sorting by head stamps

[five.five-six]

I am processing about 1k in .223, I am going to make precision loads and plinking loads

about 30% of my brass is marked LC 96, about another 40% id made up of LC 95 and and LC 04, the rest is mixed all sorts of stuff. should I sort out my precision casings from the same year?

[ojisan]

In general, mil-spec brass is thicker walled with stronger, thicker heads than commercial ammo. This reduces the internal case capacity.
It's very important to check internal case volume when reloading mixed brass for center fire rifles to avoid over pressure loading.
This is one of the headaches of mixed brass for center fire rifle reloading.

Mil spec pistol cases do not seem as critical due to the lower pressures of most handgun ammo.

[popeye4]

In general, mil-spec brass is thicker walled with stronger, thicker heads than commercial ammo. This reduces the internal case capacity.
It's very important to check internal case volume when reloading mixed brass for center fire rifles to avoid over pressure loading.
This is one of the headaches of mixed brass for center fire rifle reloading.

Mil spec pistol cases do not seem as critical due to the lower pressures of most handgun ammo.

This is/was the case with .308 (milspec being thicker/heavier), not so much with .223.

I'd segregate the brass by headstamp date. You can also weigh the brass to get an idea of how much variation there is in each year. You can weigh an empty case, then fill it with water to get the case capacity as well.

The case volume (as mentioned above) is an issue, because if you develop a load in a generous case, your pressures can spike in a tighter case. How much brass do you have in the "other" pile?

[ar15barrels]

should I sort out my precision casings from the same year?

Absolutely.
Then size them all, trim them all, deburr all the flash holes and weigh them all.
Sort them into groups of like weight.
Reject the "boundary" cases.

[five.five-six]

fill it with water? use a spent primer to seal the hole?

[Beelzy]

fill it with water? use a spent primer to seal the hole?

I quit after weighing the cases.

If I'm going for Super-Maxi-Awesome-Ammo, then I might water the cases for
capacity.

[popeye4]

I quit after weighing the cases.

If I'm going for Super-Maxi-Awesome-Ammo, then I might water the cases for
capacity.

Yes, you need to plug the primer hole. I weigh the water in a couple to get an idea of how different the capacity of a new set of cases is compared to the ones I've been using. I certainly don't do it for all of them, weighing is good enough (as Randall has outlined).

[bohoki]

i sort the ones that have crumped primers cause that is another annoying step

i love it when i find r-p brass

pmc seems to be about half and half crimped or not

s&b often has really tight pockets
i like keeping headstamps the same when loading cause they all have their own slightly different feel when seating a primer

federal brass often has really loose pockets and i check to see if i can poke out the primer with a straightened large paperclip if i feel one slip in with no resistance

[five.five-six]

I H8te crumped primers

[NRAhighpowershooter]

All my brass for my match rifles have seperate headstamps.. for my blastin' ammo... I use any brass... commercial or military I can get my hands on...