Very few posts but a long-time lurker of these forums. I’ve been reloading long enough to know what I know and know that I don’t know it all.
Background:
Lee Classic 4-hole turret press
Lee Auto Powder Measure
Lee dies
x-Treme 230gr RN (0.452”)
Bullseye 4.6gr
OAL 1.245” (+/- .005”)
Winchester Large Primer
Random range brass tumbled with Lyman stainless media
I was reloading 45acp last week and as I was placing the finished rounds into the holder, something seemed off with a few of the rounds. I decided to weigh all of the components separately and then weigh 50 of the finished rounds and noticed that there were a few that were heavier by about 5gr. This was a concern based simply on the basis of my charge weight and the possibility of a double charge was evident.
I then charged 50 cases separately to see if the powder measure was off. It wasn’t.
I then weighed 50 random bullets and they were all within an acceptable range. Nothing extraordinary in terms of weight variance.
I knew the primers were not going to be the cause but I weighed a handful and their weights were insignificant. This led me to the brass and my initial thought was the possibility of stainless media being stuck inside the cases. I checked about 500 recently cleaned cases and that was not the issue.
I then randomly pulled the following cases (40) separated by the case’s headstamp and measured their weights (in grains); large primer pocket without a primer:
Federal (6)
83.2, 83.3, 83.9, 83.8, 83.3, 83.4
Winchester (6)
84.4, 84.4, 84.2, 82.4, 83.0, 83.3
PMC (6)
87.2, 89.1, 87.7, 88.8, 89.0, 89.9
Speer (6)
89.9, 90.0, 90.2, 90.5, 90.0, 90.4
RP (6)
83.8, 83.4, 84.0, 83.0, 84.0, 83.5
PPU (4)
80.1, 81.4, 80.1, 80.1
SIG (4)
86.0, 87.1, 87.4, 87.3
Perfecta (1)
85.3
HRTRS (1)
84.9
I then reloaded the 40 cases and then weighed the finished round. As I expected, the Speer cases were heavier by about 5 grains, whereas the other re-loads were within a similar weight range. I felt much better in that I didn’t have to pull the bullets but it also made me think about the fact that Federal manufactures Speer brass. Different specs? Different machining? Oh well, my OCD stopped at that point.
