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| Sigless in Indiana  |
I have loaded for various centerfire cartridges for more than 15 years now. Anything where I was really looking for accuracy, I always had a ready supply of uniform brass because I bought 100ct bags of 220 Swift and 30-06. I have a huge supply of 5.56/223 cases on hand from picking up brass at matches. I can identify once fired Lake City because the primer is still crimped in place. Is it worth it to sort by headstamp for case uniformity? Is it worth it to sort at all? I could do some testing on my own to figure this out but I figure I could save myself a box of bullets by asking the experienced 223 reloaders. I have been loading for 3-gun for years now, usually 50 or 55gr bullets. Getting about 2 MOA with good bullets. Never tried to do any better because that is good enough. Early load development showed great promise with the 69 SMk, 75 H HPBT, and the 73 H ELD. I went with the ELD and 1k of them should be arriving today. I'm looking for about 1 MOA. Plus or minus a couple tenths, no big deal. PRS Gas Gun type matches, even though there is no points series this year. 20" rifle gas LaRue Stealth barrel. Sort brass? Suck it up and buy 1000 pieces of commercial? | ||
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| Gracie Allen is my personal savior! |
If nothing else, you'd think it's quicker and simpler to get uniformity by buying a 1,000. Lake City is easy to identify, but still varies from lot to lot. | |||
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semi-reformed sailor |
If you are gonna use the 223 for some kinda competition or just putting holes in paper in a competition, then buy all new, one lot 223/556 brass if you're just gonna use the brass to play with then it doesn't matter I've got buckets of once fired military LC brass I picked up at the range when I was the instructor. I have sorted it all into head stamp and it was helpful in determining that a particular year was having issues with splitting after being reloaded and splitting....I cut that brass down and turned it into 300 BLK....and haven't had an issue since annealing it I quit weighing the brass when it became apparent the brass was all over the place even with the same year stamp...FWIW "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
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| Member |
When I used to load for Service Rifle, I acquired a lot of once fired brass and I would sort it out by headstamp LC, Win, etc. I would not go any further with LC brass such as by year. Then I got really fed up with the primer pocket crimp and I started buying virgin brass and never looked back. If you really want to get better precision than what you are getting now, improving the ammo may yield incremental improvements but you will get much better results if you swapped out that LaRue barrel with something decent like a Krieger. But that may be more effort/cost than you're willing to put in right now. | |||
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| Sigless in Indiana |
During load workup that LaRue turned in results that were more than acceptable. Krigers are fantastic but this one is going to be my precision barrel for a while. | |||
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| Member |
When I'm serious to finding what's possible with a given setup (which is not very often in .223) I always start with a batch of new Lapua brass. “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.” | |||
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| Sigless in Indiana |
This was with Lake City brass early on in load development. I haven't really shot it much since then other than to put some 50s through it and check POA/POI in case I decided to grab it for a daytime coyote hunt. Various targets from my data book during load workup: Top target, 200 yards, 5 rounds bottom two targets, 100 yards, 10 rounds each  200 yards, 10 rounds.  100 yards with the 73 ELD , 10 round group  The 69 has produced the tightest groups, but in shooting steel targets in significant crosswind I have a better hit percentage with the 73 ELD.This message has been edited. Last edited by: IndianaBoy, | |||
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| Sigless in Indiana |
Phew. I can buy loaded Prvi Partisan match with either 69s or 75s for the same cost as that brass alone....... | |||
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| Member |
The quest for accuracy lies within the limit of the weapon and not really the brass. Had a single lot of 1000 pieces of LC 16 Brass. They were all treated the same - annealed, FL Size, Neck Sized w/Bushing, Mandrel sized, Trimmed, and primer pockets uniformed. I used these for brass in my 223 Bolt Trainer - custom Surgeon 591 SA by Moon at Crescent Customs. They would consistently return 0.5-0.7 MOA with an 80.5gr Berger over 8208. Thinking they were the cat's meow.... I took 100 of them and loaded 50 with 55gr Hornady BTHP and 50 with 75gr Hornady BTHP Match. These were used in a custom built 18" Matched Noveske Upper/Lower with Bartlein Barrel by Wes Grant at MSTN Rifles. Best I could get them to group was 1.0 - 1.3 MOA. I realize the testing is not pure "apples to apples". But it makes me realize the inherent accuracy of the gas gun is going to limit the measured accuracy. My opinion.....sort the brass into similar headstamps and stick with them. I use LC only. Hope this helps. Andrew Duty is the sublimest word in the English Language - Gen Robert E Lee. | |||
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| Sigless in Indiana |
That does help, thank you. My accuracy expectations for this rifle are about 1-1.5 MOA. I don't expect 1/2 MOA nor am I going to pursue it. Early testing suggests that 1.5 MOA is already happening with some loads so I am cautiously optimistic. I plan to attempt the AR15.com "MOA All Day" challenge if FedEx ever delivers the rest of my damn bullets. Looks like I will be using my sorted LC cases. | |||
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Member |
I picked up a LaRue barrel a few years back. I used assorted brass (win, LC, PRVI). My results were similar as your. Some slightly under and inch to slightly larger than an inch. I then shot Black Hills 77gr SMK's and had the exact same results. I think as others have stated, the accuracy is limited by the system. Since then I clean the brass, resize and then load. I pay no attention to who made it. | |||
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Member |
It's been years since I shot service rifle matches but when I started really getting into it, I too used Lake City brass, resized it, trimmed it to length, and neck for bullet tension. I uniformed the primer pocket & flash hole and made sure to remove any burr from inside of the flash hole. I weighed my bullets to insure each of my "lots" were within .3 grain and in the beginning of course I tediously weighed each charge. When I realized my skill level really wasn't worth all that time, the only place I cut back was my powder charge. I knew what my charge my rifle likes and set the powder drop on my Dillon (550B) and I found that around 80% of the time my groups shot bagged up from the bench would be just under 1" at 100yards that was my practice ammo, and still is even tho I just shoot for fun now days ... Processing brass doesn't really take that long and I typically use it 6-7 times or until I see signs of stress. If you really want something you'll find a way ... ... if you don't you'll find an excuse. I'm really not a "kid" anymore ... but I haven't grown up yet either  | |||
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| Sigless in Indiana |
I guess I should have followed up. If I were buying 100 pieces I would consider this. For this purpose I'm going to either be buying or sorting out at least 1k of brass. | |||
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