Lake City brass

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I had thought of it, until I considered the headstamp markings. Those are either die set or lot codes, in my guessing. If lot codes, every run had wear, and dies get PM'd and worn details get replaced.

It does make me curious to what their specs are held to. :)
 
I don’t, typically. I did end up throwing away a batch of LC07 5.56 i had, due to an extremely high rate of inspection failures. I just tossed the whole lot. Can’t remember where I’d sourced it...
I attributed it to that batch having been run through a very “generously spaced” chamber.
I dont think that LC07 brass is bad, in and off itself.

most of my LC ranges from the mid 60’s, up to 82. It’s all tremendous, and I just lump them all together
 
I separate out LC'15 and '19 brass.... Because that's the 2 I had most of, and I wanted to use them for accuracy loads. All other years are just thrown together.
 
Anneal the thick neck/ shoulder junction on Lake City brass and it transforms it into some of the best brass you have.

If you have enough to sort, do so to keep up with how many firings you have on it. I have a set of LC 07 that I started reloading with. They are work hardened as much as you can do to brass and still shoot ok. I don’t think I have ever worn a piece of LC out since I started.
 
Loving all the answers and opinions. Keep them coming.
Somewhere I thought I heard that LC19 head stamps were the best, could be wrong.
I have a decent little supply and will continue to carry on with my OCD tendencies.
 
bluejay75 said:
Anneal the thick neck/ shoulder junction on Lake City brass and it transforms it into some of the best brass you have.

If you have enough to sort, do so to keep up with how many firings you have on it. I have a set of LC 07 that I started reloading with. They are work hardened as much as you can do to brass and still shoot ok. I don’t think I have ever worn a piece of LC out since I started.
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an annealer is definitely my next investment. Been loading pistol cartridges for a good 27 years but I just started doing a lot of bottleneck stuff over the last couple years.
 
Is the reason for separating them to hopefully get more consistent brass for accuracy? Have you weighed the brass from the same year to verify that they are more consistent? If you are truly looking for the most consistent shooting pieces of brass wouldn't it be more accurate to do water volume testing?
 
I've done it both ways, and honestly don't see much of a difference. Even with my mixed batches I keep them segregated and track number of loadings etc.
 
I sort LC SCAMP brass by headstamp year. That said, I've weight studied the batches, and I believe the inter-year weight variation is no greater than the intra-year weight variation, within SCAMP brass.

Older pre-SCAMP brass is excellent, but not mixable for my purposes.

Skeptic13 said:
Is the reason for separating them to hopefully get more consistent brass for accuracy? Have you weighed the brass from the same year to verify that they are more consistent? If you are truly looking for the most consistent shooting pieces of brass wouldn't it be more accurate to do water volume testing?
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Yes.
Yes.
Yes, (but 'precise', not 'accurate') but weight-sorting takes one tenth the time of volume sorting, so if it's only half as effective it's still 5x more efficient as a sorting mechanism.
 
Does anyone else not care for LC brass? I really don't think it's that good of brass and would rate it about a 5 or 6 out of 10.

Is it just that there's so much of it because it's surplus and cheap? I try to avoid it in 50 BMG, old stuff like WWII is ok but from the 80's up, no thank you.

Putting on my flame suit. :feet:
 
I treat my LC brass just like my Lapua . I have LC 17 and LC 18 that I bought as virgin brass w/ No-Crimp , I keep it annealed and it is very consistent accuracy wise , and primer pockets seem to stay tight forever. What a joy it is starting out without a crimp .
 
Mk-211 said:
Does anyone else not care for LC brass? I really don't think it's that good of brass and would rate it about a 5 or 6 out of 10.
Click to expand...

I'm right there with you... in fact, I've made the transition from LC brass being my primary M1a brass, to Prvi, for a number of reasons. I'm talking 7.62mm, not necessarily 5.56mm.

Personally, in this modern age, once-fired LC 7.62mm brass is garbage... fired most likely in worn out machine guns. I've had no end of problems with that junk, for various reasons, and I wound up scrapping all of it. As far as components... pull down brass has been pulled down for a reason, likely because it failed a performance parameter or failed an inspection point somewhere, and new components are the same. I understand whoever is running the LC plant gets to use the machines to produce ammo and components for their own disposal when they are idle, but I've seen too much crappy brass and ammo to trust it.

As far as production ammo, some of the worst ammo I've ever seen has come from LC... filthy, spotted, production damage.

As far as 5.56mm LC, it's OK... no better or worse than anything else I've seen.

I do segregate out my headstamps... it usually provides a fair 'lot' of brass I can keep track of (for example, I have 4 'lots' of LC 5.56mm brass... 13, 14, 15, 18... that gets processed and loaded as a single lot. It's far easier to keep track of, and provides you a reference if you run into issues.

For that matter, I segregate ALL of my headstamps. Yes, I'm that OCD.
 
5.56/223
Sorting by year would seem to be a waste of time. Many machines running with the same year stamp.

Scamp markings
Some US GI cartridge cases are run on SCAMP (Small Caliber Ammunition Modernization Program) lines. This is HIGH speed cartridge case making equipment. Several lines of SCAMP machinery may be used to run cases thru out the year, or on the same lot/year of ammo. Those dots identify which SCAMP line.

View attachment 1005338
 
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Mk-211 said:
Does anyone else not care for LC brass? I really don't think it's that good of brass and would rate it about a 5 or 6 out of 10.
Click to expand...
Its made to be fired 1 time.

I would never buy used GI surplus brass because of some testS that are run on it, before its sold as scrap. If its roll sized, before resale, case head may become weak.

Buy new LC ammo, fire, anneal, is better imo.

I do use LC brass, but it comes from factory ammo & a friend that doesnt reload. He gave me some Black Hill Match 223 brass, that seems to be very good quality.
 
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