Caribou Gear Tarp

Range Brass Prep

I saved about 25 bucks off of new. It seems that there's a ton of Hornady Manbun brass at the range and I may go back for another batch. After washing this stuff and trimming it, the primer pockets are really nice and tight, they're really quite uniform in weights as far as I can see (6 grains from lowest to highest, but most are right around 3 grains apart). The flash holes don't have burrs. From what I can see none of them seem to be reloaded.

Apparently nobody in Fargo reloads for the manbun? I've bought some '06 brass from there as well and it all seems like it's once fired.
 
OhHeyThereBen said:
Apparently nobody in Fargo reloads for the manbun?
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I didn’t know that the hearty rugged red blooded men of the Dakota’s shot manbun in the first place. Thought the old timers stuck with their ‘06 and the younger crowd manned up for RUMs. :). Must be wimpy MN guys coming across from Moorhead.
 
Sounds like you found a deal that works for you. Good luck.
What bullet and powder are you loading in the 6.5?
 
VikingsGuy said:
I didn’t know that the hearty rugged red blooded men of the Dakota’s shot manbun in the first place. Thought the old timers stuck with their ‘06 and the younger crowd manned up for RUMs. :). Must be wimpy MN guys coming across from Moorhead.
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Well, the real problem is that I went from growing up in WI to being brainwashed in a MN college. Then I brought that sissyness with me to the fine state of ND to try and purge it out. Unfortunately, I still purchased the manbun. So apparently the liberal arts degree seems to have taken hold and not let me purchase the RUM. ;)

cahunter805 - I honestly haven't bought powder or bullets yet. Got the brass prepped, primed, and ready for it but I won't have time to shoot for a few weeks. I'm thinking I'll go with H4350 and a heavier Hornady ELD of some sort just like every other 6.5 shooter, but I'm up for suggestions. I do have some IMR 4064 left as well, so that's an option. Another reason to swing towards the H4350 is that my '06 likes it, so I could get two birds stoned with one powder.
 
Chances are if it’s range brass, it’s once fired. I don’t know many handloaders that leave their brass at the range. Don’t bother weighing the brass, it’s a waste of time. Sort it by headstamp, do your normal brass prep, and shoot it.
 
OhHeyThereBen said:
After re-sizing, I washed them all with hot water and dish soap which made them nice and clean (I don't have a wet tumbler and figured that this would help break loose anything on the inside).
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Get yourself a small wet tumbler from harbor freight and some steel pins with a scoop of lemi shine and dawn dish soap and that brass will look good as new!
 
OhHeyThereBen said:
Yeah, there's still a bunch of it at the local range as well. Looking at the prices out there I think I should just go and pick up a bunch while it's there. Then I wouldn't have to pay shipping.
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So where does your local range get it from? Do they buy in bulk and resell? Do they know the history of it? I'd only use range brass if I saw the guy next to me shoot it from a new box and leave it on the ground. That way you know it's once fired. If you're going to put that much effort in cleaning it then why not start with a known commodity?

Some sellers at gunbroker.com have decent prices on known stuff, but you have to accept their word for it.

The bullet makers generate brass when test firing their production. I expect that they sell the once-fired cases to someone so maybe you could find out who they are selling them to.
 
Nah. At this point I'll probably end up just buying new brass once I'm actually worried about shooting the tiniest of groups. All of the brass at the range is in really good shape. Just a few dings here and there. No signs of reloading at all (Chamfer or deburr of the case mouth, marks from a resizing die, etc) and I didn't feel any sign of case separation when I scratched in there with a paper clip. So I'm pretty sure it's all once-fired. And like the other guys said above - I really doubt a reloader would leave their brass at the range like that.

We'll see how the groups turn out. I'll probably grab another batch of brass to have some spares. Then after I have the rifle broken in I'll splurge on some higher quality stuff.

Any of you guys really notice that much difference in group size when comparing brass brands? I've heard a few bad things about Winchester brass, but Remington, Hornady, Nosler, and Starline seem to offer really good quality at a much lower price. I'm sure Lapua is really nice, but I really don't see myself spending that much money on brass.
 
All brass can produce accurate ammo. It's the prep and sorting by weight or case volume that makes it work.
Some brands are just more over all consistent in case weight , making the wall thickness more uniform. Some punch flash holes and some drill them, some uniform the primer pockets and trim and changer for you, but all that can be done yourself as needed to equal them all out, after sorting.
 
Millsworks said:
All brass can produce accurate ammo. It's the prep and sorting by weight or case volume that makes it work.
Some brands are just more over all consistent in case weight , making the wall thickness more uniform. Some punch flash holes and some drill them, some uniform the primer pockets and trim and changer for you, but all that can be done yourself as needed to equal them all out, after sorting.
Click to expand...

After sorting do you usually toss the brass that's outside of the mean weight by a certain percentage? I did notice that 2 of the 47 pieces of Hornady brass I had were noticeably lighter/heavier than the others. Do you typically just toss that brass?
 
I am no expert, but the infamous “Houston warehouse trials” suggested neck tensions were far more important for accuracy than case volume (case weight is just a proxy for this) or primer choice. For sub 500 yards elk accuracy I would just worry about the safety issues such a care for in spection of primer area, stress signs, case length, etc. But no harm in a weight sorting of mixed brass, but wouldn’t bother with purchased brass.
 
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