Is LC brass with the effort?

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As for Toprudder's concerns.....I don't know. I just know that that the box of Federal factory brass I had (don't know if it was a bad batch) wouldn't plunk in the Wilson gauge. My reloads do. And my reloads auto-feed where the said Federal factory wouldn't.
You may have an actual chamber gauge then. Wilson makes both "chamber" and "headspace" gauges.
 
I really like Lake City brass for use in my .223 AR .... yeah it takes a little work ... but it last many more loading over some of the other brass ....

When I first bought my .25/06 in 1969 there was no brass available(no internet either)... My local gun shop had some Lake City Match '68 brass .... I sized a bunch of it down and worked my loads up for the .25/06 .... I still have quite a few of those brass today ...no telling how many loads have been in those brass ...I lost count after 12 times ...
 
Many years ago I bought 1K of "processed/sized" brass. Silly me just loaded them up about five years ago. After all, they passes the Wilson gauge just fine. Soon after that bought the Sheridan gauge and about 20/25% failed the Sheridan die. Those have all chambered and fired in a couple of ARs since then as I used them up, but they might not in a tight chamber.

So far my RCBS standard .223 sizer has managed to size the vast majority (98/99%?) of various range brass to fit the Sheridan gauge, but it's unlikely I have picked up any machine gun fired brass.
 
I helped a neighbor that bought some range LC brass in both 5.56 and 7.62. He can be a little hard headed at times and don't listen to me. I had sent him a link to the 7.62 brass that was not MG brass but he saw some cheaper and bought those. I told him what he got was going to be trouble. The first thing we did was deprime them all using a universal deprimer. Run them through a wet cleaner and dry. Removed the crimped primer by swagging. Then I took all of them and ran them through my annealer. This to make it easier to size on his RCBS Jr press. He then sized them all. At that point he went a head and started trimming them to length. What he discovered was some were excessively long and needed trimmed > 0.020" removed, were MG brass and stretched real bad. Most were in the MG brass was in the 0.040"-0.050" range. At the time it did not register to him till he fired 1 of those that had a lot of stretch and had a head separation on the first firing. This was his first experience with a case head separation and did not know what would happen. Since I recommended he keep the excessive ones separate he ended up scrapping them. I showed him how to detect them with a pick. Since he had always shot his own first fired brass this was a learning experience for him.
 
Now the question is did you save enough to make it worth all the work and losing 2.5% in the initial chilling process? There is still the question of how many firings you will get.
Not saying its dumb. I don't know the price difference.

I cant speak for GW, but yes, Im sure he did in a pure $$$ paid for once fired LC vs new vs once fired commercial. It all depends on how much your time is worth to you. Thats the real kicker in processing any military brass
 
I cant speak for GW, but yes, Im sure he did in a pure $$$ paid for once fired LC vs new vs once fired commercial. It all depends on how much your time is worth to you. Thats the real kicker in processing any military brass

Well... there's more to it than that. If in all that time you spent processing that brass, and it fails on the first reload, the value of it is certainly diminished. In my case, with that bad lot of 7.62mm brass I had, if I was a 'magazine grabber'... that is to say using the magazine as a forward grip... I'd probably be missing a finger or two.
 
Well... there's more to it than that. If in all that time you spent processing that brass, and it fails on the first reload, the value of it is certainly diminished. In my case, with that bad lot of 7.62mm brass I had, if I was a 'magazine grabber'... that is to say using the magazine as a forward grip... I'd probably be missing a finger or two.

Yes, you received a bad lot of brass, so dont try to pass that one experience off as being the final word for the rest of us please.

I have pieces of LC that have been shot so many times the headstamp is almost unreadable. Do I check these for case failure? Absolutely, but not with a microscope. Do I worry about case head separation? Not really. It is far more likely the primer pocket will wear out or youll get a split neck before you get a case head separation. In an AR or a bolt gun, its not that big of a deal anyway. I have at least 20000 pieces of LC, and of that 10000 were purchased as once fired military brass. I have never had a case failure other than a split neck or primer pocket being too loose. I cull these as I load, as I will see the split neck during trimming, and feel the primer pocket as I load. I would say that statistically I am either very lucky, or its good stuff. Im leaning towards the second option.
 
Yes, you received a bad lot of brass, so dont try to pass that one experience off as being the final word for the rest of us please.

Didn't say that. That is my experience, and what I do now is based on that experience, and I'm not alone. I'm simply bring to light what can happen... as it did to me in my initial experience with once-fired 7.62 military brass. You pays your money and you takes your chances. As I also stated, my experience with 5.56mm, the OP's original question, was limited... and I don't really know if case head separations and other failures are a problem with military once-fired 5.56. The question is moot... the OP uses his own fired brass, as do I.

As far as my experience... it was an eye-opener, thankfully not literally. I had to tap the brakes on my reloading until I figured out exactly what was going on... so if I seem a little zealous about it, that's why.
 
