Lake City Brass

[bobcat1506]

I don’t know much about Lake City brass but I just bought a bunch from a guy who claimed it was once fired. However, after depriming and a trip through the tumbler none of it seems to need swaged. Did I get taken?

 

[atblis]

It's possible to buy new LC which would not have been crimped yet. So it is possible that it is once fired and doesn't have the crimp.

http://www.scharch.com/products.php?cat=61

 

[JDGray]

Does it still look crimped? If so, you might have been lied to. I've loaded my LC 223 brass, at least 6 times, and the pockets are still snug. Its good stuff

 

[psyop]

Does it still look crimped? If so, you might have been lied to. I've loaded my LC 223 brass, at least 6 times, and the pockets are still snug. Its good stuff

Would not the crimp suggest X1 brass ?

A pic would help.

 

[JDGray]

My brass still looks as though it still has the crimp rings, even after a few twist with a Lee chamfer tool. They deprime very easy, even though they look crimped. In my case, 6X fired brass looks crimped, but with a very slight chamfer.

 

[Gatofeo]

What year is headstamped on that brass?
It's doubtful you have any, but in the early 1970s some Twin City 5.56mm brass was not intended for loading.
Seems odd, but it was 5.56 brass made under the experimental Small-Caliber Ammunition Modernization Program, or SCAMP.
The SCAMP produced cases by a method radically different from established practices, at a much higher rate of production.
Cases were produced to test the system, not to be used as ammunition. The 5.56 brass produced by SCAMP was sold as scrap metal, but some found its way into the surplus market.
ALL unfired brass marked TW and dating from the 1970s should be suspect, and should not be loaded.
Reloaders who have created ammunition in cases produced by the SCAMP system report cases splitting lengthwise. Not a good thing.
Remember:
5.56mm caliber?
Unfired?
TW headstamp?
Dates from the 1970s?
BEWARE!
For more detailed information, see the November 1979 (p. 42) and April 1986 (p. 56) issues of the American Rifleman.

 

[Gatofeo]

Oh crud ... just realized you have Lake City brass, and not TW.
:banghead:
Oh well, the warning still stands. It's doubtful anyone will find that old TW brass that is dangerous, but it may resurface from time to time as old reloaders die and their hoard is offered on internet sales and in garage sales.
Something to keep in mind.

 

[USSR]

I don’t know much about Lake City brass but I just bought a bunch from a guy who claimed it was once fired. However, after depriming and a trip through the tumbler none of it seems to need swaged.

Depriming brass with a primer crimp is no problem - it's putting fresh primers in that causes the problem. What are we talking about, 7.62 or 5.56?

Don

 

[husker]

i have had my moments priming PMC Brass. bought the P-pocket reamer & fixed that prob

 

[Grump]

You'll never *know* if it needs to be swaged until you try to seat a primer.

I occasionally get a 1x-fired case mixed in with my .223 blasting brass. You *might* notice a difference in resistance when decapping, but I hardly ever do. One of the two swagers I've used does NOT leave a generous Remington-style radius on the pocket, so just looking at the deprimed case rarely tells me whether those cases are still crimped.

Plan to ruin a primer or two if you want to know for sure.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

RCBS sells a Primer Pocket Swager which comes with both large and small primer pocket tools. (Part #9495) You can see it Here. I own and use that tool and it works great...