LC .223 brass good?
- Thread starter tangolima
- Start date
totaldla said:
It's made by Lake City to take advantage of unused capacity to keep folks working when military demand is low. What will differentiate it from actual mil-spec ammo will be that it has not been put through all the stringent testing protocols the military requires, like functioning at -65°, and other harsh condition performance testing. But I don't know that the brass or powder or bullets are any different. I wouldn't expect so.
PolarFBear said:
That's on purpose. Way back in the 1920's Julian Hatcher put both polished cases and those left with their annealing and other oxide discoloring unpolished on the roof of the Frankford Arsenal for, IIRC, a year. The industrial area had a corrosive atmosphere due to chemical plants nearby. After the test period, the polished cases were found to be largely eaten away, while the oxidized ones were still intact. As a result, it was concluded that it is best to leave the oxides on military ammunition for long stockpile life.
Just shot this 300 yard group yesterday thinking of this thread .
5.56 chamber 18" 1-7 twist $99 palmetto state armory barrel home build . Upper has a 1-6x24 PA scope .
Load was
77gr SMK
23gr IMR-4895
CCI #400 primers
LC-brass same year but forget what year
COAL 2.255 avg
I forgot to measure but It had to be a bit under moa at 300yds . With a 6x magnification using the BDC for my hold I was pretty happy with this group . I'm really not the greatest shooter so if I can get LC brass to shoot well others should as well .
5.56 chamber 18" 1-7 twist $99 palmetto state armory barrel home build . Upper has a 1-6x24 PA scope .
Load was
77gr SMK
23gr IMR-4895
CCI #400 primers
LC-brass same year but forget what year
COAL 2.255 avg
I forgot to measure but It had to be a bit under moa at 300yds . With a 6x magnification using the BDC for my hold I was pretty happy with this group . I'm really not the greatest shooter so if I can get LC brass to shoot well others should as well .
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Good shootin' Metal. 1MOA out 300yd is excellent. My AR will probably do 2moa at that distance. It has military peep sight, and I am using 55gr fmjbt bullet.
I was going to test first new load with weight sorted brass today. The rain changed the plan.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
I was going to test first new load with weight sorted brass today. The rain changed the plan.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
One thing I have noticed about LC brass, or it is true for any other small caliber brass; the brass tend to have split neck much more often. My usual annealing every 5 loads does seems adequate. I probably will need to increase to every 3 loads. In the meantime, I will turn the neck a bit thinner.
Also the brass weight varies quite a bit, easily +/- 5%. MV also varies by similar order of magnitude. I have cull at least 30% of the brass to tighten the spread. It definitely helps.
I have been fiddling with this rifle for 6 months. A few different accurizing methods put together, now it is shooting solid sub-1.5" 10-round groups at 100yd. Not too shabby for a cheap A2 clone with peep sight.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Also the brass weight varies quite a bit, easily +/- 5%. MV also varies by similar order of magnitude. I have cull at least 30% of the brass to tighten the spread. It definitely helps.
I have been fiddling with this rifle for 6 months. A few different accurizing methods put together, now it is shooting solid sub-1.5" 10-round groups at 100yd. Not too shabby for a cheap A2 clone with peep sight.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
I think 1.5" 10 shot group at 100yds with iron sights is really good . If that's still with the 55gr FMJ that's excellent and would likely mean match bullets and a scope would shoot sub moa no problem .
As far as the brass . I don't see the issues you are having When I said my velocities were not as good as my bolt guns , I'm talking some ES can be in the 50fps area . That's nowhere near 5% . I anneal after the 4th or 5th firing and I don't split the neck . I also have literally thousands of cases so by the time I get 4 or 5 firings ..... well lets just say many of my lots don't have that many firings yet so maybe I would . I could shoot 20k rounds and none of my cases would have more then 3 firings if I fired every one before starting the next loads . Yes I anneal but really not that often because of the quantity of brass I have .
Same thing goes for my velocities . Once I've done some preliminary testing with a single lot of brass . I don't keep sending rounds through a chrono . This means I may be getting the same spreads as you through out the entire lot . Maybe I should do some random testing from time to time and see if I'm still at the same SD/ES I had when first tested .
As far as the brass . I don't see the issues you are having When I said my velocities were not as good as my bolt guns , I'm talking some ES can be in the 50fps area . That's nowhere near 5% . I anneal after the 4th or 5th firing and I don't split the neck . I also have literally thousands of cases so by the time I get 4 or 5 firings ..... well lets just say many of my lots don't have that many firings yet so maybe I would . I could shoot 20k rounds and none of my cases would have more then 3 firings if I fired every one before starting the next loads . Yes I anneal but really not that often because of the quantity of brass I have .
Same thing goes for my velocities . Once I've done some preliminary testing with a single lot of brass . I don't keep sending rounds through a chrono . This means I may be getting the same spreads as you through out the entire lot . Maybe I should do some random testing from time to time and see if I'm still at the same SD/ES I had when first tested .
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It is with 77gr speer varmint bullets. Not match bullets as I am cheap. Heavier bullet is one of the accurizing methods that work. The best group I have with 55gr bullet is 2".
The group I shot this afternoon is 1.2" R50 and 1.6" R95. 10 shots at moderate fast speed, including one flyer that I failed to call. Assuming my ability to group with iron sight is 1", the rifle is capable of 0.7". With scope, I expect less than 1".
MV variation was +/- 2% before tightening brass weight spread. I managed to control it under +/- 1%. It is still ES of 60fps.
-TL
PS. We are still in lean years, so I conserve. Usually I load up 20 rounds. 3 rounds for verifying zero (mostly windage). Then I will fire 10 rounds "for effect". The last 7 rounds are for play. Firing at steel targets or clay pigeons.
The group I shot this afternoon is 1.2" R50 and 1.6" R95. 10 shots at moderate fast speed, including one flyer that I failed to call. Assuming my ability to group with iron sight is 1", the rifle is capable of 0.7". With scope, I expect less than 1".
MV variation was +/- 2% before tightening brass weight spread. I managed to control it under +/- 1%. It is still ES of 60fps.
-TL
PS. We are still in lean years, so I conserve. Usually I load up 20 rounds. 3 rounds for verifying zero (mostly windage). Then I will fire 10 rounds "for effect". The last 7 rounds are for play. Firing at steel targets or clay pigeons.
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If you have access to a lab balance or at least to a scale with 0.01-grain resolution, try sorting your primers by weight, too. The Courtneys reported this making a difference. Be sure your primers a seated firmly. Ideally, if you took the depth of the primer pocket and subtracted the height of your primer before seating, you would subtract 0.003" from the result to see how far below flush with the case head your seated primer should be. This guarantees 0.003" compression of the anvil into the priming pellet (aka, setting the bridge or reconsolidation), which Naval Ordnance found to be about ideal. Failure to get consistent reconsolidation can lead to small differences in ignition time which can create fliers by giving any motion in the barrel different amounts of time to shift the muzzle position.
Unclenick. Thanks. I haven't thought of sorting the primers. It may not be practical with the equipment I have though. My electronic scale can doing 1mg or 0.015gr, so the reading is dithering by 0.02gr.
I probably will stop here. 1.5" group is my target. It is already tighter than the 2" standard I set for milsurps, considering that it is a modern military rifle. I am happy.
The neck split is unexpected. I think the brass for small caliber is actually overworked.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
I probably will stop here. 1.5" group is my target. It is already tighter than the 2" standard I set for milsurps, considering that it is a modern military rifle. I am happy.
The neck split is unexpected. I think the brass for small caliber is actually overworked.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Average Joe
New member
I use a lot of LC brass, works just fine.