Do I need to sort .223 / 5.56 Brass?

[Mike in CT]

I have reloaded Pistol in 9mm and 40S&W but just starting to reload for my AR15. When I started loading for pistol I would sort by headstamp but soon learned that it did not make any difference to just run 'everything' through the press and then through my pistols.

I have a couple of thousand cases from my rifle and range pickup. My question is how much sorting is needed?

I shoot Lake City M193 5.56 brass and most of my range pickup is various .223 Aside from the crimped primers, do I need to sort the brass in order to reload a 'plinking' load? I plan to load with H322 and likely load on the low side of the load data so I do not think case volume will be an issue. My use will be plinking and 3 gun shooting, so targets out to 200yards, but no need for match grade ammo.

I just started to tumble the brass and am getting ready to deprime and trim so now would be the best time if I need to sort.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Mike

[mpeltier]

I only sort military crimped brass seperate from commercial non crimped. Just because there is less processing needed with the comercial. They all get loaded the same and shot in the same guns and always give me match grade accuracy. Except for the crimp, my chronograph and targets can't tell the differance.

[Outsydlooknin75]

I sort mine simply because I do. But I'm actually sorting for a couple reasons. I load subsonic 62grain soft points for the bolt gun in winchester/wcc brass. 69smk's for both the bolt and AR are in LC brass and are a Black Hills clone. 55 grain blasting ammo is in all the rest.

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[Mr Player]

I do not sort mine for bulk loading. For match grade ammo I only use same headstamp brass.

I do processes all my 223/556 on a 1050 with a RT1200 so it doesn't matter if it is crimped or not. But be careful because the max load for the different types of brass will be different because of internal case volume. If you are not near max tho you should be fine. Ymmv.

[dmc_md]

For plinking ammo you absolutely do not need to sort brass.

For competition, you can sort brass if you want, but personally I do not.

With unsorted brass, on a Dillon 550 using the automatic powder measure, I can get .5-.75 MOA groups off of a bench with my CLE upper. 77g SMK with 24gr reloader 15.

I keep mine separated based on number of reloads, but that's all.

Darren

[pjb45]

The first time I reloaded I use the Dillon Trimmer and Super Swage on all my brass.

I now sort my match brass and practice brass. I did not really have any experience with FC, fc, LC, PMC, etc brass.

Lake City is used for matches. I learned the hard way -- twice at RM3G. I had primers or primer pieces fall out during the match and froze the trigger.

The cheaper brass with hotter loads would blow the primer out. I had to back off the amount of powder I was using.

Edited February 13, 2012 by pjb45

[Cotys]

For 200 yards I wouldn't worry about sorting. I seperate out Partizan PPU brass and Lake City for my 800 yard varmint loads. For everything else I just use whatever.

[MarkCO]

I size, deswage and trim in a mixed batch. Then I sort commercial .223 out and use it for 55 FMJ. When I case gauge, I have two bins, one for local matches and one for practice. The practice bin gets the Federal, out of spec and any cases with dents or dings. The LC gets used for match ammo, 55 grain and 69 grain.

Need? If you are say 50% or more of the way up between min and max loads and have checked your max load in the various types of cases you are using, you should be fine.

Edited February 13, 2012 by MarkCO

[Mike in CT]

Thanks All!

I will be depriming/sizing this week (still have a couple parts on the way) and when I trim I will sort out the Lake City from all the rest and keep that for my matches. Everything else will go to the plinking/zombie bucket.

I will do some more research on the FC, sounds suspect and I like to err on the side of caution. I may toss those in a separate bucket (if I have any) and try those on a range day,

Mike

[MarkCO]

FWIW, Federal effectively has looser pockets and account for the majority of blown primers I have seen. If you use Federal primers, it appears to correct the issue.

[Mike in CT]

Thanks, I bought Winchester primers at the suggestion of a friend, so I will keep an eye on the FC brass, hopefully there is not much in there,

Mike