I shoot only LC brass in my 308's. A GSR and a Milspec. Some I know was machine gun fired, and other were not. Did not find any excessively long. Only about 25% of the 2k I purchased needed any trim at all. About the same number needed a small base die to get it to chamber in my Milspec. The GSR was less fussy. I processed them doing a handful (literal hand full) at a time.

Remove primers from a handful each day until the large bowl became empty. Clean, then resize, one handful a day until the bowl was empty. Did the same with check length, trim as needed, and run them all through the case gauge. Forgot to say swaging. My co-ax makes the resizing no issue at all. I then reload them as needed. I have shot a bunch and reloaded them afterwards with no ill effects. Happy with it.
 
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I cant speak for GW, but yes, Im sure he did in a pure $$$ paid for once fired LC vs new vs once fired commercial. It all depends on how much your time is worth to you. Thats the real kicker in processing any military brass

I don't remember the amount I paid....they were on sale though and I remember thinking it was a good deal, and if I was ever going to try them then would be a good time, money wise, and I wasn't getting any younger.

I bought them 5 years ago, processed them 6 months ago, and I've continued to get older, weaker, grumpier since......would I buy another 1000 tomorrow? No. I have enough LC and commercial brass now to last me til I'm dead. Yes it takes time to process and if you don't have it to give, don't do it....but you do it only once. (the swaging, uniforming, and the initial hard sizing.) From then on it's no different from any other brass*....and you check 'em ALL for safety....that's a given no matter what you got.

One caveat! If this "hardy" thick brass doesn't last more that one or two loadings then it would be an unfortunate waste of time ..... I would be surprised and definitely disappointed ... and the vaunted reputation of LC brass would become another shattered myth!

*Excepting the volume difference in 7.62 vs .308...not usually a factor in 5.56 vs. .223
 
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bft_auto asked:
I do all my brass prep work by hand.
In an AR is this brass high enough quality to make it worthwhile?

First, what additional work are you talking about? If the question is whether it is "worth it" to remove the primer crimp (which insures you have "once fired" brass) and to process the remainder of the stream, the answer is a decided "YES", you should
 
Question for those familiar with the recent "staked" primers... it would appear to me that since there are four linear stake marks in a square shape around the primer that you can't cut the crimping out in the traditional way. Does one need to use the 1050 or Dillon crimp remover or RCBS crimp remover type method to move the brass back where it needs to be to reload these?
 
Yes, I used the RCBS military crimp remover. But the stakes pockets I have seen were not as pronounced as the ones in that video.
 
I use a RCBS trim mate tool with a Lyman inside deburr VLD tool installed---It cuts out any crimp very quickly--after you use it for a while you will get the right pressure to not cut too deep. I love that TRIM MATE.
I wrap a small piece of sandpaper around the brass & hold it with a standard pair of pliers--your fingers never get tired this way.
 
I use a RCBS trim mate tool with a Lyman inside deburr VLD tool installed---It cuts out any crimp very quickly--after you use it for a while you will get the right pressure to not cut too deep. I love that TRIM MATE.
I wrap a small piece of sandpaper around the brass & hold it with a standard pair of pliers--your fingers never get tired this way.
Sounds like a good plan.
 
I love LC brass. It's all I shoot for my .308 and .223 rifles. I currently neck-size for my .308, and my current batch of brass is on it's 4th neck sizing so far. I don't shoot hot loads, so if I can get 10 loads out of any batch then I'll be happy. I've shot 150gr Hornady FMJBT's, 168gr SMK's, and 200gr SMK's so far with no issues. Varget, H335, and IMR4064. No abnormal pressure signs with my loads, either. The few thousand I have will last me a long time.

The way I see it, you only have to remove the crimp once. Thicker case walls for a little longer life. Not to mention, it's relatively inexpensive compared to other brass. You really can't go wrong.
 
Both my 5.56 and 7.62 Lake City stashes of brass are at least 20 years old... I bought both at least 20 years ago. When I bought them I paid extra for cleaned, deprimed and swaged. It was definitely worth it to pay extra for the seller to take care of the primer crimp for me. I don't know if I would have had the patients to de-swage all that brass myself!

I like the LC .308 brass because I feel comfortable shooting it through my HK-91 with the fluted chamber and still reloading the brass. Back then we bought LC brass because it was cheap!
 
I don't think LC brass is that big of a deal, its just one more step that needs done and it's an easy and fast step if you have the right tool. If your going to process a lot of it the Dillon Super Swager or similar tool sure makes quick work of the task. If I didn't already have the swager I would probably go with the Hornady swager plate for the AP LnL and speed it up even more. I do cut a few pockets out if I just have a few to do and it's a lot slower process then a swager of some brand.
I'm working through 500 pieces of new demilled LC 308 brass I purchased from RMR and the swaging on the Dillon is the fastest step in the process. Now getting the bullet sealant tar crud out of the necks is a different story.
 
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