Loading Range Brass and expecting Precision

[okie man]

That's fine as long as the rest of the unsized neck fits the chamber and the shoulder isn't too far forward. All range brass should be full length sized and checked for function before priming and loading.

 

[bigedp51]

For my AR15s and bolt action .223 I just buy bulk once fired Lake City brass. And I also pickup any Lake City 5.56 brass I find at the range. And Lake City brass is above average in quality, uniformity and case weight variations and you won't cry if you loose a few cases like you would if it was Lapua brass. I full length resize using a non-bushing Forster die. A full length resized case does not have the case body or neck contacting the chamber walls. The bolt face supports the rear of the case and front of the case is supported by the bullet in the throat. The only part of the case that contacts the chamber is the case shoulder.

The resized case body should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter. This allows the case body to spring back from the chamber walls when fired and extract reliably.

RULE ONE: Service Rifles Are Not Benchrest Rifles
Gas-guns require a relatively loose fit between ammunition and chamber (vs. bolt actions) for safe, smooth operation. Many techniques, such as neck sizing and keeping cartridge headspace quite tight, are popular in the extreme bolt gun accuracy realm. However, they are of little value with Service Rifles, and some could even be hazardous. Before adopting a specialized technique, seriously consider whether it is appropriate and beneficial in a gas-gun.

Save $$ By Using Lake City 5.56x45mm Once-Fired GI Brass
https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/10/save-by-using-lake-city-5-56x45mm-once-fired-gi-brass/

Accuracy Potential of Mil-Surp 5.56×45 Brass

So, how accurate can previously-fired GI surplus brass be in a good National Match AR-15? Well, here's a data point from many years ago that might be of interest. A High Power shooter who wrote for the late Precision Shooting magazine took a Bill Wylde-built AR match rifle to a registered Benchrest match. His first 5-round group ever fired in a BR match was officially measured at 0.231″ at 200 hundred yards. This was fired in front of witnesses, while using a moving target backer that confirmed all five rounds were fired.

He recounted that his ammo was loaded progressively with factory 52gr match bullets and a spherical powder using mixed years of LC brass with no special preparation whatsoever. Obviously, this was "exceptional". However, he had no difficulty obtaining consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards using LC brass and a generic "practice" load that was not tuned to his rifle.

Below you can see the extreme spread in case weight variations with Lake City brass being above average.

How Hard is Your Brass? 5.56 and .223 Rem Base Hardness Tests
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...r-brass-5-56-and-223-rem-base-hardness-tests/

 

[Slick8]

I don't reload to save money and would view all of the sorting and prep work for range brass as a waste of my time.

For the 223 buy what ever will work but remember this, premium brass takes less prep work and will typically last longer.

Here's a good article regarding brass and long range shooting.

All about that Brass

Yep, this is a rant.......sorta. Only because it seems like we find it being the most common culprit right behind optics failure when trying to diagnose accuracy issues. I don't think a lot of folks realize just how important good brass is in the overall accuracy equation. It's every bit as...

aprifles.com

 

[bigedp51]

A AR15 rifle has a bad habit of throwing perfectly good brass away and makes you go look for it.
I would never think of shooting Lapua or any high quality brass in any AR15 type rifle.
Especially after my above post where mixed Lake City brass was used and got 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards.

 

[Muddyboots]

I just found 2 boxes of factory .270 Win Hornady brass very nicely put back into box and left on bench as a courtesy. Holy cow, so nice I didn't have to reach down into the grimy barrel to retrieve it loosely. So yes, I will use this as if I bought it and will be glad to have it. Agree with rest of posts that I keep pistol brass with same headstamp, recycle or trade other headstamps, recycle or trade off military .223 or 5.56 brass. Getting tougher to find decent brass at range any more since I think a lot of folks are realizing there can be some really good finds since a lot do not reload.

 

[jdyoung]

Doesn't matter if its picked up by you at the range or purchased from vendors. You never know how many times "once fired brass " has been fired.
Check for cracks, serviceability, sort it, everything you've been doing, etc .
Anneal it!

 

[Muddyboots]

The one thing about range brass that I feel very strong about is if it even looks slightly odd, recycle it, not worth the problems with it. You really need to be extremely cautious like jdyoung stated. I can say I rarely find brass that I actually can use but between trade and recycle it is funding for other projects. Recycling is easy and you get better pricing if you remove primers, at least from recycler I use locally. Keep 5 gal bucket next to bench with TV and watch cable while recycling is easy and painless. Then again, retired so my time is $$$ and I get some additional $$$.

 

[bigedp51]

Doesn't matter if its picked up by you at the range or purchased from vendors. You never know how many times "once fired brass " has been fired.
Check for cracks, serviceability, sort it, everything you've been doing, etc .
Anneal it!

Actually once fired Lake City 5.56 brass has crimped primers so you know if its once fired.

And the last time I had my son to the range the shooters a few benches down from us gave me two boxes of once fired 30-30 brass in their factory boxes.

So there are times when you can pickup once fired cases at the range and know it was fired only once.

