brass sorting question

4

49willys

New member
Winchester made case in particular.I have ww,superspeed,winchester,and a few other headstamps.Do you think there would be much difference in the cases other than headstamp since they are all Win.manufactured?
 
Yes. In 45 for example they use both large and small primer pocket 45 acp brass and I have found two different flash hole diameters in the large primer cases.
 
Short answer, yeah there are differences. Some primer pockets might be crimped in for example on military headstamps, and you'll definitely find differences in brass thickness from one headstamp to the next. Do you need to sort them? Depends on what you're loading. Handgun brass, I wouldn't bother. Rifle brass, I wouldn't sort plinking loads, but I'd sort anything I wanted to load for precision or anything I would be loading near max where thickness and case capacity would matter.

Eric
 
SCSOV,

I can easily identify military head stamps for 5.56 from Lake City and others but I wouldn't know a 45 ACP military head stamp from Win or Remington or other manufacturers. Can you provide a description?
 
I should have stated this is .308w brass.'nother question,would you say commercial or lake city brass makes more accurate ammo?I have a supply of lc 08 and lc 06,would those two be pretty consistent to one another?
 
do you know that the military crimps need to be removed before re-priming? if not, let us know and we can all give you a different answer on the best way to do it, but it MUST be done on LC brass and other surplus
 
I can easily identify military head stamps for 5.56 from Lake City and others but I wouldn't know a 45 ACP military head stamp from Win or Remington or other manufacturers. Can you provide a description?
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Someone else could probably provide a much more comprehensive list than I could as far as military headstamps specific to 45 ACP. If I was going to process handgun brass by headstamp I'd look for FC, WCC, and anything with a two digit date of manufacture code or crimped in primer.

Eric
 
I should have stated this is .308w brass.'nother question,would you say commercial or lake city brass makes more accurate ammo?I have a supply of lc 08 and lc 06,would those two be pretty consistent to one another?
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I wouldn't say that either commercial or military brass is inherently more accurate than the other as a generality, although there are certainly some specific brands of brass that are much better than others. Accuracy with brass is mainly (although not solely) a function of consistency from piece to piece. So if you're chasing accuracy the biggest thing is really getting brass that's as much as possible the same in weight, thickness, etc. I've used LC brass to make exceptionally accurate 308 ammunition by simply sorting it by year of manufacture and sometimes also the weight. Beyond that take the time to properly prep your brass for further uniformity and you can make plenty accurate ammunition with LC brass.

Eric
 
I purchased .308 range brass from a guy here and some of the match grade non mil surp cases had crimped in primers too so you have to check them all and seperate the headstamps and weigh them sssso you can work your chare up using the heaviest brass for the max case volume to avoid problems if you want to used mixed headstamps.
 
I shoot a .308 for accuracy, usually 600 yard ranges.

I seperate the head stamps.
I've found the '86 to current military brass to be consistent,
'86 back have different size flash holes...
There are both size flash holes in '86, probably the last of the production run before they switched.

Watch the case neck thickness.
Military uses a HARD crimp on the necks, so some cases need to be turned for thickness and trimmed to size before you put them in rotation.

All military primers are crimped,
And I have to say, the best way to get rid of that crimp is a UNIVERSAL decapping die,
Knock the primer out,
CUT the primer crimp off the case,
Then throw them in the tumbler with the rest of the cases.

INSIDE the case neck deburring tool works the best for me,
Power or epoxied into a handle for manual operation.

I've tried about every primer pocket (Compression) tool, and compressing (Forming) that work hardened brass is a CHORE that will have you yanking or pounding on press handles,
It's MUCH more simple to just trim the hardened lip off,
Leaves a nice taper to guide the new primer in,
And it's a ONE TIME job when you get a fresh batch of military cases.

As for cases, as long as the case VOLUME is the same,
(IE: Military Case Volume will sometimes differ from Civilian Case Volume)
You won't have any issues.

I know some guys think the QUALITY of the brass has something to do with things,
But it's the VOLUME/Air Space in the case that will cause a difference in loads,
Along with the flash hole size,

If the case volume and flash holes are consistent,
You will make consistent rounds.
 
I use a counter sink bit in a cordless drill to cut the crimp out.works very fast.
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Just last night I was prepping some LC brass and used a countersink in my drill and it still works and it took me less than 15 minutes to do 50 (been doing it for many years) . And that includes stopping to pick up my "drops" . I'm just starting reloading .308 for a new rifle and only tried Hornady brass. LC is a new headstamp for me and am in the process of prepping some LC once fired brass (all still have the primer crimps so I'm pretty sure they're once fired).
 
Countersink is my method too. I used to just use a large Phillips bit which work fine as well. But countersink is faster
 
Case volume varies from lot to lot, even with the same headstamp.

In GENERAL, Win brass is a little thinner than Rem, and both are thinner than GI brass.

Weigh you brass, AFTER sorting by headstamp, if you want the most consistency. Cases significantly heavier or lighter than the average will have slightly different internal capacities.

WW, WW Super, Super Speed, Super X, all are Win, but can be different. If you don't have enough to make full boxes, keep and use them as plinking ammo. UNIFORMITY is one of the keys to accuracy. Mixed headstamp brass can still give you minute of deer accuracy, but usually not the level needed for varmint, or long range precision shooting.
 
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