Reloading 9mm

[Commish19]

So I'm reloading today and when weighing the bullets before putting in the box I'm getting different weights. Upon looking further at things I've noticed that my shells vary from 5.4 up to 6.3. Is this an issue as long as my charge is consistent? Just a few of the bullets vary some but again the charge is the same. Any help would be great gang. Thank you in advance

[ysrracer]

No issues, all bullets/cases vary in weight.

[IVC]

Everything varies, that's normal. Sometimes more than feels right, but it's still not all that much. 
 

Measure 10 rounds and calculate mean, standard deviation and maximum spread. That will give you an idea. 

[shred]

lead/coated vary more than jacketed, but there's always some variance.  If you're trying to find squib loads by measuring, hope you're loading jacketed with a hefty powder charge...

 

[BJB]

Cases from different head stamps can vary greatly in weight. Take a handful of empty hulls of different manufacture and weight each one and see the variance. Most of the difference will be in the case head, in particular the case web.

 

[BigMarc98]

Cases will always vary, and if they are mixed brass, they will vary even more.

Some projectiles are better than others, but they will always have variance too!

 

I shoot a lot of precision delta projectiles, and in general, jacketed rounds will likely have a tighter variance in weight that plated or coated rounds.

[Wanna_Go_Fast]

Variation in case weights and even lengths is very common.  Just remember to weigh and tare the individual case when measuring powder weights.  If you grab a new case for some reason, make sure you re-tare your scale. 

[cautery]

Or, if you want to dip your toe into the tippy top of a bottomless pool of ....

You can sort brass by head-stamp (or save lots), measure to meet a minimum, trim back to a common length, and otherwise uniform/prep the brass, then sort for weight and only take those within whatever # of grains you choose.  Then set the machine to be optimized for super consistent components, sort your projectiles on weight, concentricity, whatever you want to discriminate on.  Then make double sure each powder charge is thrown within "spec" and bullet is set at the precise place every time ( a whole 'nuther gigantic black hole of "How good is good?").... verified by gauges.... soooo many gauges. 

Then, you can move to the firearm and put a new custom chambered, smith fit barrel in... or do it yourself if you are brave and willing to buy a few barrels.  Then get your own reamers made up with your specific chamber design...

... and...

Does it work?  You bet!  I proved it starting with a bone stock Glock.

Is it worth it?

Only you can decide that.

Hope this helps.

Edited October 8, 2023 by cautery

[stick]

I went down that rabbit hole once... I say once because of my OCD.  I sorted brass, sorted heads by weight, etc...

In the end, I'm shooting matches at 25 yards or less and I'm not shooting 1000 yards where I need extreme precision.  

I agree with all of the above posters.  Just know what your average is powder.  all the rest is just minutia.