mixing headstamps

[Bezoar]

Its always been that the thing that matters most in uniformity and consistency is case length, crimp, and powder charge. A lot is put upon using one headstamp for the load, ie, if you develop a load for your snubnose 38 with federal cases, only use federal cases for that particular load combination.

I have seen so many talks about how each brand of cases varies in lot from lot in dimensions, and within lots, that its just seemingly pointless to hunt down one headstamp for a load. Its the

who cares if the headstamp is different as long as the cases are all trimmed to the same length and they are the right caliber?

 

[CZ9shooter]

I dont worry about it too much. My typical pistol loads consist of mixed brass. Maybe half a dozen or so well regarded brands, ones I have had consistantly good experiance with, oddballs get tossed.

Every now and again I will develop a high end load. Then I narrow it down to one, sometimes two, headstamps. Just to limit the effect differing case volume in tiny little cases.

 

[rcmodel]

who cares if the headstamp is different as long as the cases are all trimmed to the same length and they are the right caliber?

Well, I care, but I've always been a little OCD when it comes to reloading.

The same length & right caliber have nothing at all to do with internal case volume, case web taper, and a few other things.

I have found over the years when I do start having problems with loose bullets, crimp jump, feeding in auto pistols, etc, it can usually be tracked down to one brand of brass.

And it's easier to track down if you load sorted brass of all the same headstamp as much as possible.

I wouldn't even consider trying to chase rifle accuracy with mixed brass!

rc

 

[gamestalker]

First off, I don't shoot competitively, so I have no reasonable purpose to squeeze .3" of an inch increased accuracy for my shooting needs. And although optimal accuracy is extremely important to me, small sacrifices are acceptable for my primary purpose, which is long range hunting needs.

Now regarding handgun, and even considering that all I load and shoot is full house jacketed loads, I have not found a viable reason to concern myself with matching head stamps. I do notice that some brass will show a little bit more / less pressure sign, and even over the chrony. But nothing indicates it's a safety concern, or self defense issue.

But when it concerns bottle neck cartridges, it's a completely different story. I do sort by weight and head stamp all bottle neck cartridges. I perform separate load developments for each as well, and with obvious justification, across the chrony, when reading pressure signs on the brass and bolt lift, and definitely when comparing accuracy.

I almost learned a lesson the hard way years ago, that was actually a close call, IMO. I was loading mixed head stamps for a full throttle load with a 130 gr. bullet in .270 win. for an up coming antelope hunt. I had previously worked up a load using new Winchester brass, but I already had a bunch of mixed head stamps ready to load, already trimmed the same, and primed. So for the sake of convenience, and not thinking much about it, I grabbed a bunch of it and loaded them. Oh, and the oal I had worked up previously had the bullets touching the lands, one more factor that played a part in pressures.

While grouping these on paper at 100 yds. I was paying attention to bolt lift, chrony numbers, primer appearance CCI-250's, and watching for extractor button transfer marks on the case heads. All was going well, though I noticed some minor variations in all of the above, except transfer marks on the case heads was nil, so I knew I was probably fine. Then I fired this one round, and the chrony indicated over 3200 fps, which was no less than a 60 or 70 fps gain over all others thus far. When I tried to open the bolt it was almost locked closed, though I was able to open it, it was extremely stiff. When i got the brass extracted I found a very deep button transfer circle on the case head, the primer flow was completely over the edge of the pocket, flush with the case head, top hat, amazingly though, the primer didn't pierce. the culprit, and I confirmed it when I got home, was that piece of brass had significantly less volume than the others I had fired. I think it was either PMC, or maybe Frontier, but it was without doubt the cause.

I proceeded to work up a separate load using that heavy brass, and the load maxed out at a good .5 grs. less than the previous load, if memory serves me well.

So ya, using brass of similar weight / volume is very important when loading high pressure bottle neck loads. Like I said though, I haven't felt the need to worry much about it with handgun brass, at least not yet. Sure hope I don't ever regret it.

GS

 

[Blue68f100]

Using mix head stamps are fine unless your shooting BE competition, or at the max. Change in case volume can run the pressures through the roof. All my rifle loads are the same head stamp. My BE loads for handguns are also the same head stamp. The difference is that I can use mixed head stamps in my handguns due to the reduced BE loads. Will see the difference on the paper though.

 

[kcofohio]

And it's easier to track down if you load sorted
brass of all the same headstamp as much as
possible

This ^^

And if I'm shooting next to someone, I can usually identify my brass.

 

[jwalts27]

I sort out all the Blazer brass i find. I find when loading 40S&W the bullets seat too easily and worry about about setback when chambering.

 

[murf]

9mm cases vary greatly in construction and volume. case wall thickness is not uniform from the mouth to the web and can greatly influence the load consistency.

357 magnum cases vary in wall thickness and can play havock with bullet pull/tension.

i try to load same headstamp cases, but sometimes don't when it comes to handguns. when i don't, i realize those loads will be less consistent and less accurate than when i do.

rifle cases are a different story: same headstamp, always.

murf

 

[Zeke/PA]

I sort out the empties that I find.
Why?
It's a personal thing I guess but I have about a thousand, once fired .38 Special empties that get loving care and "sorted out"

 

[vaalpens]

I don't know if it impacts accuracy, but I do feel the difference between different headstamps when I resize and prime. So now it is part of my process to sort by headstamp during the resizing and decapping stage. From that point onward everything is done by headstamp without any additional effort. Just another data point that is logged and can be used in my decision making if needed.

