Best 223 brass

That's disappointing to hear. All the Lapua brass I've had (.308 W and .30-06, mostly) has had about half the neck wall thickness variation of LC and none of the internal flash hole burrs.
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I was speaking more to neck wall thickness and half for me with the Lapua would make my LC necks .004 thicker on one side then the other and I'm just not seeing that . .003 sometimes but a .0025 to .002 is not to uncommon . My Lapua brass is not .0015 or better .

As for burs on the flash holes . Yes my LC brass does have some burs , However out of the few thousand 308 cases I have . I've not come across one that the flash hole was actually obstructed , really in any way .

Here are a couple examples of what I see . Some of these are 223 cases but I believe represent what I see pretty much with all . Yes there are burs but they are pretty much out of the way and don't interfere with the primer flash .
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if using quality components and the putting the crosshairs on the X was all there is to shooting small groups we would all be in the record books wouldn't we ?
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Not really. You gotta shoot. You gotta know how pull the trigger, hold the rifle, develop the loads...
 
MG, those photos look like you started with a drill, and then used a hacksaw, the way you have flat areas and dips.
Personally, I have never sectioned brass. I think I would try a pipe-cutter that you tighten and spin.
I do not know how anyone cuts the lengthwise.
 
Marco , haha Actually I used my Lyman universal case trimmer to trim those . The problem with that was the first one I tried I forced it too much and the case dislodged from the holder and I slammed the blade against the case holder while in full rotation . Which chipped three of the blades and broke one off completely. Instead of using a new blade for the rest of the cases I just used that broken blade and went slow , it clearly did not cut very well as the results show lol

This is what they look like when cut down with a sharp blade and don't superman the pressure/force . The Lyman universal case trimmer is a very good trimmer IMO but it does not get the love I think it deserves .

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I started out on 223 Rem with range pickup brass.
Then started sorting out & using LC brass.
Someone on another forum had posted their weight & voljume results by headstamp and found the Starline brass was most consistant.
So i bought some 5.56 headstamp from Starline.
My groups shooting matches out to 400 yards did not improve with the casing change.

I would look more to your loading process, or component selection.
I tried CFE 223, and abandonded it. I could never get the ES/SD to settle down.
I hear that magnum primers help, but i had already moved on.
I'm now using Alliant Power Pro 2000 MR for the heavier bullets with good results.

Are you measuring each charge, or just throwing it?

Consistant neck tension does matter. As does consistant crimp, if your using one.

What kind of optic are you using? A 3MOA red dot isn't going to shrink group sizes.
 
I tried CFE 223, and abandonded it. I could never get the ES/SD to settle down.
I hear that magnum primers help, but i had already moved on.
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Agree. I will be trying H4895 when I can get a couple pounds.

I'm now using Alliant Power Pro 2000 MR for the heavier bullets with good results.
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Maybe I should look for that..hmmmm

Are you measuring each charge, or just throwing it?
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Hornady dispenser....it throws good. Checked with check weights.

Consistant neck tension does matter. As does consistant crimp, if your using one.
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Neck tension was 0.0025”-0.003” if I remember right. I need to look into that.

What kind of optic are you using? A 3MOA red dot isn't going to shrink group sizes.
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SS 3-15x optic

This isn’t an newb setup. It should and does shoot pretty well. I’m investigating die setups for best neck tension. Just bought a Forster set that has not been tried vs my current Hornady. Also considering a type S die with expander.

Crimp is a light Lee FC, but I’m going to try no crimp.. I also need to look into runout as this is a mag length round, so straightness matters a lot.

The case question is who has data on the different case brands to help make a data based LC vs Norma vs Lapua decision.
 
I never read what powder you were using , if CFE 223 that’s your problem for sure . It’s not a good high accuracy powder . If you must throw the charge I’d look into the PP 2000mr but IMHO the stick powders are what you want IMR 4064 , 8208xbr , Varget , AR-Comp . I’ve recently become a AR-Comp fan .
 
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Good to know, MetalGod!
I've been debating trying it, haven't made the jump yet.
RL15 has been right up there with Varget, & PP2000MR with the heavier bullets for me.
By heavy 69-73gr for my 1:9 twist.
 
There's a lot theories behind using Lapua brass, I've prepped winchester and remington brass with every br tool in my box and never gotten as small a groups from my br gun when using lapua brass.
That being said I wouldn't waste my time with Lapua brass on a sporter rifle, maybe buy one box if your curious to see if your factory barreled gun can tell the difference but no more.
 
I think it boils down to the fact case prepping doesn't remove all the variables Lapua addresses. Long ago, Merrill Martin wrote in Precision Shooting about the "banana-shaped case" and the need to be able to measure case wall thickness runout back near the head (in the pressure ring area) to discern it. He had a randomly perfect (within the limits of his ability to measure that) case that he compared bananas from the same lot with, and I recall the perfect case shot better and produced a slightly differet POI, though I have no idea why that would happen. Current prepping tools don't do anything about uneven case walls in the case body or shoulder. The Lapua .308 and .30-06 I have all has necks with 0.001" or less runout and 0.002" or less back near the head. By comparison, some Winchester bulk .308 I bought and sorted back around 2004 had a lot of cases with as much as 0.008" runout back near the head.

But you don't know what you'll get until you measure it. I recently made up a .30-06 dummy round for someone and my first thought was to use a piece of Winchester brass I had in a bag of just 50 that I'd bought to compare current production case capacity to other cases with. So, I figured I'd measure the worst one, which my 308 experience suggested should be pretty bad, and use that. To my surprize, almost the whole bag had no more runout than Lapua does, and the few that were closer to 0.002" runout at the neck were still better than the worst ones I find sorting LC.

I used a different case for the dummy. I'm keeping that Winchester for an upcoming experiment. I have some new Lapua in 30-06 I can compare it to.
 
There was a real good article in a Varmint magazine a couple of years back. It was on cases - Rem, Win, Norma, Lapua and maybe one more. It showed measurements of about everything you can measure on a brass case, and if memory serves, Remington cases showed the best measurements (least variation). All that said, the article pointed out that Lapua was a favorite among most accuracy based shooting disciplines. It was unclear whether Lapua was actually the best case and that’s why it was used, or if some top competitors used Lapua and the others then felt they should use Lapua to ‘keep up’.

My personal experiences with cases convinced me that, with my 220, Winchester cases when prepped worked just as well for great accuracy as the Norma cases I had recently discarded. I have since gone back to Norma. Lapua is my choice for the 223. The 270 uses Norma. The 308 uses Nosler. The 260 uses Lapua.

Since I don’t compete, but just chase accuracy and hunt, my personal data is likely of limited value. I do, however, feel confident in saying that if you want super accuracy, start with a super accurate rifle. The best cases in a poor shooting rifle won’t help much, if at all.
 
Keep in mind that Winchester and Remington get made on contract now. Norma's 2013 manual points out it is common for companies to make cases for other brands, especially when a big contract ties up a lot of equipment. Norma says they have, for example, made Remington headstamp brass in the past (and Remington almost bought Norma at one point). So, the obvious question is, who actually made that Remington brass in that article or the tight dimension Winchester I have. One thing for sure, you can't count on every lot being that good going into the future.
 
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