Brass Weight

[woody1961]

I'm new to reloading with a 550B and after my last session I started reading on on the web about no/double charges. I got nervous even though I believe I checked every round for powder and went back and weighed the 200 rounds I had just made.

199 of them were within 1 - 1.5gr of each other (all Winchester Brass). One round is about 5 grains light, very close to my powder charge weight. I thought initially it might be a squib, but I noticed the headstamp is "R-P" (I must have picked up a stray at the range), which got me wondering if the case could be that much lighter.

Is this round safe to shoot? Does brass weight vary that much from manufacturer to manufactuter in .40 S&W?

Thanks in advance,

Woody

[ihatepickles]

It's possible that a round could vary by that much even if it has the correct powder charge. The bullet might've been 2-3 grains lighter and the brass itself could've been 2-3 grains lighter.

If it made me nervous, I would pull the bullet and check the round. If you don't have one, an inertial puller (looks like a hammer) is $10-$15 at most reloading stores. Some folks are nervous using these kinds of pullers and prefer a press mounted collet style. I've used both, and never had an issue. For pulling lots of bullets, the press mounted collet is quicker.

To help reduce this problem, install a light and a mirror (think periscope) near the bullet seating stage to peer down into the case without having to contort your body. Then, you can visually check each charge before seating a bullet.

It's a very good thing that you're this paranoid about your handloads. I've met a lot of new handloaders that are braver than their experience warrants. Stay paranoid, it'll save your skin.

[tbair]

I'm new to reloading with a 550B and after my last session I started reading on on the web about no/double charges. I got nervous even though I believe I checked every round for powder and went back and weighed the 200 rounds I had just made.

199 of them were within 1 - 1.5gr of each other (all Winchester Brass). One round is about 5 grains light, very close to my powder charge weight. I thought initially it might be a squib, but I noticed the headstamp is "R-P" (I must have picked up a stray at the range), which got me wondering if the case could be that much lighter.

Is this round safe to shoot? Does brass weight vary that much from manufacturer to manufactuter in .40 S&W?

Thanks in advance,

Woody

I am a new reloader so with a big grain of salt:

R-P is I believe Remington brass

I use mixed brass .40 and do qc checks quite often. Before I zero the scale I will often see 3-4 grains listed. I think most .40 brass, primed, is 65-70 grains so this would be within the 5-10% range I would expect.

Two morals to the story:1. The brass weight does vary that much 2. weighing the cases without a tare weight (even with the same manuf) is a statistically questionable way to check things, with mixed brass you are just wasting time.

Tom

[ihatepickles]

R-P is I believe Remington brass

Yep, RP is Remington.

I use Winchester or Remington brass, I find them about equal but I don't personally like to mix n' match headstamps. I order 10,000 pieces each spring or whatever Brassman has in matching headstamp. If Brassman has both headstamps in stock, I get Winchester.

Since I'm buying once-fired, I use an undersized Lee die (available from EGW). A u-die overworks the brass so I don't push my brass through too many loadings. I pitch my brass at the end of the warm season and it's fine by me to only get 2-3 loadings.

I've never had a case failure or a round that failed to chamber, I feel it's because I don't push the brass through too many reloads and I use a u-die on the once-fired brass. Don't get too caught up in saving money, keep some room in your budget for safety concerns. 10,000 pieces of once fired same headstamp is $206 (10% discount for ordering 10,000 pieces) delivered from Brassman.

Steve

[woody1961]

If it made me nervous, I would pull the bullet and check the round. If you don't have one, an inertial puller (looks like a hammer) is $10-$15 at most reloading stores. Some folks are nervous using these kinds of pullers and prefer a press mounted collet style. I've used both, and never had an issue. For pulling lots of bullets, the press mounted collet is quicker.

Thanks all. I sat the round aside for now to be safe. I have a bullet puller on backorder so I'll just wait till it comes in and use this as a learning experience.

I just ordered 5000 pieces of brass from brassman, but I will sort them myself. Didn't dawn on me to keep to the same headstamp, but it makes a LOT of sense.

Fired 200 rounds today at the range (well, actually 199) and was happy with the accuracy. Lots of smoke and a lot of buildup but I don't want to play with the recipe until my chrono comes in. I'm certain the loads are light - I'll see if someone has a known recipe for what I'm shooting in another thread.

Does anyone have a picture of the light/mirror setup on the 550B?

Thanks again for all the advice!

Woody

[ihatepickles]

Lots of people shoot "any ol' headstamp mixed together" and are perfectly fine. I go for same headstamp out of paranoia more than anything. Call it insanity, but I believe my load shoots better with the same headstamp, and somehow since I believe this (in my mind) they do shoot better. If someone snuck a Speer case into my Winchester pile, I'd never notice it and never have a problem. But, if I did notice the odd case, I'd blame losing the whole match on that one case... Like I said, insanity. Basically, lots of people feel mixed headstamp is fine - I'm just not one of them (and I'm probably in a very small minority of reloaders for pistol that do care about headstamp).

I don't have any pictures of a mirror setup. The point of the mirror, is to view down into the case from your natural work position. Tape or strap a small dental mirror to the press to accomplish this. Some people just look down into the case as well, but that seems like it would contort my neck on every round. I personally don't use the mirror, I use a powder check station on my 650 so our situations don't coincide.

[woody1961]

I checked a bunch of Winchester brass tonight. All pickup from me shooting WWB value packs. Most, if not all, was within about 1gr of each other.

I also had 6 more pieces of RR - mostly about 4gr lighter than the Winchester, but one piece was a full 7gr lighter.

I'll get one of those dental or mechanics mirrors and see what I can come up with. If I could only find one that made things look bigger for my aging eyes

Woody

[Merlin Orr]

I'll get one of those dental or mechanics mirrors and see what I can come up with. If I could only find one that made things look bigger for my aging eyes

Woody

How about one of those little stick on mirrors that go on a truck mirror to give a wider field of view in blind spots? They come in pretty small sizes and do increase/maginify the reflected image?