SORTING 223 BRASS

redboneusa

I'm looking for info on some military brass that I intend to reload.
I have several hundred pieces of Lake City brass with various date stamps. For some reason I started weighing the sized and deprimed brass and created some uncertainty for myself.
I would like to know if there is a rule of thumb as to how much weight variance is OK from case to case. I am guessing that the heavier cases will have less case volume and the lighter ones will have more???
The cases I weighed go from 90.0 grains up to 93.0 grains. The majority run from 90.5 gr to 92.5. I am trying to put together a really accurate load for a really expensive AR varmint rifle and want to start out right.

mrbruce

If you really want to start off right---Buy new Lapua brass !!!!!!

Why put different lot numbers in a high dollar rifle if your looking for all you can get out of it.
A 2 grain in weight difference in a 223 case is really nothing to worry about though unless your shooting 1000 yards for a ton of money..........

B17-P51

+1 MrBruce. I have 200 rounds of lapua brass that is my GOOD load brass and 8 Gazillion rounds of "go out and have fun" (crap) brass. Mil brass is ok for blasting but sucks for load development. Keep all variables that you have some control over to a minimum. Use good brass, same lot primers, same lot powder and Quality bullets and you'll be shooting one holers in no time.[:D]

dcloco

Interesting.

Cannot argue with either of the other posters, but....

You are trying to get benchrest accuracy from a semi auto - possible, maybe....probable...no.

Group your brass you have in lots of 0.2 grains.

You will find better accuracy gains by sorting your bullets by weight and then ogive length.

B17-P51

Dcloco, I too was a nonbeliever, but I have a Bushmaster Varminter that will stay right with my 700 VLS 22-250 for 5 shots or so then it wanders a little (very little). I would never have believed a semi anything would shoot with a heavy barelled bolt gun. If you keep it somewhat cool they are the same out to 300 yds.

jimbowby

[8D]--Wait a minute--if you are worried about CASE size--

--then you have to measure EACH powder shot/each primer hole size/each bullet weight/each neck tension/each exact case length/each bullet seating depth---

--No it ain't easy and you can't just measure ONE for consistant accuracy--

--SO you have to decide on "which is advisable"--

--[:o)][:o)]--JIMBO

dcloco

quote:Originally posted by B17-P51
Dcloco, I too was a nonbeliever, but I have a Bushmaster Varminter that will stay right with my 700 VLS 22-250 for 5 shots or so then it wanders a little (very little). I would never have believed a semi anything would shoot with a heavy barelled bolt gun. If you keep it somewhat cool they are the same out to 300 yds.


Yes sir...I agree.

But, I honestly believe, most of the bull barrel bolt actions will outperform the semi auto's.

They are definitely getting better though....a LOT better.

juddroy

Definetly spend the money for the brass unless you have access to a machine called a Juenke ICC. You will find with your L.C. brass that if you go through all the trouble of match prepping,sorting,weighing,neck turning,you will still have problems down the road.You want brass that is consistent in wall thickness,otherwise your cases will start to stretch on the thinner side of the brass and start to "banana shape" on you, throwing your concentricity out the door.Lapua brass is very uniform,although I still reject 30+ % Consistency is what you are after.Same thing with you bullets.Sierra bullets are a great choice for consistency.High levels of accuracy come with a price tag,a lot of time learning,and hours upon hours of work.For instance,my Savage model 12 lrpv keeps ten shots inside a nickle @200yds. A friends kelbly built custom 6ppc keeps them inside a dime.$3600.00 price difference. I would suggest reading the "benchrest shooting primer",
"precision shooting reloading guide" and maybe "the ultimate sniper". Good luck! don't get frustrated.

Nwcid

The Varminter is an awsome gun for the money. It is such a good shooter I can hardly belive it and I own one. My load for it is 26gr of surplus WCC 844 ($8/lb = Cheep), CCI small rifle primers, and 55gr Nosler blastic tips. Over all this is a cheep load but it will shoot under MOA easy, usually about 1/2-3/4 MOA all day long. I shoot furry little animals and it works for what I do. If I was steping up to benchrest I would look to what the others were telling you.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I have 1000 rds of mixed head stapmed military brass that I load mine with. I load in 1000 rd lots.

redboneusa

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure how we got from military brass to bull barrels and benchrest shooting. The rifle is a Bushmaster Varminter. I plan to shoot prairie dogs and coyotes with it. The only paper work I have planned is in the load development. I have been loading for several bolt action hunting rifles for quite some time, and the goal has always been to put together the most accurate load for that particular rifle. The AR rifle stuff is new to me, as well as the military brass, but I look forward to the learning experience. I will probably try several different components before commiting to one recipie.
I would still like to hear what reloaders feel is useable regarding the variances in components. We all know that they exist, but what is useable before they start to have an inpact on load development.

Thanks again

Hawk Carse

I am loading target .223s in WW commercial brass sorted into 1 grain lots. Accuracy is good; .4" to .7" at 100 yards the last I shot in my Krieger barrelled AR.

The old NRA rule of thumb was that 11 grains of brass affected case capacity equivalent to one grain of powder. But that in .30-06 and similar.

You've got the brass, go shoot some.

redboneusa

Thanks Hawk, that's the kind of info I'm looking for.