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Has anyone ever found military brass to be as accurate as brand name brass? Im talking 223 or 308. I have always used brand name brass but I have tons of lake city 308 and 223 brass I would like ot use. Should I just forget about it? | ||
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i used to shoot lake city in CMP matches. i was never in danger of winning anything, but for me, it was accurate enough at 200/300yrds (for the price). i have since found even cheaper RP stuff, so I use it now, but I rather expect it's closer to LC quality than lapua quality | |||
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If primers of your military brass are crimped or berdan primers, you will encounter some problems. Crimping of primers is used in military ammo to prevent the primers of getting loose when firing full auto. If you can resolve those problems (decapping and repriming a berdan case are a pain in the ass but possible) you should not encounter any further problems | |||
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Lake City brass is boxer primed, not berdan. But they do have the crimp, that's not a problem. I have tools to remove the crimp. I'm just wondering if they have the same wall thickness and other dimensional consistency as brand-name brass. | |||
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I have never used any of the 308 Winchester military brass, but have used LOTS of .223 Remington military stuff. I could never find any difference in the Lake City brass when compared to Remington, Winchester, or Federal 223 brass. Yeah, I know, everyone says it is thicker, etc. I sure as hell could not tell it in my testing. I got the same velocities (and theoretically the same pressures) with the military brass as the other stuff. And my gun just does not shoot enough better with any one of them to detect it. In fact, I have used military cases to form 7TCU brass for IHMSA silhouette shooting for years now. Those cases shoot as well as any I have ever made up and they are tough! I have some that have been fired 18-20 times now in my Contender and they are still going strong. So if you have a good supply of the Lake City stuff I would use it. R F R Flowers | |||
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LC of the same year within a narrow weight range, or LC match makes FINE accuracy ammo in 308. Good stuff. Mike -------------- DRSS, Womper's Club, NRA Life Member/Charter Member NRA Golden Eagles ... Knifemaker, http://www.mstarling.com | |||
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if you prep. LC brass it will shoot fine. by prep.ing, I mean deburring flash holes, deburrng case mouths, cutting to length, uniforming primer pockets (samething you do to all brass), it will shoot the same as commercial brass. LC is heavier than some brands of commercial brass. the range I have seen in .223 is between 91.5 and 94.0 grains. cf with S&B weighing between 89 and 93 grains or federal nickel weighing between 94 and 95 grains. | |||
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I used to use various military brass in .308Win. but stopped several years ago. I find it's thicker than commercial brass and not as consistent dimensionally. I now use only R-P brass. If all your brass is fairly uniform it's one less thing to worry about. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes. Cal - Montreal Cal Sibley | |||
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Lake City Match shoots just fine for me. I try to match lots. My Strength Is That I Can Laugh At Myself, My Weakness Is That I have No Choice. | |||
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Ball (not match) Lake City 5.56 brass is surprisingly uniform, and comparable in capacity to Winchester commercial (within 2 grains). I got mine from about 2000 rounds that I have shot of both Black Hills and Hornady remanufactured match ammo. They both use Lake City brass. The advantage is that they have already removed the primer crimp and culled those fired through M249 machine guns..... I sort by weight only for my 600 yard loads. For 200 and 300 yard loads, it doesn't matter. I use mixed lots of late 90s and early 00s. I don't bother sorting by lot. FWIW, I'm getting 3/4 MOA accuray at 600 yards using weight sorted LC brass, 24.7 grains of Reloader 15, Rem 7 1/2 primers, and Hornady 75 gr. AMAX bullets seated .010" off the lands. This fired from a Rock River National Match AR15 with a Wylde chambered, 1-8 twist, 20" Wilson air gauged stainless steel barrel. Basically your box stock Rock River NM rifle. So, yeah, I'd say 5.56 NATO Lake City brass can do the business. | |||
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I forgot to mention that I do all the prep Gurrie mentions. | |||
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I have quite a bit of the good L.C. stuff[308/30-06] and use it for almost all my loadings, wildcats and all. Of course I do the minimal treatment of all the brass as I would any brass, Mil or commercial. I have found over the years that straight old M-80 WRA 308 brass is just about as good as Lapua . I recently sent a batch of the M-80 stuff and the L.C. NM brass to a friend in Ga who shoots a lot of bench etc. He said the mil stuff was just as good as the Lapua. Now this is him. I haven`t used enough Lapua to justify a position. I have found the LC NM stuff lasts darn near forever in my various 30-06 and 308 based wildcats. I just got some LC 223 stuff and am going to make up some 17/223 and see where it goes. I [personally] prefer the mil stuff. Besides it kinda takes the scent off the trail. I remember a game warden finding one of my cases lying around in a hunting area and telling a friend later that some guy was hunting with a 308. LOL. He never even figured out it was a 308 necked to 6.5. Oh Well? What can you expect? Aloha, Mark When the fear of death is no longer a concern----the Rules of War change!! | |||
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Interesting you mention the WRA 308 brass ... I have tons of that also! Im liking what I am hearing in these responses ... I was about to throw all this stuff out. I will keep it now! | |||
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If you are one of the guys that like to turn case necks then that LC brass is what you are looking for. Necks a little thicker than most commerical brass. Easy to get necks uniformed at .11 or thicker for factory chambers. | |||
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Certainly! I have used tons of national match .30/'06 and .308 brass! In addition, some lots of regular GI ball ammo have excellent uniformity. True, the case capacity might be less due to thicker brass, but a slight adjustment of powder amount takes care of this. NM brass does NOT have crimped primers. "Bitte, trinks du nicht das Wasser. Dahin haben die Kuhen gesheissen." | |||
