Howdy

Acquired some processed LC from a friend, no idea the status of the brass. Looks good, necks were trimmed and crimps have been removed.

I annealed them and they sized easily, I started to trim the necks with the WFT, and some did not engage the bit. I dropped them into a Dillon case gauge, and half of them fell bellow the minimum step. Using a Hornady headspace comparator, the go cases ran 1.620+", and the shorter cases ran from 1.619 down to 1.616"

I am assuming that I can fire form these cases.

Minimum load, mid load, or forget these?

I anneal at every sizing.

Thanks

How do those measurements compare to your chamber?

Motor

should've posted scar 17

That still doesn't provide enough information. How much shorter is the head space of the casings than your chamber?

Most people don't realize that factory ammo is often .010" shorter than the average chamber.

I have experience fire forming brass. You can push most case shoulders a good bit but until you actually post some relative dimension as to how much your head space will be growing if you fired them it's impossible to give you good advice.

Motor

What length are your once fired cases when measured with you comparator? I use that measurement -.004" to set up my dies.

.308 is supposed to read 1.630" on a go-gage. This measurement is irrelevant, because there is factors built into your measuring system that may or may not align with that figure. Depending on your gages and your ability to get a repeatable precise measurement.

Also measure some factory ammo (it's usually short) to get a baseline.

mixed NATO 1x fired cases between 1.628 and 1.630, most cases about 1.629
same with other reloaded cases
RCBS X-die set to 1.623/4 for GP

I would use a 1.626" to no taller than 1.627" to prolong case life. I throw .308 brass away after it's been fired the forth (4) time.

Semi-auto .308's are hard on brass. Too much headspace clearance accelerates their demise.

So your shortest ones are less than. 010" shorter than what you typically size your brass to correct?

This is absolutely no reason to discard once fired casings. I challenge you to load 10 of the shortest ones you can find with your normal load and do a side by side comparison with 10 that were sized with your dies to your target dimension.

I doubt you will see a significant difference. If I was fire forming brass that was that close I would not even bother using a reduced fire forming load.

If you feel compelled to discard the brass I'm sure there are plenty of people who would gladly use it.

Motor

If you do not know the history of the brass, might consider checking for start of inside separation ring?   When measuring the shoulder distance from brass base, might consider some rifles operating system can lengthen brass slightly beyond the rifles chamber dimensions.  Another consideration is whether you are going to be using the reloads in any other rifle?  Adjusting the shoulder out also means the base does not get sized as much.

Another vote for not using 308 brass beyond 4 times, but am sizing mine down far enough to fit all the 308 rifles owned.

sizing brass to fit most 308s that I know.

tested inside case for separation b4 posting, seems ok, but I have not experienced a bad case yet.

assuming a lite load may not form the brass, so maybe a mid load....?

I would simply use my regular load unless it's some kind of expensive match load. Shoot that brass with your favorite plinking load.

BTW: Just so you know a light load does fire form brass just fine. I fire form my 22-6mm AI brass using 55gr FMJs and 12gr of unique. What amazing is it shoots 1" groups with this load at 100 yards. Go figure.

Motor

Can not guarantee anything, but would pick out a couple of the short ones and try them with standard load first.  Military brass is designed to withstand firing from full auto's, and has thicker brass in the head.

Because I am getting old, keeping differing batches of brass for each individual rifle is too confusing. For general purpose target rounds for all, I size my 308 brass down to 3.622 (not the actual length, just measurement on comparator attached to calipers), using the Hdy comparator with .400 bushing.
This allows a slight crush fit in 2 bolt target rifles and BLR, small enough head dia for tight chambered AR-10 and slightly sloppy fit in FAL/M1A.  If I was reloading just for a looser chamber, would adjust it to increase case life.

Am trying to keep the brass for target rifles separate, but the chambers are similar enough to be able to neck size from either and interchange.  Most of the rounds used in FAL/M1A (not shot as much) is surplus 147's.

Every rifle/shooter has differing preferences. Can only guarantee there is more I don't know, than what I know.

Thanks all for the replies.

will shoot these with normal range loads, may integrate them in to the general population

trying to consolidate semi brass by Xs fired instead of by chamber,
keeping the 1x for later
Lapua for precision

Annealing before sizing hopefully is worth my time.

BTW: I'm using RCBS X-Dies as well for M1A in .308 and for a Garand in 30-06' I'm not sure about the AR but guys who are using X-Dies for the M1A have at least doubled their case life. I personally can't say yet because I'm probably only on my 3rd cycle. I'm just commenting on what I've read from some very respected M1A users.

So far all the brass that I have set up and used with the X-Dies are living up to RCBS's claims. It's oh so nice not having to trim but once.

Motor

Roger that, that's why I got the X-dies (223 also)....
The SCAR reshapes the neck/shoulder junction slightly, and am hoping that annealing will help not to only extend the life of the brass, but to help to reshape the brass to normal within the die. I have 4x cases that still have the primers, and I will get to them when the others catch up

Youll be fine i neck up 243 brass to 7-08 and it is quite a bit shorter than stamped 7-08 brass.  Upside is i dont have to trim until the second loading, then i trim to a determined length that i  measured from my actual chamber. I used a sinclair "plug" that u put into a shortened sized case and seat it into your chamber and that gives you your individuals rifle chamber max case length then i decide what i want my max case length to be.