Every time a question occurs me regarding my forays into reloading, you seem to have a video going into that very question. You are a gem and my greatest resource on reloading. I have noticed different capacity on different stamped brass, but as far as performance? Thank you for this. I don't always agree with you, but I absolutely love to hear what you have to say and love to watch your methods.

So basically your telling me I've been wasting hours of time separating my brass. Thanks. Your test groups of 10 is just right. Educating video as always.

I'm getting good groups with the 69 grain sierra, seating at 2.235. I know that's a big jump for that bullet to the lands. My ar is a 1n8 16" barrel PSA. I'm getting 3/4 " groups with 23.5 grains of BL-C2 and winchester sr primers SSA brass. 100 yards prone with bipod.

Thanks for doing this test. I find it very useful even being a small sample size. Good stuff for sure.

Lots of food for thought on this test. I recently loaded up 550 of .556 with the HB headstamp .I only tested them in my beater rifle. I have been saving this brass for over 23 years. The flash holes were awful. Just a puny ragged hole. So I had to deburr all of them. I crimp the bullet for use in semi auto not for bolt. Looking forward to what comes next.

Wolf looked good !

great work. I'm doing my homework to eventually start reloading. keep it coming.

I can not stop watching your video's.

Fascinating. Great test, very interesting results. I mix brass for most plinking loads but do sort for accuracy. I can see this makes a pretty significant difference. Didnt really change POI though.

Looks like wolf did better then the more expensive brass some people swear by the name on things so to me great test it's not about the show it's about the go if you know what I mean

Lapua's reputation is good as while other brands make good brass too, their brass lots differ from one to another. Lapua holds the same tight specs from one lot to another.

This is some good information. I have more PMC brass than anything else and I load an unconventional powder for 223(IMR 4064) and the extra case capacity would be the reason I don't get the compressed loads the books tell me. This may help me as I work up a 75gr load and want to get good speeds with as little compression as possible. Thanks and you just earned a new sub!

Makes sense - with lower (smaller) case capacity, you'd expect higher pressure resulting in higher V.

Johnny your the Man!Keep up with the videos!

6 years late to the party, but as a new reloader, this is something I've been wondering. Is there THAT big a difference in accuracy when reloading cheap vs premium brass. Excellent video. Very interesting results. On to part 2!

look for brass with PSD on the bottom. This is PMC XTAC brass and should be very consistent in weight

This makes me feel better. Before I started saving my brass and reloading I ran through 1500 rounds of Norma brass (Norma USA Tac 223) and didn’t save my brass cause I didn’t think I would reload. As irony would have it I started saving brass when I got to my PMC and PPU ammo

your video production is getting pretty good.

We have the same water glasses at my house. I think we have had them for 20 years or more ! Nice video

When I use berger bullets there was a huge difference from PPU brass and Winchester and Laupu brass. With Laupu and Berger bullets I had a few nods where my groups went into 1 hole. Winchester I was getting around.850 of a inch . PPU was bad across all nods and loads. 1.8 groups with Berger bullets.

Thanks for all the great videos. I really enjoy them

If I were you I'd forget about the head stamp question and concentrate on twist rates vs projectile weights.

LOL. Yeah (17:15) I went through this test. 1. Don't pour the water from the shells back into the clean water. You will avoid density issues from pollution. 2. I tested full-length-sized and trimmed to equal length cases. 3. Use a syringe and force water into the shell until almost full to discourage bubbles or, fill them close to the top and tap the head on the table to displace bubbles. 4. I filled each shell to "convex" and siphon off water with a piece of paper towel while looking as something reflected from the surface at 45 degrees for no distortion. It took me a long time but I had data I could use for reloading and didn't question later.

So I had some same hed stamped brass, shot a split group (about 2 1/2 moa) with 77 gr SMK, turned out the brass was of two lots with about a 5 grain difference. Now always sort brass by headstamp, weight and firings. Your results may vary.

back to the bullet accuracy issue, now test several same weight but different brand bullets in the same brass. given that different brands are different shapes, it would be interesting to see the differences between what your rifles like or don't like.

I came to the same conclusion around 2015. I used Hornady, Remington, Winchester, Federal brass. The Point of Impact at 100yds really didn't change and it was not enough for me to worry about in 270 Win Caliber. Yes, fps more on some, but not enough to worry about unless I was a bench rest shooter. I still sort brass for reloading, but not really worried about that aspect anymore.

Did you check case capacity after resizing, if so, that should make them relatively even between the two rifles..

JMO, i think the biggest variable (and to my knowledge, unmeasurable) is neck tension. almost every piece of brass is going to have a different amount of tension to some degree. while new lots of high quality brass should minimise this to a degree, range brass is an entirely different can of worms. even several boxes of the same ammo by the same shooter could have been purchased years apart. the person who invents a way to directly measure the exact amount of neck tension will be doing the handloader community a great service.

I got the same results on my channel with pistol brass. Proved to me that brass makes very little difference at all, as long as you are shooting the same brass for actual groups. I tested everything from Lapua to Fed UMC, no real difference in any of them.

Norma is good stuff, but IMO Lapua has overshadowed it. However, I use Hornady as the best compromise between cost and quality.

the whole purpose of reloading is to be consistent if you're measuring volume of brass that's been fired from different guns there's no consistency it's a waste of time

Jonny if you want solid copper bullets to group you must seat them at least 50 thousandths off your lands ,,some guns can get by with 30 or 40

I would think that the velocity going up is just the gun heating up & velocity going up. my .223 coyote rifle loves the federal NATO brass for some reason.

