Yet another brass question.

[quigley257]

I have an assortment of once fired military 5.56 brass that I'm in the process of processing, lol. The mix is mainly Federal FC16, Winchester WMA 16 and a much smaller percentage of Lake City 14 headstamps. My question is which headstamp do you prefer for "precision" loading and why? I load middle of the road, mixed headstamps for my AR ammo, but I'm looking to segregate about 500 rounds for precision bolt gun usage. More specifically, I'll be shooting heavy for caliber bullets loaded to a max of 2.40" out of a 1/7 twist Remington 700 with DBM. Thanks in advance for any insight on this matter!

 

[Roninco]

I use Lapua .223 match brass in my .556 NATO precision bolt gun. If I were to choose between your options I would go with the Lake City brass and do a lot of sorting by weight.

 

[L.Sherm]

I would go the LC route.

 

[cdherman]

I use Lapua .223 match brass in my .556 NATO precision bolt gun. If I were to choose between your options I would go with the Lake City brass and do a lot of sorting by weight.

Life is too short. If you can buy great brass for a gun, you should do so, unless you really don't care much about accuracy. I mean, not that you don't care about accuracy when you are loading for the AR, but its a different level alltogether. Moreover, if you invest in 200 rds of Lapua, sort out the 10 or so outliers (sometimes less), you will have enough Lapua brass for years and you won't get it mixed up with your other brass. You can tumble lots together and sort the Lapua out easy, ditto at the range etc.

Just my $0.02. My personal finance program says I spent over $5000 on hunting/reloading etc last year, with no trips even. Perhaps I am spoiled....

 

[Hugnot]

It appears that we are well into a major shortage of components, including brass.

I have spent a few days prepping some 500 Federal 5.56 military crimp brass (cost less than $40/500 inc. shipping). Prepping involved - decap, pocket swage, small base & f/l size, trim and turn. The Federal brass is used in our .223 bolt action rodent rifle with H CFE223, IMR 8208, Benchmark, & Alliant Varmint, Hornady 53 VMax & Sierra 60 T MK bullets, & CCI 450 small rifle primers . I found the low price Federal brass essentially equal in practical field results as Nosler and other commercial .223 brass but requiring more effort to prep. Case capacities were very close among brands.

Small base sizing is advisable as the pre fired military brass has been fired in a variety of chambers.

I also picked up some Lithuanian 5.56 brass that was good.

I am a fan of LC brass and am always looking for it. I would suggest prepping all of your LC for the bolt gun then Federal.

I spent $1,800 - $2,000 on bullets & stuff during 2020. The little .223 is favored because it is cheap to shoot - small powder charges, cheap bullets/brass & good barrel life.

Group fired at 300 yards by wifey using Fed brass, IMR 8208, CCI 450 primers, & Sierra 60 Tipped MK bullets.

 

[quigley257]

I too have used Lake City in the past. I wish the percentage of cases were higher than it is, but the price was definitely right on this lot of brass. Thanks for the response.