I do all the "nit-picky" brass prep stuff, including weight sorting and annealing. I thoroughly believe the tests that Mr. Barsness and others have done to show that "match prepping" brass is just noise level time-wasting for hunting ammo. But like a previous poster mentioned, I'm kind of a tinkerer and enjoy it. To my wife, I call it "knitting." I'll sit down at our dining table in view of the TV and listen to the evening news while I run 50 rounds or so of new brass through all the nit-picking (after running the necks over the expander ball at my reloading table).
- Uniform primer pocket depth (any time in the sequence)
- Trim to trim-to length if greater than trim to length; trim to just square up the mouth on the shortest case if less than.
- Chamfer mouths (OK, this actually is necessary as I think everyone agrees).
- De-burr flash holes (only after trimming to uniform length and chamfering since the tool registers on the case mouth).
- Weight sort the cases (only after all the "cutting" on the brass is done).
I can anneal there too since I just use an alcohol lamp.
I think the annealing may be the only thing really important besides chamfering, and it's probably not until a few firings on the brass. I also don't think any of the above hurts. Anybody disagree (assuming I enjoy doing it and am happy to spend my time doing so)? I have heard one person say that using the tool to flatten/uniform the bottom of the primer pockets might inadvertently remove a little from the sides of the pockets and lead to premature loosening of the pockets. I should mention I typically use "working class" brass. The one run of Lapua I have used was so perfect I just omitted most all of the above, except trimming and chamfering.
Regarding weighing each powder charge - with stick powders, is there an assertion that weighing each charge actually is worse than not?
Same question for ball powders.
Cheers,
Rex
Last edited by TRexF16; 04/23/20.
