M1A Brass

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High Plains Drifter

High Plains Drifter

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I have some experience with what the M1A does to brass, and from what I can tell Lake City, and Federal hold up the best to semi-auto rifle usage. Does anyone have a better recommendation that those I mentioned.

Will on use Remington even for bolt use as I can not get the neck tension to hold the bullet. Hunting Shack bras seems to fair well but is short most of what I have measures 1.976-1.998, HS says it's ok.

I have heard of IMR, but can't find any. So opinions, recommendations ......

Thanks
 
i don't know about imr brass (powder) There is imi brass my father had excellent luck with imi in his m1a .it is excellent quality . j&g had a pretty decent price. i used Winchester and i had ok luck with it i am still loading the same batch after 5 years . you might have to anneal the cases:)
 
HXP Greek surplus in every caliber that i have loaded has preformed the best even 303 with bad headspace.
 
At one time IMI brass was popular with M1-A shooters. I would expect LC to hold up well. The thinner commercial brands will suffer the most.
 
In my experience, LC is some of the best, Federal the worst. Brass takes a whopping in an M1A. Gurus say toss it after three reloads and stay between 4895 and 4064 burn rates for powder.
 
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IMI is pretty good brass. LC for me lasts the best. When i get once fired brass, i always use a small base die first time. If it's shot in a machine gun, then you may experience some sizing issues when you try to use it with just a full length die. After the first time, i just use neck sizing, because it's fire formed to my chamber. M1a poses quite a few challenges to be able to consistently hit at 300 - 600 yards.

Best read i've found is :http://www.zediker.com/downloads/m14.html

It'll tell it all.
 
Federal brass in general is known for being softer than other brands. Only means it doesn't last as long before primer pockets get too big etc.
Never noticed much difference between other brands out of my semi'd Winchester M-14 though.
"...just use neck sizing..." That'd be your issue if you're having problems. FL resizing is required every time for any semi. It does not have to be an SB die though.
 
I have success reloading brass from factory ammo by Privi Partisan, Hornady, Winchester 7.62, & Black Hills.
 
Sitting here looking at a pile of brass recently fired in my M1A. While the ejection or actually the entire cycling of a M1A is a pretty violent process my rifle is not that bad on the brass. Looking at some of what is sitting here I really do not see where one brand of brass seems to suffer more than another.

Have some Federal Match that was part of an experiment where the brass was fired with the gas port open and closed. The brass was measured before and after firing. I read somewhere that manually or auto cycling the rifle will change the brass. Not in my rifle. They all went in at 1.630 (head to datum) and came out 1.635 so head to datum shoulder they grew about 0.005". Additionally, gas port open 5 shot groups were averaging 2645 FPS and with the gas port closed manually cycling the rifle 2650 FPS so nothing really changed in velocity bleeding gas to cycle the rifle.

Other brass recently fired was military Winchester WCC 08 and some LC 13. The WCC 08 was Sierra 168 grain BTHP over AA2495 41 grains BR2 primers. Averave velocity was 2503 FPS. The LC 13 brass was Sierra 180 grain BTHP over 42.2 grains of IMR 4064 BR2 primers. Average velocity was 2575 gas on and 2593 gas off. If there is a difference between any of this spent brass and the Federal Factory I listed above I can't see it? The same is true for a bunch of Remington once fired factory brass I have lying here. I just don't have the load data for the Remington brass. Very seldom do I even see a nick in the case necks.

When loading I use an set of standard RCBS dies. I do have SB (Small Base) but have not really had a need to use them. That includes loading for my bolt gun. I generally load between four or five times and trash the M1A fired brass. The above mentioned loads have shot well in my M1A, my bolt gun and also my old AR10. Matter of fact, thinking about it the AR10 is likely harder on brass than the M1A.

Just My Take....
Ron
 
Thanks

Sounds like everyone is having the same experience. As far as Federal goes I must have gotten a good batch, but then again they are from M80 white box that Federal produces so that is probably why they held up.

I don't think that it is the ejection that beats up M1A brass, it is the fact that the cases are still pretty hot when they hit the concrete at our range.

By the way my bolt (Savage M10FP) and my M1A love IMR 3031 and IMR
4985.

You might find this interesting, I just found it.

http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf

Enjoy, and thanks for the input! :D
 
High Plains Drifter said:
Sounds like everyone is having the same experience. As far as Federal goes I must have gotten a good batch, but then again they are from M80 white box that Federal produces so that is probably why they held up.

I don't think that it is the ejection that beats up M1A brass, it is the fact that the cases are still pretty hot when they hit the concrete at our range.

By the way my bolt (Savage M10FP) and my M1A love IMR 3031 and IMR
4985.

You might find this interesting, I just found it.

http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf

Enjoy, and thanks for the input! :D
Click to expand...
That Reloading for the Match M14 is one of my favorite reads. There is some really useful and interesting stuff in there. Anyway, I see it as one of the better reads out there. Thanks for posting it.

Ron
 
To the OP, do you want some uncleaned ZQI brass? pm your address and I'll give you half a dozen...

in the name of... science!
 
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