How much of a difference does brass and primer make?

roymunson

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I'm about 2 years into reloading and am finally starting to eat thru some of my initial stock. So while I had a bunch of primers and brass, I'm not looking for more primers (which are hard to find the same brand etc that I've been using) and my brass is becoming a mix of shelf bought ammo and reloaded brass.

I have my loads that are shooting well and I'm happy with them, but if for example I am out of CCI Large Mag primers and switch to federals, will I legitimately have to rebuild my load because it won't shoot as accurately? I'm talking about hunting purposes here. 0-500 yards.

Also, same question for mixed brass.

Or is seating depth, powder charge, and some of those things a bigger contributor to speed and accuracy?

Probably a total noob question, but I need to know if I should be selective and buy the exact same primers i've always shot, or take what I can more readily get.
 

Northpark

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Any time you switch components you should start over for safety. As an example when I first started reloading I had a .308 win load that was on the spicy side but was stupid accurate, I was using Winchester brass. So one day I grabbed some federal brass and load some up and hear some powder crunch. Didn’t really think about it. Same load right? So I go to the range and pull the trigger. Guess what. I blew a primer and had serious pressure issues. All because I was playing on the edge and switched a component. Turns out Federal brass had thicker walls and less case capacity than the Winchester brass causing a pressure issue.

My advice would be don’t mix your components. Not only for safety sake but you’ll have higher quality reloads. Then again you may mix and never have a problem and my opinion on here is worth what you paid for it.
 

hiker270

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Well it depends. I have not seen much of a difference in primers. I usually use both CCI or Federal. As anyone who reloads primers and powder nowadays can be hard to come by. Brass can be a different story. Brass manufacturers have different internal volume's and case thickness. This can create different pressure issues.
 

Wrench

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I've stuck bolts on minimum charges after swapping brass. Primers tend to not cause big pressure swings. ..but can create accuracy issues. By issues we're talking fractions of the group size.
 

A382DWDZQ

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One method I like is that before you run out, be it powder lot or primers, is to make a series that starts at the starting charge and shoot them so you can compare that to your work up for the new components. That can give you some indicators at safe pressures of how the new components behave compared to the old. If you have a ladder in .5gr increments of each and both performance and poi are behaving similarly, you might be able to just do more verification on your pet load. With the brass though, I think you’ll see more of a difference, but again, it’s helpful to have lower pressure loads with your current components to compare to.
 

dallen

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My experience has been the same as above. Primers, little difference. Brass, can be big. Used Hornady brass to develop a load. Used Nosler brass for a batch and ran into pressure right off the bat. Pick a brand and go with it.
 
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Primers, don't know, but if I switched primers I would chrono load to previous velocity starting 2 grains low and working back up. Quick range session IME. Safety concern: especially if going from standard to magnum primer less so vice versa.

Brass: not saying you are but I would never mix brass. Internal capacity of brass can vary a fair amount between manufacturers. Safe load in brand A brass may be unsafe in brand B brass.
For me, pick one brand of brass and stay with that preferably from the same lot.

IME, primer seating depth is underestimated. Most important component to accuracy IS multifactorial: consistent brass prep, consistent charge, consistent seating depth (bullet and primer).

Velocity is simply a combination of your primer, powder, brass case capacity, and bullet weight/seating depth. Throw in the variable some barrels will shoot faster than others.
 

JGRaider

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My experience has been the same as above. Primers, little difference. Brass, can be big. Used Hornady brass to develop a load. Used Nosler brass for a batch and ran into pressure right off the bat. Pick a brand and go
Mirrors my experience as well. If you're changing fro std to magnum primers I'd back off a grain and go from there.
 
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Primers probably not unless you are at the upper end of pressure already. If I recall correctly, federal LRM primers may be a littler hotter than CCI 250s.

Brass can definitely make some big swings. In general it's usually not difficult to get a baseline of how different brass compares though. Case capacity is the main difference that results differing pressure from case to case. If you weigh a fired empty case before depriming, then fill it to the case mouth with water and weigh again to get H20 weight ("H20 case capacity") you can get a pretty good idea how they will compare. It's important that they be fired and not virgin cases. Using a chronograph is an easy way to paint the picture of what's happening too.

