I'm going on a pdog shoot this summer for sure. Which 223 brass do you guys prefer?

I can get once-fired LAKE CITY, WINCHESTER, and Remington. I might can get some WCC (winchester commercial) as well.

Are there many differences between military brass and commercial brass other than primer pocket crimps?

Anybody got a good source?

For pdog shooting, will I notice much accuracy/POI differences if I mix headstamps or manufacturers?

Sorry for all the questions, but thanks.

I have a buddy that will get me range brass sometimes and MG brass other times. I usually segregate by firearm. The rem brass is used for AR-15 loadings, WW stuff is used for bolt actions, etc.

I have mixed them all up at times just to see what would happen. My experience was, on the pd town, shooting at distances other than the longest pokes, you will not see the difference.

One thing though, I won't mix the LC brass with the WW and Rem any more. Some of the LC brass I have gives me a little higher pressure as I think it is a little heavier than the WW/Rem.

This is what I do, you may find there is more of a difference. If so than pick one and go with it. I prefer WW.

Jim

Last year I bought 2K rounds of once fired Winchester 223 brass on e-bay and got a good price. But, I think e-bay has now banned it.

I see that there is a bunch up for auction on gunbroker.com, but it looks like a lot of new stuff. You might want to check them out.

I've got 500 rounds of Lake City (01-04) headstamps, 100+ of winchester, 150+ Rem, 100+ of WCC. I was just trying to figure out which I should order more of. I've been using Lake City sorted by YR, but it's almost impossible to get 1K of the same yr. I normally use Winchester in my 22-250 and seems to work well.

I got my brass LC from Scharch's and it was "ok". Some of the case heads were nicked up pretty bad. I had to get rid of about 10% of them.

quote:

Originally posted by jb177:
I've got 500 rounds of Lake City (01-04) headstamps, 100+ of winchester, 150+ Rem, 100+ of WCC. I was just trying to figure out which I should order more of. I've been using Lake City sorted by YR, but it's almost impossible to get 1K of the same yr. I normally use Winchester in my 22-250 and seems to work well.

I got my brass LC from Scharch's and it was "ok". Some of the case heads were nicked up pretty bad. I had to get rid of about 10% of them.

Your best bet would be to get more LC. Take a few of the lightest and heaviest of the LC you have and load up the same load in them, and test them. If they group fairly well, then get some more LC and forget the years. You could also order more LC and weigh them and set aside the lightest and heaviest and load the rest. Sorting by weight is not perfect but it can help.

It kind of depends on what you are expecting from your reloads and what your mind set is when on the pd towns.

If you are running a hot load, you should be concerned about the case capacity and all your cases should be fairly uniform. This can also improve accuracy.

As far as mind set. All I can tell you is what a long time pd buddy of mine says when he is looking at a pd through his scope that he may not hit, "it's only a 223 shell" and he fires. If he gets it fine, if he doesn't, he is fine with that also. I, on the other hand, will rarely shoot at a pd that I don't have (almost) complete confidence in hitting. To this end, we reload slightly differently also. I take more care, he reloads more in less time.

Jim

I don't like to motor any of my rifles at top end so I'd figure out a load that would take that into consideration and load it all up and then segragate it by head stamp. You may need a click or two of adjustment when changing head stamps but you could figure that out before leaving. I guess the days of buying 1x milsup from Midway are long gone.

All military brass is thicker there fore has a slight disadvantage in volume . LC is Great brass I use it my own self , in AR's , Bolt Guns I use Lapua RWS or Remington , I no longer use WW brass I've had real poor luck the last couple of batches I purchased NEW stuff to boot !!.

I doubt if you load to the middle of the road loadings , if your going to see much of an Impact change with all else being equal .

You never mentioned what you were shooting it out of ?.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

http://secure.cartsvr.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=2317386&showprevnext=1

I like the once fired processed and primed from Scharch.

Those people are always a pleasure to do biz with and have free shipping on orders over $70.


All the .223 brass I have ever got from them was 2 year old Lake City [LC] US military brass.


I recently bought 8,000 rounds of mixed .223 brass for a penny per piece.
In retrospect, I should have paid Scharch the 12 cents each, as I had to de crimp the primer pockets, clean, sort, lube, size, and prime.

I bought 1,000 case of LC about 4 years ago that came pockets reamed, cleaned, sized, and reprimed for some small price that I know wish that I had bought 3,000 cases.

I agree with those above that the LC brass does seem to be a whisper heavier and thicker, but also seems to handle abuse better. If you're running top end loads I would find the one you like and stick with it.

I'm really liking the LC stuff and that would be my recommendation if you can find the stuff.

I'm shooting it out of a 223 savage bolt gun. LC shoots ok, trying H335 over 55gr bullet. Seems like the max load really differs from book to book, but my loads show no pressure signs. If I could get some more LC 04, I'd be set I guess.

I have a nice collection of mixed military headstamped .223. It is all once fired and boxer primed.
$44 per 500 shipped. Add $1.50 if you want insurance. Send me a PM if you are interested. I have about 5 boxes (of 500) to sell.

This is not so critical in a .223 case ! how ever WATCH OUT in 06 or .308 with LC brass and MAX loads !.Mil brass is made for BALL POWDERS not extruded Generally speaking . I know it will load either one but be careful when doing so .

Book loads are for commercial brass unless other wise noted . LC and any Mil Spec brass can give one a serious BOOM , when using a compressed load resulting in either serious injury or your ultimate demise !.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

How does the brass know what kind of powder is inside of it??
If a person is using poor or stupid loading techniques, it doesn't make any difference what kind of brass he's using, he can blow his dumb ass up.
A safe load of, say, 4350 doesn't suddenly become dangerous because you put it in a milsup case. Over the course of its military career, the 30-06 was loaded with an array of powders, both ball and stick. I'm not familar with the .308 but I'd be surprised if the same wasn't true of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr.K:
This is not so critical in a .223 case ! how ever WATCH OUT in 06 or .308 with LC brass and MAX loads ! LC and any Mil Spec brass can give one a serious BOOM , when using a compressed load resulting in either serious injury or your ultimate demise !.

I have weighed and measured the water capacity of several hundred LC .30-06 cases and found them to actually have more powder capacity than your average RP case and slightly lesss than Federal and WW.

.308 mil-surp cases seem to have less capacity than commercial and .223 mil-surp about the same as commercial.

Billions of rounds of M2 Ball were loaded with IMR4895. It just happens to be a stick powder.

I'm not at max loads according to my observations. I've tried up to .5 grains more and still no pressure signs. I will try to stay with one brand of brass and save the others for another day.