Interesting comparison of cases

[Rol_P]

Having bought some Factory loaded Federal Premium 180 Grain Nosler Accubonds and Partitions to test my new Remington 700 CDL 30-06 last year I collected the once fired empty cases, cleaned, sized, trimmed and weighed 40 of them just to see how consistent the weight was. On the scale of my new RCBS Chargemaster they varied from 198.1 grains to 203.2 grains, a variation of 5.1 grains or 2.5% of the lightest weight.

Tonight I opened a box of new Nolser 30-06 brass and weighed them on the same scale to check weight variation on a random sample that I pulled from the box. Variance was from 178.7 grains to 179.5 grains, a variation of 0.8 grains.

I was pleasantly surprised by the consistency of the Nosler brass and look forward to using it to develop some more accurate loads.

Has anyone else found such variation in cases from fired "Premium" factory ammo. This may account for the 100 +/- fps variation in velocity that I found between different lots of Federal Premium 180 Accubonds last fall.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Try checking the volume (by water weight) of cases from the high/medium/low end of the weight with your Federal brass. I'd be interested to compare the actual volume and see if you find any correlation.

We "assume" that weight translates into difference in capacity, but in my estimation that's a huge assumption.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Use Norma and Nosler cases in several rifles and they are the most consistent for weight (they and Lapua).

 

[Elkman]

I have found the same with Nosler and Lapua cases. Both have very low deviation, and require little prepping for shooting.

 

[Rol_P]

Case dry weight. Water capacity
198.1 gr. 68.6 gr.
200.0. 69.4
203.2. 68.5
This was very surprising to me. Any and all comments on the significance of this info will be most appreciated. Have a great day.. Rol

 

[kraky]

Are these once fired but not resized.....or been resized?
Can't say I've ever wondered about or checked capacity much a cross a case lot.

 

[SJB358]

Pretty interesting but not really surprising. They don't look bad really, but the Nosler seems excellent in comparison. My most accurate loads are made with Nosler or Norma brass. It is usually impressive stuff.