top brass any good?

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axis223

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looking at purchasing a 250 pack of top brass for 223rem. I shifted through the bag and noticed a lot was Lake city brass and some Winchester.

anyone use this brass?

Looking to reload target and varmint loads with it.
 
You are apparently talking about once fired brass from Top Brass. Have never ordered from them but their brass should be as good as from any other source. If the price is right, get it. The thing that might be better would be if all headstamps were the same per unit of sale and you could get your choice. How well do they process the brass before putting it up for sale might be a question. Since it appears you are there locally to make a purchase, maybe they would let you sift through several bags and select all the same headstamps.
 
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the brass is at gandermountain. its in clear bags so I can push it around and see the head stamps. I noticed some LC 08-13.

It says all tumbled, de primed, resized and primer pockets swaged or reamed.
 
If you're doing precision loading for varmints out at 300 yards or so, you probably want to segregate the brass by headstamp to limit bullet pull variation due to differing alloys and neck hardness.
 
I bought processed brass from them a couple times when they were known as Scharch, One time was fine, one time was not sized properly. This was ~15 years ago though.
 
As a reloader It's unlikely I'd buy once fired brass that's been sized . This to me means it's likely sized closer to minimum spec . I'd rather be in control of that part of the process in order to size to my specific chamber(s) .

I also agree with U.N. that you'll likely want to separate the brass by head stamp . If you buy , I'd look very close to the head stamps and try your best to get as many of the same as you can . In this case I'd likely say all LC cases are one head stamp regardless of year but that does not mean they will all load the same . That's just how I'd do it because I've had good luck mixing newer LC cases .

I get my brass from my local range where the Navy and coastguard train . They use mostly LC but the range will mix all brass into the 250ct lots . I made the mistake of just saying "give me a bag of 308 brass" once and never looked at it . When I went through it I ended up with 11 different head stamps . For me that was a waist of $35 and I just tossed them all in the SHTF bucket . The last 4 bags I bought all cases in each lot were the same . LC 14 x2 , LC-10 & LC-09 .
 
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Yes it's bad , at least for me it is because the reason you're separating them is to have consistent brass . What you end up with there is 11 different lots of 22 pieces or in my case the numbers ranged from 12 pieces to 30 something . Sometimes 22 shots isn't enough to even do a load development . I don't even start a load development if I don't have at least 110 pieces . I like to be able to have 100 rounds loaded or the ability to load 100 . The 10 extra are just that , extra so I can replace as needed .

Don't get me wrong here , I have a mix lot right now of 600-ish I use for my 223/5.56 plinking/range fun loads . Mixed brass can work but if you are going to separate by head stamp . Then you'll want as many as possible of the same head stamp .

In my case and the 11 different head stamps . They were mostly odd brand that I knew I was not going to see many more of . So there was no need to put them aside and add to the lots as I got more of the same . I was not likely going to get many of them . In fact that turned out to be true . The only head stamp of those that has come up is CBC . I have since started a separate lot of those but it's still well under 100rds .
 
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Top Brass reconditioned brass is very inconsistent. Bought 250 rds of 308 and 10%+ would not chamber because headspace was bad. Most were Lake City and this is an ongoing problem with once fired Lake City Brass. Several necks were out of round and many were dented. Suspect it was old military Brass. Do not use Top Brass reconditioned Brass if you are looking for precision reload rounds. Not worth the money or the frustration.
 
I scraped 2k in LC de-primed and water tumbled brass because no one wanted to pay $30.00 per K locally so now any I pick up goes straight in the recycle bucket.

Bill
 
Fwiw this thread is 5 years old , that said I almost exclusively use LC brass in both 5.56 and 308 . I have zero issues with LC brass , is it like factory new Lapua or Norma .... no . However it’s FAR from just scrap/recycling brass .

Those that think so likely need to understand what could be there problem and how to resolve it . LC brass is good brass and some is quite excellent.
 
Yeah. Zombie thread. Lots of newbies seem to revivify them. I'll close it. A new thread needs to be started if this topic seems currently relevant to anyone.
 
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