jsh
One Of Us
Member # 7428

posted 08-12-2002 05:02
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As far as the military brass goes I would take some LC "91" brass over some of the others. I anneal the mil brass befor I do anything else. I don't know if it is TC's sloppy chambers or not.

JSH
I recently bought Lake City Brass from Midsouth & the brass came with the necks already Annealed. I tried the fireforming load on one & the brass came out pretty good. When you worked up your load, did you do it in the Lake City Brass? If not did you switch from Commerical brass to Miltary? Was it necessary to start all the way from scratch? I've read that the military brass has a smaller capacity Due to the thickness of the brass have you found this to be true. Do you think that I could just drop my load 1/2 a grain & try it? Or Is there such a difference that you should just start again from the bottom?
Rich Jake

[ 09-01-2002, 03:26: Message edited by: Rich Jake ]

Rich Jake, when I started using the LC brass that I annealed I started with what ever was a recommended start load as per the military brass, most of the time, -10% of a commercial brass load. I then increased the charge about 3/10 to 5/10ths of a grain until I was happy with the brass after firing.
There was some discussion on annealing on the reload forum. Some swear by it some don't. I myself anneal most everything on fireforming anymore.
I am not saying this is right, but on some different batches of military brass I have annealed to edge of the shoulder to get it to blow out nicely.
Oh, also I anneal before I neck size, seems to expand a little better. This is one round that I know for a fact, in my experiance any way , that the fire form loads don't shoot any noticably difference in accuracy as a formed load. Same powder, bullet combo etc...
Is this clear as mud now?? Hope I didn't confuse you any. It is that this happens to be one of my favorite rounds. I get excited when some one starts to fool with a 7 TCU. I have had several barrels in this caliber and all but one were good shooters. That one exception I had to use a small base custom die believe it or not, to get the fired case to chamber, and yes it was a factory 10" barrel. I never could get any combination to work in it though, 2 1/2" at 100 was about the best it would do.
Jeff

Jeff
Do you feel that you get better life from the Lake City brass? I really bought it for my 223 barrel because I worked up my loads with that to start with. When I saw the necks & shoulders were already annealed I had to try it for the 7TCU & it fire formed nicely. Did you ever actually measure the capacity of the Lake City brass & say WW brass?
Rich Jake

Nope, I never did measure the capacity with water or powder. On my particular barrel I have now, seems to actually prefer the LC brass over the WW.
I bought 500 of the 223 when mid south had them on sale this past spring. I thought that would be a little better brass for my shoot offs at 200 yards. Well to make a long story short I am back to a batch of 60 some LC brass that I don't now honestly how many times the have been reloaded.

What I have done some what unscientifically, is that a word?, is check my case volume and thus I am burning a little less powder because of the thicker case.
Here is a brain teaser, LC brass, less powder, same volume than the WW brass and higher velocities.
But over all on this round I have had less problems with the LC brass and some other military brass than the commercial brass. Might just be my way of loading?
Jeff

That Lake City '91 brass was annealed 11 years ago.... it might not be as soft as your hoping.

cas, that is a quote that Rich must have kept.
The LC brass around here was cheap, like about $25 for 5000. I only bought about 300 initially as I was on a real small budget then. The stuff worked so good that I never thought about getting any more, my own hind sight.
Jeff

while on the subject of Military brass...I have a .223 contender barrel that sometimes will seperate the case close to the head. It has always happened with some black hills ammo i bought that us LC brass.... not sure but i think the head stamps were prior 91

any ideas?? Fireball

not sure but i think the head stamps were prior 91
any ideas?? Fireball

Do you think that it could have been made differently prior to that date? A bad lot? The only other thing to suspect not sizing it properly.
Rich Jake

The only other thing to suspect not sizing it properly.
Rich Jake

I purcahed it reloaded blue box from Black hills
It is the only ammo that has done this

Fireball