Brass thickness variation

[Nicholas Fahey]

I was trimming some cases in the car on the way to work today
Good tip there, Gary.
And couldn't help but notice that there is a big difference in...
1. how much you have to trim off between the cases
2. how thick the actual metal is at the neck
All brass was once shot federal premium and all should have been from the same batch.
Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong at this embryonic stage of my reloading education?
Cheers
Nick

 

[finnbear270]

Hope you were in the passenger seat, not sure how much powder's gonna get spilled either! ...............seriously now, some cases will lengthen more than others for lots of reasons, size of charge & primer being a part of it, sounds like you have the usual run of the mill brass on your lap , I think it's probably a little early in the game for you to be into neck turning Steve.

 

[smithp18]

Hi Nick,
Curious on how you were trimming the cases in the car,
The main thing is the cases need to should be all the same length when trimmed.
Weigh the cases to see if there is a difference there, I would do this before resizing but if you are trimming then you are pasted that.

I would then mic up the external diameter at the same point on each case.

I would not assume that the same batch of ammo will have the same batch of brass when put together,

You will find there is a difference but for a hunting load you should be fine.

Smithy

 

[jcampbellsmith]

Try your case necks out on one of these:
http://www.sinclairintl.com/product/6801/Case-Gauges-Headspace-Tools
No two cases are exactly the same.....

 

[Brithunter]

As a reloader you should have a set of calipers to check lengths, please get a decent set and not some of the Mickey Mouse ones I see offered! they are not really that expensive, then it's easy to check the thickness of the brass at the neck and even check it's uniformity of thickness around it's diameter.

If you use cases from one batch they should be of fairly good consitancy providing of course they are of good quality.

 

[Muir]

Better yet, get a Lee trimmer and never use a caliper again for case length. If you are not a benchrest shooter, nor a precision long range varmint shooter, forget neck turning. It will cause you more grief than it is worth.~Muir

 

[derek treherne]

Hi nick
Neck turning is a waste of time unless you have a custom made bench rest gun . standard sporting rifles will never know the difference but be careful the necks can seperate at the shoulder as some cases are out of line on the neck.
Cheers Derek Treherne

 

[Nicholas Fahey]

I was just surprised at the difference between the brass, not going to be turning. just wanted to make sure it wasn't something I was doing wrong that was causing it. I thought fed premium brass would be good but it is not as consistant as the Laupua or the Nosler custom from what I have seen.