For illustrative purposes - In 300wm case capacities can vary from 87.5 gr (Bertram) to 95 gr (norma) H20 with different brass manufactures. For comparison, 300 PRC cases ive seen reported at 95-97 grains h20 capacity, and 30 Nosler from 97.5 (peterson) -102 (ADG). So there is more variance in case capacity and thus velocity at a given pressure between different 300 wm brass manufacturers than there is between a Norma 300wm case and any of the available 300 PRC or 300 Nosler cases (given same barrel, throat, yada yada)!
 
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My advice would be don’t mix your components. Not only for safety sake but you’ll have higher quality reloads. Then again you may mix and never have a problem and my opinion on here is worth what you paid for it.
Disagree, that opinion is worth a lot for a newbie reloader. I will add, it you mix your components, it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when you will have a problem.

FWIW
 
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Thanks fellas. Primers, not the end of the world, never mix brass. Got it.

I'd keep brass separate but that doesn't mean the same load wont work about the same in 2 different types of brass. The important part is knowing the difference between any brass and how it performs and not just assuming it's all the same.
 

gbflyer

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Lots of good experience here. Mine has shown cases to be a big factor in chasing small gains in accuracy. Good, consistent case volume is a thing from lot to lot, especially with most factory fodder. The custom stuff is pretty darn nice. Also, that Federal GMM just works. I think because it’s soft. Doesn’t last forever but it’s great while it lasts.

If you’re talking practical hunting or plinking accuracy, I don’t think it’s a factor beyond staying safe.

Sorry if this duplicates others.
 

Vern400

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If you max out a 308 say in Hornady brass and drop that load in LC brass it's gonna be a bad day. The input here is the best I have seen. And I do mean that as a compliment.
 

Gingerman

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Horse is beat on powder capacity between brass, so I'll move onto precision application. The composition of the brass is different from brand to brand. I'll know immediately if I let an intruder case get into my lot. Like, F.C. in a Lapua batch. Sizing feels different and settings are out the window on shoulder bump. Different brass flows and fills the chamber at different rates. In nano seconds I'm talking.
 
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roymunson

roymunson

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Horse is beat on powder capacity between brass, so I'll move onto precision application. The composition of the brass is different from brand to brand. I'll know immediately if I let an intruder case get into my lot. Like, F.C. in a Lapua batch. Sizing feels different and settings are out the window on shoulder bump. Different brass flows and fills the chamber at different rates. In nano seconds I'm talking.
I'd agree even in my limited experience. I got some factory federal bullets that I shot and wanted to reload. My Norma brass is a completely different case in feel and thickness etc

Seem to shook OK, but i'm not running a super hot load out of the gun.
 

Rich M

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Shooting mixed brass here - using federal, remington, winchester with same loads and getting sub-moa. These are plain jane loads of Win 760, 150 gr 3006 at 2900 fps.

Get same results with 243 and mixed brass. 100 gr 2850-2950 fps loads using Win 760 or IMR4350.

I think it comes down to how picky you want to be. I have a 250 yard range to shoot at, very difficult to shoot further around here - nonexistent pretty much. Both guns are tight shooters and the brass is always mixed. Double that range and it may show some, triple or quadruple the range and it will probably be more noticeable.
 
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I'm loading hunting rounds for shots under 400 yards. I'm not prepping for long range benchrest competition. That said, I've never had a problem finding a sub-MOA load and often better, from my rifles with any brass I've used and standard CCI 200 primers. My brass preference has more to do with lifespan and ease of working/prepping than it does accuracy because I've seen so little difference in accuracy between the types of brass. That includes range brass (all the same headstamp mind you), Win, Hornady, Federal, Norma, PPU, Star-Line, Peterson and Lapua. I've used all of those at one point in the past 7 years.

My favorite brass these days is either Peterson or Star-Line (yes, over Lapua) because they last a long time and are easy to prep. Go figure.
 

Gingerman

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I'm loading hunting rounds for shots under 400 yards. I'm not prepping for long range benchrest competition. That said, I've never had a problem finding a sub-MOA load and often better, from my rifles with any brass I've used and standard CCI 200 primers. My brass preference has more to do with lifespan and ease of working/prepping than it does accuracy because I've seen so little difference in accuracy between the types of brass. That includes range brass (all the same headstamp mind you), Win, Hornady, Federal, Norma, PPU, Star-Line, Peterson and Lapua. I've used all of those at one point in the past 7 years.

My favorite brass these days is either Peterson or Star-Line (yes, over Lapua) because they last a long time and are easy to prep. Go figure.
I like Star-Line in 44 mag. I saw bags of 50 for $35 locally in 308 WIN. Prvi Partizan is good brass too. PPU headstamp.
 
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