I have a bunch of factory-ammo brass that I’ve recovered, all different brands. 6.5 Creedmoor
I’m wondering about reloading them. Does a variety of manufacturer’s properly sized and seated cartridges have any bearing on precision? If I take my Hornady, Federal, Berger, Lapua, Winchester, Remington, etc, brass and otherwise make them all identical, the only difference being the source of the brass, but then shoot them to find my ideal load, will that have any bearing on my SD and accuracy? Or should I toss them and always use the same brass (I have 100 Lapua small primer cases on the way).
I’d like to use them until they’re run out, but not if it’ll degrade my consistency and accuracy.
I have found in my own reloading that small primer pocket versus large primer pocket definitely made a difference in velocity.. Your sd’s and your es will be much tighter if you separate brass by manufacturer. If shooting inside of 600 yd, it’s not that big deal when you pushed past 600 it will definitely affect your accuracy. Your sd and your es will be more consistent if you separate brass by manufacturer. Some manufacturers will be close and some will be way off of other manufacturers. Also , brass that you just picked up off the range that wasn’t fire formed to your rifle may change velocities until its properly fire farmed to your rifle. If you’re going for ultimate precision sticking with the premium brass , like lapua or peterson or adg is your best bet for consistency , It really just matters on how small of sd and es matters to you.
Yeah, that’s what I’d figured, but was hoping that maybe it was unintuitively otherwise. I think I’ll use the ground loot to practice reloading and shooting, the Lapua for actual load development and the pursuit of perfection.
I think also you need to decide what you’re using it for. If you are shooting for precision, you should probably use the same type of brass. If you are just developing loads for general “go to the range and shoot steel targets” and have fun with your buddies, then the SD isn’t going to matter a whole lot and using a mix of brass is not that big of a deal. One other thing to remember some manufacturers are more consistent than others with their brass.