 

[TRG65]

I use range brass in my 223 AR. I have to load lighter because of the case variations, and I don't expect great SD's and ESs. I'm also not going to be shooting past 500yds with that gun and can hit a 20" target consistently, so I'm satisfied. It is a game gun for tactical rifle matches or 2-gun, not a hunting gun and not where great accuracy is needed. My load at 100 is usually about .8-.9 MOA for 5 shots, but is only pushing a 77SMK at 2540. This is loaded progressively on a Dillon 1050, but weighing charges on a charge master. If I drop the charges progressively also (Varget), I only get MOA accuracy, but I don't expect sub.

Now if I would use range brass for my 6.5 Creedmoor AR 10, I would cull it to Hornady (which is the majority left at ranges or PRS matches), and anneal it. Then I would expect it to shoot right with the rest of my Hornady annealed 6.5 Creedmoor brass. That would be 1/2 moa give or take depending on how I'm doing.

 

[SteelBanger]

For my AR15s and bolt action .223 I just buy bulk once fired Lake City brass. And I also pickup any Lake City 5.56 brass I find at the range. And Lake City brass is above average in quality, uniformity and case weight variations and you won't cry if you loose a few cases like you would if it was Lapua brass. I full length resize using a non-bushing Forster die. A full length resized case does not have the case body or neck contacting the chamber walls. The bolt face supports the rear of the case and front of the case is supported by the bullet in the throat. The only part of the case that contacts the chamber is the case shoulder.

The resized case body should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter. This allows the case body to spring back from the chamber walls when fired and extract reliably.

View attachment 191364

RULE ONE: Service Rifles Are Not Benchrest Rifles
Gas-guns require a relatively loose fit between ammunition and chamber (vs. bolt actions) for safe, smooth operation. Many techniques, such as neck sizing and keeping cartridge headspace quite tight, are popular in the extreme bolt gun accuracy realm. However, they are of little value with Service Rifles, and some could even be hazardous. Before adopting a specialized technique, seriously consider whether it is appropriate and beneficial in a gas-gun.

Save $$ By Using Lake City 5.56x45mm Once-Fired GI Brass
https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/10/save-by-using-lake-city-5-56x45mm-once-fired-gi-brass/

Accuracy Potential of Mil-Surp 5.56×45 Brass

So, how accurate can previously-fired GI surplus brass be in a good National Match AR-15? Well, here's a data point from many years ago that might be of interest. A High Power shooter who wrote for the late Precision Shooting magazine took a Bill Wylde-built AR match rifle to a registered Benchrest match. His first 5-round group ever fired in a BR match was officially measured at 0.231″ at 200 hundred yards. This was fired in front of witnesses, while using a moving target backer that confirmed all five rounds were fired.

He recounted that his ammo was loaded progressively with factory 52gr match bullets and a spherical powder using mixed years of LC brass with no special preparation whatsoever. Obviously, this was "exceptional". However, he had no difficulty obtaining consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards using LC brass and a generic "practice" load that was not tuned to his rifle.

Below you can see the extreme spread in case weight variations with Lake City brass being above average.

How Hard is Your Brass? 5.56 and .223 Rem Base Hardness Tests
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...r-brass-5-56-and-223-rem-base-hardness-tests/

View attachment 191367

Good read, thank you for posting. I do have quite a bit of LC brass and I think I even have a bunch of it already fully prepped so I'll give that a try next ... I've been using PMC lately. I do run all my brass through a Lee FL resizer die and pop each case into a JP case gauge to verify it's resized correctly.

 

[SteelBanger]

A AR15 rifle has a bad habit of throwing perfectly good brass away and makes you go look for it.
I would never think of shooting Lapua or any high quality brass in any AR15 type rifle.
Especially after my above post where mixed Lake City brass was used and got 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards.

Brass catchers solve this problem pretty well, but I'm still not spending Lapua money on brass!

 

[jdyoung]

Actually once fired Lake City 5.56 brass has crimped primers so you know if its once fired.

And the last time I had my son to the range the shooters a few benches down from us gave me two boxes of once fired 30-30 brass in their factory boxes.

So there are times when you can pickup once fired cases at the range and know it was fired only once.

Yes ,I agree, On some occasions you do benefit .
And I use Lake City brass in my '06 Enfield for the reason you state , (it, the Enfield, has a large chamber and that is what I have used always in it). I still anneal it.
My good, good friend and hunting buddy gave me some Winchester 338 mag brass. I appreciated it, 'cept the necks were too short , ( means it's been fired more than once).
A man I didn't know gave me two boxes of 7mm Wby Mag brass ( in Wby boxes), Again, necks too short, ( been fired more than once).
Everybody has experiences that affect their opinions.

 

[bigedp51]

I use range brass in my 223 AR. I have to load lighter because of the case variations, and I don't expect great SD's and ESs.

The vast majority of .223 and 5.56 brass has very close case capacities. And there is only 1/2 grain difference in case capacity in 95% of the brands of cases.

 

[epoletna]

With the price of .223 and 9 mm ammo being as low as it is, a lot of people leave those shells at the range rather than pick them up. Or else they're "plinkers" more than serious target shooters, so are just blasting away.

Whatever the reason, there is usually a lot of .223 and 9mm brass at our range.

I keep a 5 gallon bucket in the truck, and pick up range brass when there's a lot and it is not a nuisance to others for me to sweep it up. When the bucket is full (about 6 months) I take it to the recycling place and get about $50 for it. That's enough for a couple of bags of Starline brass, and occasionally even some Lapua brass.