PMC Brass

[kopfjaeger]

So I'm new to reloading rifle cartridges. I have some PMC .308 cases that I used to break in the barrel on my 11VT. I want to do some practice loads just to get the hang of it. I have some Federal Gold medal match that I haven't shot yet through it that I plan to use later. Question is: is the PMC cases ok for use in this purpose? Or should I wait until I fire the Federal. I am using Winchester LR primers, IMR 4064, and Sierra 175gr match bullets.

[stangfish]

Do it. 41.5 - 42.3 should get you close.

[fgw_in_fla]

As long as it's made of brass & chambers in your rifle, it'll work.

I have some PMC brass that's on its 4th reloading. Still hanging in there.
The 4064 works great in mine. I hope yours likes it as well...

[squirrelsniper]

Actually, I prefer PMC brass to the Federal brass. In my opinion the Federal Gold Medal brass is way too soft.

[kopfjaeger]

I've read that quite often. I'm waiting to get some winchester brass. Hear that's pretty good. Now if I can just figure what I'm doing wrong with me turret press and deluxe size set.

[cm1021]

PMC you will be fine with. I use it in my .223 and 300 BLK but for my 308 I use only winchester. priced right and VERY consistent.

[kopfjaeger]

Seems to be, I loaded up a few rounds that I will be testing soon. I am having issues with Lee collet die though. It's not neck sizing correctly on some of the casings. I need to investigate the matter further.

[Westcliffe01]

If some of the brass has been fired 4 or 5 times (or more) then it will need to be anealed before it will size properly. Thats the case regardless of what kind of sizing die you use.

[kopfjaeger]

They are all once fired.

[Westcliffe01]

I had an entire batch of LC brass that was not properly annealed prior to necking. About 2% of the necks were already split before they had ever been fired. So I annealed the entire batch, then FL sized them figuring that if the necks were going to split, they would do it when the expander ball was pulled through the neck after annealing if there was a latent defect. None of the annealed cases split, so I only lost the original 2% that I found after I cleaned them in the stainless tumbler.

Unfortunately, one cannot always assume that every step of the manufacturing process was carried out ptoperly. If you have issues, you could try having just the "issue" cases annealed and if that resolves it, I would do them all. Then you know you are good to go with that brass. It is basically like giving it a "clean slate"

[kopfjaeger]

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try.