I would’ve like to have seen the concentricity differences between those loaded rounds from one brass to the next.

I totally get what you mean about the primer pockets. I was hand priming my first batch of 223 mixed head stamp last night with the Frankford arsenal hand primer. Some pieces it felt like a primer wasn't even seated then others felt nice and tight but smooth

nice job with this video!

Thank you for sharing your expertise

12/7/2020 Just gave Thumbs up #556. LEGENDARY

Hi Johnny it would be interesting to see if you could neck size these same cases and see if there is a difference in grouping. Neck sizing vs full length

Good video, I look forward to the next.

Your tighest groups were the PSA & Wolf Brass, fellow by the Colt & Federal Brass, and the Colt & Wolf Brass.

I just separate by LC and nonLC. Reason being, I sometimes trim the LC to 300blk. I treat all LC as 556 and all non LC as 223 regardless of the stamp.

When testing capacity with water, put just a touch of soap in there and surface tension is gone.

Glad you have a better place to shoot nowadays 👍

Try starline and lepua brass I got excellent results from both

neck runout / neck thickness

I have read in bench rest that guys use a percentage of Alcohol in the water to brake any surface tension when using that method to determine case capacity. Idk if it would have any difference in the outcome. Good Video, Dave.

Got half a bar after old mate described those Norma primer pockets.....

I have a 223 savage 110e that shoots a 1/2 inch group at 200 yards. These are reloads with mix head-stamp brass. If brass can be a accuracy issue, it might just affect different rifles. Thanks

Hey can i use 556 brass to load 223 out of??

JRB have you considered concentricity? Those 70gr GMX are awful long bullets.

Dang your colt shoots great take that rifle to a NRA high power math if you shoot the way you are write know you would clean up the match great job sir out standing dangit

compare Lapua , Norma & Nosler then compare PMC , Rem. Fed , Winchester & Wolf price/capacity/performance all with Varget powder and Sierra 69gr, MK HPBT

As soon as you said pmc brass, without watching the rest, let me guess, offset and inconsistent flash holes?

So i am new to reloading and wanted to work up a load in my AR15 (16 inch barrel) using the 69 grain smk. I have 200 pieces of LC brass but i did not separate them by year. If I have some year mix in the same batch of LC brass, would that affect my accuracy? I am just looking to get sub MOA. Not trying to get crazy F-Class accuracy but just something better than factory for target plinking out to distance and prairie dogs.

How long are you waiting between each shot? The sunlight really shifts when you were shooting the psa.

I suspect that the case variable that matters most is in the primer pocket, especially flash hole size and length

new to reloading and its interesting how many varaibles affect accuracy relating to the cartridge itself. bullet weight powder weight the primer case itself overall length. and so on.

Federal lake city all the way. Like you said it wasnt high end as far as cost but it was mid range. After that just look at performance. There really isnt any competition.

yes,,, you need to use resized unfired for case capacity

Norma and Hornaday 223 no crimp primers did I hear you correctly? Any other brands?

I have a question please... in the same batch lake city brass 556 trimming length 1,750/1,749/1,749,5. Does it affect accuracy?

How do we know that it's actually you who is talking?

Is that colt a 223 barrel? Just wondering what your thoughts are on shooting 556 in a 223 barrel

How would you rate ppu brass .223 I have weighed some and some hornandy and ppu is heavier and is slightly thicker

I will never reload the bargain bin brass headstamps. Wolf, Perfecta, ect. My first experience with Perfecta, was buying 3 boxes more or less to get the brass. Probably 1 out of 5 had a centered flash hole. And I mean WAY off center.

Do you have a video with starline 223 or 5.56 testing?

You use the same bullet in the 223 and 556?

Did you use the same loads in both the 223 and the 5.56? Awesome video! Thanks

Can you reload 5.56 casing and shoot it as .223 in a bolt gun？

All the brass you are testing I throw away,, one is good brass , an that’d be hornady

Some LC brass would have been good in this test.

Looks like you were crimping bullets, IMHO, unnecessary for rifle rounds yields big groups, wild variation, bet you can shoot moa without crimps,

Lake city!!!

Did he just say "Normandy" instead of "Norma" ?

Are you crimping? Almost everyone I've spoke to has said to just use neck tension with .223/5.56 when shooting in an AR. Is there a different line of thought to this?

All kill shots

Until you add IMI to this test you have left out the best.

A most disturbing video... Been working on LT-30 light/sub 300 Blackout load, case capacity is the key. 80fps swing from minor case capacity differences is alarming. On another note, admitting your deviancy is very healthy, but I for one am more than accepting of your eccentricity Sensei.

your test sucks. You have to lock each gun in a hold fixture and bore sight it to the traget. At this point you know the barrel is inline with the bullseye. Now run the different cartridges through the test. This is a real test. The rifle have to be locked in position.......

I must be an accuracy snob...are you pleased with any of those groups at 70 yards? Trying not to be a passive aggressive jackass.

When I use berger bullets there was a huge difference from PPU brass and Winchester and Laupu brass. With Laupu and Berger bullets I had a few nods where my groups went into 1 hole. Winchester I was getting around.850 of a inch . PPU was bad across all nods and loads. 1.8 groups with Berger bullets.