shooterschmidty

What he means is that it's generally not advisable to mix different brands of brass as there can be enough difference in case volume to impact chamber pressures. Lake city military brass for example is some of the most highly regarded brass for durability, but tends to be thicker which decreases internal volume and correspondingly increases chamber pressure compared to the same charge in a higher volume case.

That being said, for low power plinking loads you can probably mix brands without issue, but I usually suggest picking a brand and sticking with it.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Half my brass is whatever my friend shoots and half my brass is whatever the guys shot at the range the night before I picked it up off the ground. I was going to inspect for crimped primer pockets after depriming so I will look at that as well.

shooterschmidty

Ok, I recommend that you sort them by brand and try to stick with one, at least to start.

This is going to sound dumb, and it isn't meant to be insulting, but make sure the brass you picked up are actually brass and not steel cases. It should be obvious but some people will say "brass" as a generic term for case, and you can't reload steel cases.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Will sort them today (sucks because I pretty much had them sorted out before I tumbled them). Thanks!

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

Shooter is correct. Depending on the actual thickness of the brass itself, internal volume will be as much as 2-3 grains different between brands. 5.56 milspec stuff is thickest and will last longest, so most dudes use that for plinking, and stick with Winchester/Federal/Remington for hunting and more precise stuff.

The only real way case volume comes into play is if you're using a fairly bulky powder and loading max grains with long bullets... which results in actually compressing the powder during bullet seating. This is OK as long as you know what you're doing and each piece of brass is from the same headstamp (and perhaps Lot#), and you're using a chronograph and very meticlous quality control of your brass to check for overpressure.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Shot the Mosin Sniper today. Was pretty fun. Took a while to get it on the paper but after that it was cool. Interesting sights.

Also shot the Desert Eagle today (only paid $10 transfer fee!). I shot two rounds and my friend shot two rounds. After that we were done. I don't think I need to buy any dies for 50AE.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Well, I spent a couple of hours sorting brass this morning. Largest in terms of quantity was LC (maybe 250 rounds). I understand this will take an extra step to swage the primer pocket but hopefully my reloading friend has the proper tools. I do have around 100 each Federal, Winchester and Wolf. I'm going to stick with those four brands and give my friend all the odd pieces. I see that my kit will come in today so hopefully I will be depriming in the next couple of hours.

Edit - Damn, I forgot that I bought a kit that didn't have the 223 dies with it (I had been looking at one that did). I guess there will be no fun today...

usd2bfst

Federal brass is generally pretty soft, the primer pockets tend to go loose after a few reloads. I generally only reload it once for my zombie stash, and don't bother with it for a match set where I'm putting enough time into the case prep & matching that I want it to last for a bunch of reloads & annealing.

I've weighed thousands of pieces of prepped brass for match sets. In 308 the NATO stuff is heavier than most (but not all) commercial stuff, but in 223 it's often not the heaviest. The easy button here as previously mentioned is just always stick to the same head stamp for any given load. For example, I sort all my Winchester brass for my 69gr SMK target load and I sort all my LC NATO brass for my 55gr soft point varmint load.

There are so many different types of rifles chambered in 223 (not to mention twists) that there's a lot to consider when picking the right dies, primers, brass, the list goes on. The decision set for an AR will totally differ from the set for a varmint rifle and again totally differ for a benchrest rifle. If you're just getting into it I'd spend some time searching around The High Road's reloading forum. Sounds like there are some knowledgeable people here, too. Wish I would have seen this thread a long time ago.

Landrew

iTrader: (2)

Anyone know the cheapest place around Vegas to shoot a full auto? I don't need an experience package with a t-shirt or colorful ambiance or the chance to shoot anything else as I've shot some neat stuff up here:

M1 Garand
Steyr HS50
. 45 Wilson
.223 Robinson XCR
VZ 858
FN FS2000
Glock 9

The big thing is that we are not allowed to full auto in Canada. I've shot the above list with a friend but looking to take advantage of your gun freedoms down there.

