weight sorting?

Originally Posted by Tentman

Any stage of reloading Id say as long as it's consistent. How I think depends a bit on use. If it's for any form of range or target work where you get "sighters" in some form then a technique I've copied from US PRS guys is to weight sort in a progression from heavy to light and fire them in rough order.

Probly not the right approach if you are using them on game at extended ranges . . .

95% of the top 200 ranked prs shooters don't weight sort ever. 91% don't weight OR volume sort

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2024/...ooters-reload/

Originally Posted by gimp

What did you find in terms of measured difference in results with weight sorting?

Unfortunately there were multiple problems with the rifle so I changed several things but I went from an SD of 30 plus and occasional heavy bolt lift on moderate loads down to single digit SD and sub MOA accuracy

Originally Posted by gimp

95% of the top 200 ranked prs shooters don't weight sort ever. 91% don't weight OR volume sort

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2024/...ooters-reload/

I must have been thinking of stuff I read a long time ago, I bet they are sll using top notch (expensive) brass these days . . . .

I think if you care about the consistency of the load that much, buy brass that you don't need to weight sort.

IF I was to weight sort, it would have to be done before any brass was removed, otherwise what are you weighing?
I can see the theoretical point of several things done in brass prep but sorting by weight NO.
A case is simply a volumetric cannister for holding a charge, but weight variance could come from anywhere on the case.

Originally Posted by gimp

95% of the top 200 ranked prs shooters don't weight sort ever. 91% don't weight OR volume sort

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2024/...ooters-reload/

Yes but these shooters will be using premium brands of Brass which would tend to negate the need for weight sorting because you could reasonably expect more weight consistency from these premium brands. What about the benefits of weight sorting less premium brands.

We were talking about this at rifle club yesterday after shooting finished. Seems pretty common amongst club members, which include NZ Team TR and F class shooters, that they weight sort their brass and projectiles even when using top quality components. They also do the usual primer pocket uniforming, Checking flash-hole uniformity, de-burring flash-holes inside and outside. Apparently a couple of the top F Open shooters in the country weight sort their primers, now that's getting a bit over the top but if it helps your confidence then I guess why not. My eyes start to glaze over when they talk about counting individual powder granules per grain weight when changlng powder lots but these guys take it pretty serious. I guess do whatever gives you confidence in producing quality ammo but these guys are top level NZ shooters who have competed in the likes of Ballinger Belt, Bisley, Australia, South Africa, USA and elsewhere. That's a level or three above what most of us do. If it makes you happy, do it.

Originally Posted by johnd

IF I was to weight sort, it would have to be done before any brass was removed, otherwise what are you weighing?
I can see the theoretical point of several things done in brass prep but sorting by weight NO.
A case is simply a volumetric cannister for holding a charge, but weight variance could come from anywhere on the case.

If you weigh before trimming sizing etc you are weighing an unknown dimension.
If you size and do all your trimming and uniforming processes, then weigh, you are weighing a uniform external dimension.
So any variation must surely come from brass thickness. Which may or may not alter the internal dimensions /capacity of a case.
My last process is weighing loaded rounds, really just as a safeguard to check I haven't missed powder or used a different weight projectile.
I load PMC brass in one rifle and Winchester in another, same caliber.
If one of the other batch get mixed in, it's easy to spot because there's about twenty grains difference in the case weight. And quite different pressure signs in one rifle than the other.