I have about 300 lc85 cases ready to load. I have looked in manuals and did a search here and on line. This is what has me going. Reduce your the starting loads from 1gr. to 15% . That is a damn big spread. Some powders I have seen in the books show no reduction from civ to mil brass, h414 is one. Is there a rule of thumb?

Hello,
I have been shooting LC brass for many a year now(308) and as a rule do not reduce my loads as you mentioned. Most I have been aware of was 10% and that is probably a very safe position to assume if you are a mfg./firm advising you on loads to use and not knowing any of your loading/overall knowledge of loading and firearms. Probably the reason I have not had any problems is that I never load to max anyway, other than the loads used for ranges beyond 600 yards and then use Lapua brass. For good true flying loads at the 600 yard range, load a suggested factory load for specific bullet, but work up the max if you must slowly and watch for the normal pressure signs as in shiny rings around base of brass, separation potential, shallow crater in primer, very sticky extraction, more recoil than normal, etc. etc. Reason for the warning I am told is the wall thickness of the military brass in 308/7.62 vs. commercial as in Win., Rem., and so on. Am told that the wall thickness of 223/5.56 is the same on LC and commercial?? Never checked, but both shoot fine in my space gun. Good Luck and perhaps others can give you sounder advise.

Iv'e always hear the 10% rule, too. But if you are a expierenced reloader, you know to start at the min. Then slowly increase, untill you find your rifles "Sweet spot", then stop. I shoot service rifle, and have found the most accurate loads closer to the bottom of the scale. This has proved true in my M1, M1A, and AR15.

P.S. I like Lake city brass!

dsiteman and Frank

Thanks for the reply.

We all know shooters that will push the limits of saftey with reloads. I will not. I loaded my first 357 mag in 1981 and man did it become a habit. I have split cases, had head seperations and squibs but i have not kaboomed a gun and will not start now.

These are being loaded for an f-class gun. I have 28" Shilen that is very fast. 44 gr of Varget will push a 175 Sierra 2850fps plus. I figured I load the lc for midrange stuff. All this lc was shot out of a mini gun and is very heavy compaired to Lapua. Starting load with varget from what I have read will range from 30 to 40 grs. How safe would 38grs be?

Weigh you cases and compare them to several brands of commercial brass.

70/30 cartridge brass has a specific gravity of about 8 and most rifle powder is about 1.

Therefore 8 grains of brass takes up about the same space as one grain of powder. That should give you a sanity check.

All that said, start your loads about 10% low and watch the pressure signs. Maybe stop on the middle loads in the manual if you are cautious.

quote:

Originally posted by dick broussard:
I have about 300 lc85 cases ready to load. I have looked in manuals and did a search here and on line. This is what has me going. Reduce your the starting loads from 1gr. to 15% . That is a damn big spread. Some powders I have seen in the books show no reduction from civ to mil brass, h414 is one. Is there a rule of thumb?

The rule of thumb I have alweays heard for both .308 and .30/'06 when going from commercial to GI cases was "cut your maximum load 2 grains". I have never heard of the 15% rule.

However, when changing any component, including the case, it is wise to re-work your load starting at the starting load level and go up from there until you find the most accurate load.......

Been loading the .308/7.62 since '68 for use in gas guns and bolt guns. There is a difference in loads between LC brass ball and special ball cases (LC Match cases are similar to R-P cases in volume) and those loaded in some commercial cases (W-W being the case with the most internal volume). How much the difference in loads is depends on the powders burning rate and the bullet used. For example; when duplicating M80 ball with 147 gr FMJs for use in M1As I find it generally takes 2 gr less H335 or AA2230 with LC cases than in W-W cases (not recommended for use with M1A) to achieve 2750 fps (the nominal fps of M80 out of an M1A). There is a slight variation between "lots" of the same powder so I always buy powder in minimum 8 lb jugs and work up for that lot. However with LC ball, LC Match and W-W cases in a M70 target rifle I get the same 2680 fps with 42.2, 42.5 and 45 gr of Varget under a 175 MK.

The point is; drop back to recommended starting loads and work up. Best to use a chronograph and work up to expected velocity, if duplicating a type of load, keeping a lookout for other pressure signs. Stop at either/or. Don't be surprised if you max out before the "book" does. Looking for an accurate load between minimum and maximum is the real goal of most load developement.

Larry Gibson