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I actually prefer .223 L.C. brass to commercial for most years (80's-90's) I have used. Very uniform neck walls for me. Have formed to .221 Rem, 7mm TCU, and 17 Remington all with excellent results. Only .17 Rem needed any neck thining. Short .221's were even fine... My .308 Military was M-60 (machine gun) brass with many shot with excessive headspace and already showed partial head separations on the inital firing. I formed a couple hundred carefully inspected and weighed L.C.'s to .250-3000, and while they were fine cases they had less volume than commercial brass and required different and/or adjusted loads. BigRx | |||
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 Back when you could buy a real good AR-15 for $200.00 I rounded up 4000 military cases and removed the crimp from the primer pocket and loaded up a bunch with W-748 powder to reproduce the military round. I put back a bunch for the coming border war and fired some of the rest. No problems with any of them in the AR-15. My buddy rock and rolled his and turned them out as fast as it would shoot with no problems. Then we started to shoot decently and again they shot well. Of coures we were busting milk jugs at 300 yards not a real bench match or anything. Also shot the same rounds in Remington 700 BDL 28 inch bull barrel, mini-14 and a youth model Remington. No problems with any of them. The mini-14 wasn't as accurate but would do for close work. | |||
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I prefer LC Match for my .308. In addition to not having a crimped primer pocket, the neck and shoulder of LC Match is annealed. The loads are the most consistent of any brass I've used. Other milsurp brass such as LC and WNN shoot well provided the case prep is not overlooked. A 5/16" drill bit seems to work the best for removing the primer crimps after decapping. BE SURE to visually inspect each case before decapping. Berdan type cases will ruin a decapping pin. Success is 99% determination. | |||
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I use all sorts of brass. I have been given a heap of military brass with "FNB" & "FNM" stamped on the bottom. The primers are crimped. I just reload them like any other..case prep etc... and tonight a group tested my .223 and I now have a target with a .281 inch 5 shot group at 100 meters. My .308 shot 10 shots into .75 inch at 100 meters. As you can imagine I am a little bit happy. Both rifles are Standard Weatherby Vanguards with the triggers set to about 1.3 pounds.  7mm Rem mag-162 A-Max Boom ...splat | |||
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I was wondering abour LC .308 brass myself, I picked up about 900 cases awhile back, then traded my .308. Contemplating buying another 308 or just trading it off for .270 stuff. Most people are link slinkies, Basically useless but fun to push down the stairs. | |||
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I like the LC .223/5.56 brass. I bought a 1,000 cases about 5-8 years ago and have enjoyed the accuracy a lot. | |||
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I'll be the dissenting voice. I always try to use brass with a different headstamp for different rifles - makes it easier to keep brass fired in the various rifles separate. I have always heard Lake City .223 (or mil near-equivalent) should be pretty good, but for a long time during the components shortage a couple of years back, none was available. I finally found some new LC .223, and bought a whole bunch. Honestly, I wish that I hadn't. I find the LC .223 brass suffers much more from varying neck tension (with resulting flyers) than most commercial brass I have tried. In this respect, the LC seems to mirror the South African PMC brass, which was also a pain to work with. If it was not because I had so much of the darn stuff, I'd pitch it and start over. I don't think I'll buy anymore! - mike ********************* The rifle is a noble weapon... It entices its bearer into primeval forests, into mountains and deserts untenanted by man. - Horace Kephart | |||
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Wow, after 6 years, a ressurection! I have learned since this post that the LC military stuff makes excellent and accurate hunting loads. I stay with factory for increased accuracy, that may have alot more to do with being able to buy it all within the same manaufacturing lot. | |||
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I decided to stick with 223 adn 270 so I am going to get rid of my .308 LC brass. Most people are link slinkies, Basically useless but fun to push down the stairs. | |||
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 I find that for the repeatability that I need military brass is just dandy.  rogerOld age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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Oh?  I am interested in it!
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I gave up on the military brass of unknown origin years ago as this has been my experience also. I have no expereince with .223/5.6 military brass BUT lots with older 7.62/308 brass that has been through diverse M-60 machine guns. It will have been stretched to hell & beyond as they are known to have terrible headspace. Cheers, Number 10 | |||
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Never use military 7.62/.308. The M60's and M240's have very generous chambers. The increased diameter is sort of fixable when reloading, but that extra .010" to .012" of head space is not. The 5.56 stuff is pretty good if you weight sort and match prep. Now however, more of the surplus 5.56 has been fired in M249s/SAWS. That does not tend to stretch it irrevocably, but it does get big at the base. A large reloading company is working on a push through carbide collet die to take care of that problem. That is funny using older .308/7.62 to neck down and shoot in 7mm-08, 260 Rem, 243 Win, et. al. My old 30-06 military brass is as another poster mentioned, indestructible and very consistent. If you ream the crimp off of standard 30-06, it is basically the same as the match issue brass. Might as well clean it, anneal it, and shoot it forever and a day. le micrometer does not lie  | |||
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I've deliberately used '06 brass to reform into .270 and .25/06 brass. The slight thickening of the necks gave a better fit in my chambers and also allowed extra metal for neck turning when needed. Did the same thing with .308 match brass for 7mm-08, .260 Rem, and .243. LC .223 brass? The prairie dogs in Colorado hate the case and the bullets loaded in them. .395 Family Member DRSS, po' boy member Political correctness is nothing but liberal enforced censorship | |||
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