Accurizing LC Mil Brass

I bought 500 pieces of .308 LC brass for my 24" 308 I plan on shooting out to 1000yrds. So far, I've had much better luck with commercial brass than with the military stuff. I bought the mil brass because I thought it would be better in the long term since it's thicker and presumably more durable. I'm on a budget and can't afford a bunch of lapua brass so I'd like to figure out how to make this mil brass work. I have yet to try fire-formed brass and still have some research to do on the matter.

Is it even worth wasting my time with this brass? What can I do to shoot tighter groups with it? I'm currently loading 175 SMKs and 178 A-Max bullets over IMR4320 using an RCBS depriming/resizing die in a Lee beginner kit.

Thanks!

Some years back, Handloader Magazine did a really good test on rifle brass. I saved that article, but I don't have access to it at the moment.

To make this story short, what Handloader found was that Remington brass held up best to reloading. If memory serves me, they got 19 reloads from Rem cases before failures were detected. Some of the thicker cases failed in 5 or 6 reloads.

Now, these tests were done some years back, and since the shortages of the last few years, there have been quality issues. For instance, I have bought 50 308 Rem cases that were just fine. But in 50 260 Rem cases, 18 of the primer holes were off center. This quality issue seems to be selective, and has been observed by others.

In car racing, how fast you want to go, is directly perportional to how much money you want to spend. It can be like that in the shooting sports. You can't make something happen from something that is not there. And your not doing something that you "need" to do, your doing something that you "want" to do. And every dollar you spend on it is going to be worth, at the most, fifty cents tomorrow.

Learn the reloading techneeks, use that LC brass, and see how much you can get out of it. It will be great experience when you decide to get the Lapua brass.

You may be told here to forget Fireforming and full length resize all your brass. "I fire form". And it works for me.

Good luck in your shooting and reloading, and let us know how it goes for you :-))

JMHO :-)).........jim

Lake city match brass is about all I use. It is definitely the toughest going and gives me 40-60 fps over standard brass while using 1-1.5gr less powder than commercial stuff depending on caliber. I use it in everything from 250 savage to 06 and anything in between I can form it into. I only use match cases if I can get my hands on them as they are much more uniform and consistent than normal lake city cases. It could be that the brass you have has been machine gun fired and you will need to full length size and trim. Then if I were you I would sort cases by case volume using the H2o method to separate and get the best and most uniform cases. Use the odd balls for break in or foulers.

I got some LC brass that had obviously been run through a MG. Very long necks. Took a lot of trimming. The case prep was, and is, a pain on any of the Mil brass. I have yet to reload any of it for accuracy. I am doing everything regarding case prep, except turning the neck.

Lake City is all i use in both my 223 and 308. 223 is sorted by headstamp and date. 308 is sorted with NATO cross going to the AR10 and match and LR going to bolt action sorted by year. For bolt guns i fireform then neck size until chambering gets a little stiff then i aneall and full length size. I trim as needed. I have about 15 loads on my f/tr brass and it shows no sign yet of giving up.

Two points...one to reinforce what Jim said...it's all about the time you invest in prepping the brass. When looking for extreme accuracy at long ranges, the amount of time you spend on brass prep will directly impact your accuracy. Precise trimming, cleaning, deburring, chamfering, weight or more appropriately volume sorting. This LC brass will do you well if you spend the necessary time prepping it.

Second point....I shoot a lot of different calibers and have been reloading for over 30 years. I shoot a lot of LC brass in 223 an 5.56 (some of it is LC Match and a lot of it is brass my friends shoot up and save for me). I don't honestly find LC brass to be "all that and a bag of chips"...it's OK an in my opinion performs as well as many others, but I find Nosler and Hornady to be much better...Lapua brass is nice, but not worth the $$$ in my opinion. I have Remington brass that I have invested time into prep that will perform as well as Lapua brass. Now the other part....some riflers and calibers prefer different brands of brass...I have an AR that really only likes LC Match...I have a Remington 700 in 243 that shoots much better with Remington brass.

Bottom line...invest the time in prepping that LC brass and it will likely serve you well. Oh yeah, and keep in mind, sort by volume....LC brass is often "heavier" which often means lower volume, and leads to higher pressures....you may need to develop a new load for the LC brass because of this.

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Originally Posted by FW Conch

Learn the reloading techneeks, use that LC brass, and see how much you can get out of it. It will be great experience when you decide to get the Lapua brass.

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+1.

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Originally Posted by Chrazy-Chris

I bought 500 pieces of .308 LC brass for my 24" 308 I plan on shooting out to 1000yrds. So far, I've had much better luck with commercial brass than with the military stuff. I bought the mil brass because I thought it would be better in the long term since it's thicker and presumably more durable. I'm on a budget and can't afford a bunch of lapua brass so I'd like to figure out how to make this mil brass work. I have yet to try fire-formed brass and still have some research to do on the matter.

Is it even worth wasting my time with this brass? What can I do to shoot tighter groups with it? I'm currently loading 175 SMKs and 178 A-Max bullets over IMR4320 using an RCBS depriming/resizing die in a Lee beginner kit.

Thanks!

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Is your brass new or once fired?

Once-fired.... http://brassbombers.com/308-762-AS-I...624-1-0000.htm

Keep in mind that military brass was NEVER intended to be reloaded...

I have and reload a lot of rifle brass from when my past and present units (mil) go to the range to shoot M16. I don't use the stuff we shoot through any of the machine guns, 5.56 or 7.62. This is all Lake City (NATO headstamp), with all of the headstamps only dating back a few years. At one point I had around half a dozen 50 cal cans of the stuff, as I was the only reloader at one unit.

Doing all the initial prep work, specifically removing the primer crimp with a lee chamfer tool, was such a pain in the butt in bulk it wasn't worth it to me. This was mostly used for my DCM rifle, and there was a limit to the accuracy I could wring out of it. I don't run max loads in the gun (and never anneal), but would get split necks a lot more frequently and sooner than with commercial brass.

In addition I loaded up plenty of coyote/target ammo for a few guys I was stationed with (darn good shooters) and the accuracy never impressed compared to commercial match loadings.

I don't have any stored data on hand as far as the weight consistency or capacity, but it never impressed. If I was reloading to get every last tenth of an inch off my groups, I would go to something a lot more consistent such as Lapua. There's a reason that benchrest guys and other top shooters use brass that is known high quality.

I wouldn't say your brass is a waste, but be realistic about what the limitations are.

Ive purchased over 1K worth of fired LC brass and have used it extensively. Its all about prep. Im hitting 6"x8" steel swinging targets @1K with both Model 10 K and Model 10 HS. (308)
I purchased that brass 5 yrs ago and at that time, was using it on my gas guns in 308. Sold my gas guns and am using that same LC brass on my bolt guns. One model likes collet sized, the other full lenght,small base, all with LC brass.
IMO.....LC brass can more than get the job done and a lesser price and will infact out last other,s.
You,lll defently have to spend some time preping the brass. swaging primer pockets, cutting to lenght etc. IMO. you,ll need to shoot that brass preferable with bunk 308 pills with a lite charge as to form the brass to your chamber than start you brass prep again.
For me?.............LC Brass has been my ticket