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

Picked up a pre 2005 Ruger Mini 30 ranch rifle yesterday for $400. Came with some junk aftermarket 20 round mag that doesn't fit right, and the rear sight is missing the ring.
Plans include ordering a factory 20 round mag, and a rear sight from here:
MINI 14/RANCH® Rifle - adjustable aperture sights
I bought this because I used to own a mini 14, but traded it for an AR like 15 years ago. I wanted a rifle in 7.62x39, but I didn't want an SKS or AK. Plus I really like the action of the ruger mini's. Another reason is, too good of a deal to pass up, and all of my rifles have scopes on them. I wanted something that I'm going to be strict about keeping open sights, which is goofy I know, cause ranch rifles come with factory scope mounts.

usd2bfst

Let us know how it shoots. I've heard that Mini 30s don't shoot cheap surplus well because they have a .308" bore. Ideal for handloaders, though, better bullet selection. My Yugo SKS isn't chrome lined & has a .312 bore, kind of the opposite end of the selection spectrum.

NoZombies

Ahhh. Guns, something I know way more about than cars.

I recently picked up a F.Lli Rizinni 20ga double for the fall quail season.

I also shoot everything from single shots to machine guns pretty regularly. And I reload pretty much everything, it's essentially the gun worlds equivalent of doing your own mechanic work.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Made my first 223 rounds today. Cost per round? $12.01

(42 rounds and $492 into reloading equipment)

NoZombies

Yeah, that sounds about right. The good news is, eventually you get to a point when you've depreciated your equipment fully, and only need to be concerned with component costs.

I'm having a hard time finding the powders I need either locally or on the web, so I'm slowly burning through my stash now until I can resupply.

Have you guys ever wondered how a redneck makes coleslaw?

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Reloading those rounds was a pretty slow but satisfying process (I guess it will be completed when I take them to the range). I had several problems along the way. The first was dull or damaged case trimming tools (used). Using the RCBS swaging die was slightly difficult (hard to get everything lined up in the press). I did end up with some anomalies concerning the OAL. I'm not sure what happened but I was churning out most rounds at 2.250" - 2.255" but had two around 2.240 and a few at 2.260+. I put the long ones back in the bullet seating die but had to keep cranking on the adjustment to get the to size correctly. I thought my primers were sticking out or something and throwing my measurements off but I just didn't see anything wrong with them.

NoZombies

What type of press are you using? I've found that my RCBS rock chucker makes rounds more consistent in length than my Dillon's do. I assume it's because of the shell plate flexing and being pushed around on the dillons.

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

After a few hundred more rounds, you'll get a very good feel for the equipment. It probably doesn't seem like it now, but the press gives you a lot of feedback. With a little experience and patience, you'll learn to read the press like a book. You'll pick up little anomalies during the stroke that tells you something is "off". A single-stage press is great for learning stuff like that, but each press is different. I will attest that in a batch of 50rds of plinking rifle ammo, I'm happy with spread of +/- .01" on my Dillon. With a lot of attention to quality control, I can turn out some very nice hunting ammo on my Dillon, but I wouldn't ever consider it to be "precision" load.

A few thousands (or even a hundredth) off on COAL for .223 isn't big deal in a semi-auto. As long as the brass isn't over 1.760, you'll never risk pinching a case mouth in the chamber (pinched case mouth holds the bullet too tight and can cause overpressure upon firing... BAD!). For COAL, if it will fit in the magazine, it'll chamber just fine. In fact, since you're loading those all-copper 55gr beauties, they're probably going to be a little long. All other things being equal, most guns like bullets to be seated only a few thousandths off the lands... you'll never be able to load that close in an AR because you can't fit rounds that long in a standard mag. Some guys will actually Dremel a channel down the leading edge of their mags and load rounds where the bullet tip sticks out the leading edge of the mag by a few thousands. I know a lot of guys who have a few 5rd AR mags laying around where they've done that and they use them for hunting with some quality hot handloads.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Lee single stage from an Anniversary Kit.

usd2bfst

I have both the RCBS swaging die as well as their primer pocket chamfer / cutting tool, I prefer the latter for removing primer crimps. I also prefer hand priming to using the press primer. Always remember to wear safety glasses! I had an oops once (that was totally my fault) while priming that could have turned out very badly. It involved about 94 primers stacked in the loading tube of my Hornady LnL all going off at once.

Chiburbian

iTrader: (1)

Holy ****!

That must have been... dramatic.

Did it split your primer tube or did they fly out the end? I prefer loading .223 in steps as well by the way.

1: Tumble
2: Deprime, resize
3: Trim case length to specs
4: de-burr case mouth
5: ensure primer pocket is clean and without any crimps
6: insert primer, load case with powder, seat bullet, light crimp on bullet if necessary.

I can probably get away with only fixing the case length every reload or two, but I prefer to make sure the length is correct every time. I am on reload number two with my cases so starting next reload I will be checking for the case getting thin from stretch. I don't want them to split on me.