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Posted: 9/1/2010 3:59:19 AM EDT

currently i am running federal cases, but as the brass gets lost or damaged i want to switch to a different brand. what kind of cases are you running?

edit: as long as we are going down this road, do you have a brand to avoid?

thanks!

Posted: 9/1/2010 5:43:43 AM EDT

[#1]

The brand to avoid? Over in the reloading forum, they'll tell you to avoid Federal.

I have tons of brass that's all been headstamp sorted, resized, trimmed, primed and ready for powder/bullets.

I have recently thrown out about 300 Federal cases that were given to me by a state trooper (but I kept the 300 Winchester cases).

The Federal cases (marked "FC", not "LC") were once-fired brass. About 30-40 had split case necks, and a few had splits along the body. About 50 more split their necks going through the resizing die.

They seemed really brittle. I didn't trust them. I have a broken shell extractor for my AR, but am in no hurry to see how well it works. So I tossed them in the brass bucket.

I've had good luck with Winchester, WCC (Winchester), Lake City, and Remington. I have not had any problems with Prvi Partizan, but have only reloaded those once.

Everyone's favorite seems to be Lake City.

Since I started shooting matches and loading/reloading match ammo, I've used only Hornady brass and Fiocchi brass. They are very high quality and can almost be worn as jewelry. They have held up very well through this match season, but the best part is that they require minimal trimming. Apparently the brass doesn't grow much after firing. This may or may not be a good thing, but it sure speeds up trimming.

Posted: 9/1/2010 6:54:39 AM EDT

[#2]

I started off reloading the Hornady cases from their 55grn red box ammo. I shot it in 100yd matches.

I've been pretty happy with it. Be sure to get a primer pocket uniformer for them, that's one thing they do need, at least with Wolf SRM primers.

I couldn't find a bulk resource though so while I still have 200 cases (recently primed too

) I'm switching to LC brass since that can be bought in bulk (1k) and seems to be the class favorite in Service Rifle Highpower.

My first time case prep with once-fired LC is:

Deprime (Lee universal deprimer)
Clean (though most bulk comes cleaned, yet still has the primer). I use a Harbor Freight rock tumbler using Lemishine and dish detergent)
Ream (cut) out the crimp (Hornady crimp remover chucked in a drill using the Redding power adapter)
Uniform pocket (Redding primer pocket uniformer, comes with handle and drill adapter though I bought a second adapter for the reamer)
FL resize (Lee FL sizer in a Lee Classic Cast single stage)
Trim (Possum Hollow Trimmer with their drill adapter in a drill)
Chamfer/deburr neck (LE Wilson tool which fits right into the PH power adapter)

All done such that each case fits a Dillon 223 case guage perfectly.

Ready to load.

After that you can skip the pocket prep.

Posted: 9/1/2010 7:29:42 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
I started off reloading the Hornady cases from their 55grn red box ammo. I shot it in 100yd matches.

<a href="http://www.danpassaro.com/img/s2/v1/p797731279.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.danpassaro.com/img/s2/v1/p797731279-11.jpg</a>

I've been pretty happy with it. Be sure to get a primer pocket uniformer for them, that's one thing they do need, at least with Wolf SRM primers.

I couldn't find a bulk resource though so while I still have 200 cases (recently primed too

) I'm switching to LC brass since that can be bought in bulk (1k) and seems to be the class favorite in Service Rifle Highpower.

My first time case prep with once-fired LC is:

Deprime (Lee universal deprimer)
Clean (though most bulk comes cleaned, yet still has the primer). I use a Harbor Freight rock tumbler using Lemishine and dish detergent)
Ream (cut) out the crimp (Hornady crimp remover chucked in a drill using the Redding power adapter)
Uniform pocket (Redding primer pocket uniformer, comes with handle and drill adapter though I bought a second adapter for the reamer)
FL resize (Lee FL sizer in a Lee Classic Cast single stage)
Trim (Possum Hollow Trimmer with their drill adapter in a drill)
Chamfer/deburr neck (LE Wilson tool which fits right into the PH power adapter)

All done such that each case fits a Dillon 223 case guage perfectly.

Ready to load.

After that you can skip the pocket prep.

Sir, as already suggested perhaps you may want to ask this question on the reloading forum.

Regardless, LC brass is the most popular among service rifle shooters because it is plentiful and cheap. WCC is also very common and often has also been widely used by our military. Black Hills (BHA) is also fairly high quality and AFAIK is made by Winchester. I use a lot of Winchester brass purchased new and unfired. Federal is the one brand name that is widly recognized as not suitable for reloading more than once. After one reload I've noticed the primer pockets seem to become somewhat loose in addition to the other defects already mentioned.

I suggest you buy some bulk LC brass and do all the case prep you have already mentioned. FWIW for once fired LC brass my normal case prep is as follows: Lube with Imperial, resize and deprime with a Redding FL sizing die fitted with a carbide expander ball, swage the primer pockets to remove primer crimp, and trim, champfer and deburr on my Giraud trimmer. I then tumble all brass to remove case lube, uniform the primer pocket depth and deburr the flash holes inside and out. I seat all primers with a Sinclair priming tool, and use a case neck expander mandrel in the first stage of my Dillon 550 before charging with powder. HTH, 7zero1.

Posted: 9/1/2010 9:34:58 AM EDT

[#4]

I use LC for the short lines, and Winchester for 600.