 

[paintballdude902]

for someone that just enjoys shooting and isnt trying to get every last bit of accuracy... i say dont worry about it.

but trying to get that last 1/10th of MOA off your group size: then yes it makes a ton of difference. but also at that point you are going to be buying nice new brass, shooting it once to fire form it to the chamber, neck sizing it and not shooting it more than 1-2 more times.

 

[Candyman87]

I sort by headstamp. Mostly because there are brands that I DON'T want in my mix... but since I'm going through, I sort entirely by headstamp in all calibers. I'll load entire batches of one headstamp.

 

[lauderdale]

I sort also. I like to keep star-line hornady, check for berdan primed, separate. Just for pistol. I also will load all of the same head stamp then onto next.

 

[Reloadron]

All my rifle brass gets sorted by headstamp and times fired. I size and trim looking for uniformity. Primarily because I load my rifle ammunition for consistency and accuracy. My handgun brass I only sort of give much thought to if I am loading for distance shooting with a concern for accuracy. If, for example, I am loading 45 ACP that will be shot at an indoor range at 7 yards I don't get very OCD about the brass. So overall it really depends on what I am loading and what I plan for those loads.

Ron

 

[Edcnh]

I also sort ALL rifle brass. I sort the majority of my pistol brass as well. I only have a few boxes of mixed headstamp pistol brass. But as someone else previously stated having one brand of brass definitely is a help when picking up your brass. Most of my mixed boxes are from adding brass to make a full box after losing some at the outside range.

 

[W.E.G.]

Won't matter a bit for the OP's " load for your snubnose 38."

Can matter a lot, and for a variety of reasons, when you get to bottleneck, high-pressure rifle cartridges.

 

[quartermaster]

It doesn't take long to sort brass by headstamp. Why not take the time to be safe?

 

[HEAVY METAL 1]

with rifles sorting brass can make a big difference, but not always in my experience. With handguns it seems to make more of a difference. I reload mixed headstamps, but when I get ready to shoot them I load the gun with rounds of the same headstamp as they seem to shoot to a slightly different POI. I sort through the box of reloaded ammo and shoot, say a magazine of starline, then a mag of RP, etc.

 

[Mad Chemist]

.44mag cases are the only pistol cases I trim or sort. If I shot any other magnum revolver calibers I would trim them as batches.

Doing all that work with service calibers or sub calibers is a silly waste of effort. If you are looking for accuracy, your time would be MUCH better spent practicing dry fire rather than by sorting and trimming your brass.

 

[joneb]

Won't matter a bit for the OP's " load for your snubnose 38."

I disagree. With well reloaded ammunition I can get good accuracy from a snub nose, with poorly loaded ammo I can't hit *****. With a short barrel those inconsistencies make a bigger difference.

 

[Bezoar]

heres the thing

right now the cheapest and most in stock brass for say 38 special is mixed headstamp and mixed with nickel plated.
kinda like "hmm do i need to purchase the 1000 round option so i can get 100 brand x cases for uniformity?"

there are a good number of remanfuctured ammunition on midwayusa website that feature in big disclaimers mixed headstamps and both nickel plated and regular brass in the same box.
-some of these ammunition are the fun level 38+p featuring heavy bullets loaded past 1000fps in a 4 inch tube
-user reviews dont mention any issues with accuracy.

 

[ScratchnDent]

I keep all of my rifle brass and auto-loading pistol brass meticulously sorted.

But, I do have a couple coffee cans full of 38 and 357 mixed brass for light plinker blasting loads

 

[oldreloader]

I sort my brass by head stamp because I "think" different brands "feel" different when resizing. That allows me to notice something that doesn't feel right.

 

[cfullgraf]

kinda like "hmm do i need to purchase the 1000 round option so i can get 100 brand x cases for uniformity?"

It depends.

I am like most of the previous posters, for ammunition used in competition or where I want to minimize case variations, I sort by head stamp. I have even sorted cases by weight within the same head stamp (off topic, this exercise is where I learned that some 223 Remington commercial cases are heavier than 5.56 NATO cases. The exercise also showed the great differences between different brands of cases).

Generally, I take more time sorting rifle cases.

For handgun, when I shot IHMSA Silhouette competition, all my handgun cases were the same head stamp as were the rifle cases used in IHMSA legal handguns.

Even when I shot competitive skeet, my tournament ammunition was all the same type and brand hull.

Using the same head stamp just reduces one of the variables. For the most part, it may not show a significant advantage, by why give something so easy away.

Now a days, i do not shoot much competition and handgun in particular, I do not worry too much about head stamps. I have a thousand or so 38 Special cases that I load with 148 grain wadcutters for plinking and they are many different head stamps. Ditto my 9x19 and 45 ACP.

My prairie dog ammunition is the same head stamp primarily because I only buy one brand of cases for the uniformity.

So, for me, whether I sort cases by head stamp or not depends.

Side note, one easy way to get the best of both worlds, is to buy only one head stamp case. No sorting and all the same head stamp.

 

[WestKentucky]

I guess I'm on the extreme side here...I don't sort at all. My handgun rounds are all pretty weak for caliber rounds so I load and go. No clue how many shots are on them, what headstamp, occasionally I don't even know what caliber is stamped on the case (I form bottlenecks from straight wall for use in .256 winmag, and 7-30w from 32 spl and 3030) again, no clue on loads per case, and loaded the same without regard to anything really.the key here is that I found a good load that's low in the power range. Amping it up would make me reconsider. Even in rifle rounds though I simply inspect and load. If I get an oddball I keep it to the side and inspect it to see what is different. Usually it's thin necked .270 brass and the odd rounds D is attributed to poor neck tension.