weighing brass

Share information about reloading the 204 Ruger.
tuck2
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Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 4:55 pm
Location: Western Nebr.

Re: weighing brass

Post by tuck2 »

I seperate a bag of 100 ea brass by weight after trimming to the same length, deburring the flash hole, cutting primer pocket to the same depth, deburring the in and out side of the neck. The brass is then put in groups of 20 ea ie 5 boxes by weight . Most of the time only the neck are sized to reload them. I m retired so I have the time . When I miss a prairie dog I wont to know that it was me ,not the rifle, scope or ammo.
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GaCop
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:53 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: AR-15, 24" stainless varmint barrel
Location: Warner Robins, Ga

Re: weighing brass

Post by GaCop »

Being a "benchrester", I sort my brass by weight after prepping and trimming. It gives me peace of mind when I'm pulling the trigger and that alone may be why I get some nice tight groups, who knows. I just got in a batch of RP 204 cases from Grafs. I was amazed at the weight consistency, +/- .5 grain on the 100 I weighed. The flash holes felt as smooth as Lapua brass and the primer pockets were not as tight as past batches I've bought. I didn't have to fight with these cases to uniform the pockets. Could Remington be getting better?
HoundofSC
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Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2012 4:36 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Stevens based custom

Re: weighing brass

Post by HoundofSC »

since sometimes the extra weight is in the base weighing is not always effective. What you want to measure is volume, but the old school water method is a pain. Try this instead. Use fine grained powder like TAC, fill a case all the way to the top then dump it into your powder funnel and then into the next case, repeat this through your batch of brass. Any case that's volume is off more than 1/16th to 1/8th inch you discard or put into a seperate pile. You will be surprised how fast you can do 100 cases this way.
Wrangler John
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Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:05 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage Precision Target/Shilen Custom

Re: weighing brass

Post by Wrangler John »

shtnrlse wrote:Wrangler, you're a genius....
Shot this group about 3 months ago....5@100yds.
Image
Four different brands of brass; (neck sized with .224 bushing)
(2) Federal's (98.4 gr. & 98.9 gr.)
(1) Remington (95.8 gr.)
(1) Hornady (101.7 gr.)
(1) Winchester (98.3 gr.)
Wanted to see how much of a difference there might be..
My best group to date is this,from a rag-tag fleet of miscellaneous brass.
I keep my brass segregated by brand. A box of 50 rides together to the end.
26.8 IMR8208/40gr .Vmax/Rem 7 1/2....measurements were taken with primers
Not so much a genius than a old guy that has already learned from every silly thing imaginable. Back when I was shooting a heavy slide 1911 bullseye gun I used salvaged brass from the range. Tossed that brass in a coffee can, bought bullets from a commercial caster that sold them in 500 lots packaged in used cigar boxes (crappy cheap Roi-Tan stogies at that), and loaded them with 3.2 grains of Hercules Bullseye and whatever primers I had, then stuffed them back in the coffee can. That 1911 had been built by F. Bob Chow and would shoot possibles from a Ransom rest. Those mixed loads would cut the X-ring out with a few in the 10-ring and one or two occasional 9's when I fouled up. Nothing like the look on serious shooters faces watching the young punk shooting ammo out of a Folgers can with no x-ring left! Then I switched to a Ruger Blackhawk .45 Convertible with the .45 ACP cylinder and shot even smaller groups! Darn that was fun.

So, when I tried shooting up remnants of varmint ammo loaded in different cases, it came as no surprise that it shot as well or better than those of one brand. Recently, in the past year or so, I read an article in a gun magazine where the author tested different brands of cases to discover which was most accurate. Then just to be silly, he fired groups with one of each brand in the mix. Well, you know what happened - the mixed lot groups were the smallest! He was amazed, the editor was amazed, and the pundits were apoplectic. Apoplectic means the way you feel when going down the kiddy slide with a wedgie cutting off the circulation to vital anatomy. Ah well, now they're all old guys that know something.
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bow shot
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Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:04 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Rock River Arms AR-15 Varminter
Location: Central NY: infested with liberal wack-jobs and their damage

Re: weighing brass

Post by bow shot »

LOL! points taken Wrangler'!!!
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