Posted: 9/1/2010 10:22:53 AM EDT

[#5]

thanks for the help, fellas...

i intentionally didn't ask in the reloading forum because i wanted input from guys who compete and go thru a similiar volume of ammo as i would.

Posted: 9/1/2010 5:18:23 PM EDT

[#6]

I had like 1500 FC cases from the CMP white box 69 grain match ammo I bought several years ago. I got exactly one reload out of them, the primer pockets stretched out on enough of them that I didn't trust the lot and they all went in the scrap bin.

I accumulated a large number of PMC cases from plinking, so I've been using those for practice and informal local matches. For EIC matches, I bought a couple cases of never fired LC brass, I just resized and trimmed them and they've been working great.

Matt

Posted: 9/1/2010 6:20:10 PM EDT

[#7]

All I use are LC for all matches. I heard they are not the best but why? Some fellow competitors snickered a bit and suggest I use WCC or IMI.

Posted: 9/2/2010 3:36:04 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
All I use are LC for all matches. I heard they are not the best but why? Some fellow competitors snickered a bit and suggest I use WCC or IMI.

Sir, I can't speak for your shooting buddies but for my purposes at the 200/300 yd. stages of a match I use which ever brand of brass I have a lot of which generally includes LC. I load LC, WCC, BHA, and WW but I do keep them sorted by head stamp. Different year groups of LC brass seem to have slightly different case weights and while I believe that's OK for my short range ammo I like a bit more consistant case weight for my 600yd loads. For 600 yd. I load new never fired WW with a fairly hot charge and the amount of case prep that I have to do to new brass is less. I uniform the primer pockets and flash holes, and resize the case necks for proper neck ID but otherwise just load them with my VLDs. All my short range brass has a bit more case prep done which in the case of LC includes removing the primer crimp with my Dillon Swager. HTH, 7zero1.

Posted: 9/2/2010 3:31:17 PM EDT

[#9]

My best brass is Winchester. Next is LC. I don't shoot anything else in matches.

I once bought a bunch of 1X brass in Win. and FC. The FC would blow primers. I ended up thowing the FC away. The Win was fine.

A guy I shoot with was telling us he uses Lapua brass and the number of times he's reloaded it was unreal.

Posted: 9/2/2010 4:37:22 PM EDT

[#10]

I tend to use Remington. Why, so far I have gotten at a minimum of 10 reloads out of them before they show signs of wear. The primer pockets are not crimped like the LC brass, less PITA factor.

I have to concur with others. Come over and visit the reloading forum.

Posted: 9/4/2010 3:39:08 PM EDT

[#11]

so i loaded 20 fc cases w/ 23.4 grains rl-15, 20 cases w/ 24.0 grains rl-15, and bought a box of remington umc 55 fmj's. i put 10 rounds of each in good magazines, and went to the range.

first mag w/ 23.4 grains ran fine. first mag w/ 24.0 grains ran fine. first mag w/ the umc had several failures to eject. finished off the mag, and replaced the extractor, spring, and insert, and then ran a 2nd mag of each of the loads thru the gun and had no failures. apparently the extractor assembly was shot.

seems to be working fine now. next (and probably last) match is in 2 weeks - i have a little time to shake everything out, but appears i've got the problem sorted out.

thanks for the input.

btw, i think i'll switch over to r-p brass... winters in s.d. are long, so i'll have lots of time to prep a couple thousand cases.

Posted: 9/4/2010 4:35:43 PM EDT

[#12]

I wore out a barrel with 600 R-P cases. Finally they started to split the necks. I loaded everyone with 25.0 H4895 and 69 Sierras. You can't even read the head stamp anymore on the 1-200 left. Good brass.

Posted: 9/5/2010 5:35:47 PM EDT

[#13]

As stated above LC
Then I would say winchester, PMC (softer but no issues at all)

BHA has been hit and miss
FC has also been hit and miss
hornady - good but usually have to buy new
Lapua - great but expensive

Posted: 9/15/2010 6:59:10 PM EDT

[#14]

i still am working my cases that i got from that box of umc stuff. i lost one somewhere, so i am working w/ 19.

i am on firing #4 now, and no problems or failures with the cases except they seem to grow a little more after firing than i like. i am hoping the growth on my next firing stops...? i'm going to run them until they crack, and if they do ok, i'll just get a bag of 1000 or so and go from there.

the fc cases weigh less than the rp cases, and i run a lighter charge in them. yet i have flattened primers and primers coming partially out of the hole w/ every firing. no such issues w/ the rp cases...

Posted: 9/16/2010 5:10:40 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
i still am working my cases that i got from that box of umc stuff. i lost one somewhere, so i am working w/ 19.

i am on firing #4 now, and no problems or failures with the cases except they seem to grow a little more after firing than i like. i am hoping the growth on my next firing stops...? i'm going to run them until they crack, and if they do ok, i'll just get a bag of 1000 or so and go from there.

the fc cases weigh less than the rp cases, and i run a lighter charge in them. yet i have flattened primers and primers coming partially out of the hole w/ every firing. no such issues w/ the rp cases...

Sir, as I've mentioned previously the primer pockets of FC brass begin to be noticeably loose after the first reload. Regardless the lighter charge weight you may be using the primer pockets are obviously loose as exhibited by "primers coming partially out of the hole w/every firing". It's time to retire that batch of FC brass. Stay safe, 7zero1 out.

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