Military crimp

[g0rd0]

Military 5.56 cases can not be made thicker like a 7.62 case and still have enough case capacity.
The military Lake City cases are made of harder and stronger brass.

This dates back to the 1968 Congressional hearings on the M16 rifle jamming problem.

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/

Bottom line, Lake City brass is made "Ford Truck Tough"

then this is my mistake. But, I would still keep my brands separate if for nothing else convineance

 

[bigedp51]

I buy bulk once fired Lake City Brass because it is "MUCH" cheapengr and harder than Lapua. I then sort the cases using a Redding neck thickness gauge. The choice cases with less than .002 neck thickness variation are used in my Savage .223 bolt action. The rest are used in my AR15 rifles for blasting ammo.

If you look at the chart with the case capacities you will see the majority of American .223/5.56 cases are close in internal capacity. "BUT" I prefer using the harder and tougher Lake City 5.56 cases with the same head stamp date.

Note, using Quickload and the capacity of Lake City at 30.6 and the old Lapua at 28.0 capacity this can cause 6,000 psi difference in chamber pressure.

 

[bigedp51]

then this is my mistake. But, I would still keep my brands separate if for nothing else convineance

I keep my brands separate also, I just wanted to let reloaders know that Lake City 5.56 brass is tough long lasting brass with "normal" case capacity. And the Lake City 7.62 M80 brass is thicker in the base and has up to 2 grains less capacity than commercial .308 brass.

Both calibers when prepped and sorted by case weight and neck thickness will make better cases than the average Remchester cases. (cheap bastards Lapua brass with a little work)