I bought about 150 or 200 once-fired brass in 38 Special at a gun show. I'm now reloading them, and have already processed about 80.
I see where there's quite a few brands of brass -- at least four. There's RP, W-W, Sellier and Bellot, and one or two more.
Using these brass, I am just loading moderate practice rounds for targets at 25 yds. I have just been reloading these cases "first come" as I pick them up, without regard to case brand.
Should this have any adverse effects? Would a person expect any impact on accuracy?
In a rifle at several hundred yrds. yes you could see an accuracy difference. In a pistol shooting at a distance of less than 50 feet, no I dont really think so. I have OCD about my rounds so even my pistol ammo is broken up by head stamps, but I dont think that it does anything other than keep from annoying me when I look in the box....
The only real issue I have personally run into with mixed brass has been lenght. I have found RP (Remington Brass) to run a little on the shorter side. This may or may not have an effect on the crimp. Keeping in mind a moderately loaded case like the .38 special will typicaly need very little to no trimming, it will also typically need only a moderate crimp (enough to take the bell out) Otherwise, no worries.
It can get confusing. I end up sorting them all out because once was reloading some Winchester and Remington 308 brass and in the Winchester brass my load wouldn't come close to the neck. Got used to that then did 3 or 4 Remington and thought my thrower had messed up cause the same charge loaded right to the top of the neck. Either way it won't cause any serious effects as long as you pay attention.
The only thing that I've noticed about mixed brass is that the nickle brass, especially in .38 Spec, tends to give up the ghost more quickly than plain brass. The common failure is a split case mouth or body. At moderate charge levels, and minimal flare and crimp this can be 10-15 loadings (or more)
I do like to keep brass separated by the number of times loaded.
DocAitch
rifle i see more thing happening like said before
but my pistol brass in sorted by caliber in to buckets
380,9mm,40,45acp,44mg 45c. the only this i seperate other than that is the nickle for my brother he likes it more casue its purtty,
For rifle I seperate brass into brands and track how many loadings are on that particular lot. even my .223, I may mix production dates on military brass but it is still seperated by manufacturer and tracked in lots.
I use the same brand seperated into lots for big bore pistol ammo like my 45 (long) Colt. I also do the same for my .357 jacketed higher pressure ammo.
But, for mid or lower pressure target pistol loads I'll use mixed brass to feed .38 special, .45 ACP, or 9mm (altho I don't load for this cal anymore). and at times I'll use mixed brass for cast bullet shooting in .357 or .45 Long colt. I do track specific lots of everything as to how many times loaded, all except .45 ACP. the 45 ACP just gets dumped into a big bucket. long ago I tried to find out how many times ACP brass could be loaded. once the headstamps were gone the brass was still going strong. I finally reached a point I decided to discard that lot and give up. since then I no longer track that brass, just mix and shoot it. (I do have a drop in case gage for ACP if I feel I need to check one)
my thoughts on mixed brass for mid to low pressure target from pistols is what ever the slight variations may be in POI are easily within my own "wiggle effect" since I always shoot pistols from a standing position.
P.S. I have yet in over 30 years needed to trim a pistol case.
__________________ If I need more than 1 shot, I need more practice.
Cooker that was barely recognizable as English. You never wrote so jumbled up before.
["rifle i see more thing happening like said before
but my pistol brass in sorted by caliber in to buckets
380,9mm,40,45acp,44mg 45c. the only this i seperate other than that is the nickle for my brother he likes it more casue its purtty, "]
Cooker that was barely recognizable as English. You never wrote so jumbled up before.
["rifle i see more thing happening like said before
but my pistol brass in sorted by caliber in to buckets
380,9mm,40,45acp,44mg 45c. the only this i seperate other than that is the nickle for my brother he likes it more casue its purtty, "]
sorry guys i got ya now. ill fix it. 3rd shift is killing me on getting my sleep back to normal
The only real issue I have personally run into with mixed brass has been lenght. I have found RP (Remington Brass) to run a little on the shorter side. This may or may not have an effect on the crimp. Keeping in mind a moderately loaded case like the .38 special will typicaly need very little to no trimming, it will also typically need only a moderate crimp (enough to take the bell out) Otherwise, no worries.
If you are loading brass (mixed or otherwise) that you just acquired (however) you should run all of them through your trimmer to get uniform length before attempting to reload them. This is necessary so your crimp (if used) will be uniform. It just eliminates a lot of little problems farther down the line. (like how much the case gets belled, etc.)
__________________
If it isn't broken, keep fixing it until it is.
If you are loading brass (mixed or otherwise) that you just acquired (however) you should run all of them through your trimmer to get uniform length before attempting to reload them. This is necessary so your crimp (if used) will be uniform. It just eliminates a lot of little problems farther down the line. (like how much the case gets belled, etc.)
It depends.....
with rifle cases, if the case is within the specified lengths, if you crimp best accuracy will be with all cases being of equal length. (otherwise you will be no better than factory ammo). if not using a crimp, variations within the specified range will have little effect, neck tension consistancy has more of an influence. variations in length, in theory anyway, should affect release tension, but variations in the hardness of the neck material itself seems to play a larger part in this.
Pistol cases that are within specified case lengths:
if using a roll crimp (as in rimmed revolver cases) some increase in accuracy I suppose can, or at least should be, achieved at average pistol ranges by having all cases of exact equal length (if your steady enough you might possibly see it, I have yet to do so).
NOTE: if working at or very near max pressure, I believe it would be best to have cases of equal length, of the same brand, and equal roll crimp.
P.S. even at max pressure on .357 loads I have yet to stretch a pistol case.
If using a taper crimp (cases that headspace on the case mouth) and the cases are within specified lengths, than no change of accuracy will be seen on case length variations within the specified range. (a .45 ACP has a variation of only .005" from min to max length, not enough to have an effect on how much flair is created to any noticable degree)
Special note:
all references above are for cases within specified book limits of minimum and maximum case length.
__________________ If I need more than 1 shot, I need more practice.
By running the questionable brass through the trimmer you know that they are all within minimum length. (I trim to minimum length, rifle and pistol but you can do as you like)
__________________
If it isn't broken, keep fixing it until it is.
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