Comments on: Save $$ By Using Lake City 5.56x45mm Once-Fired GI Brass

By: Alan

Alan — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 23:45:02 +0000

On the subject of brass and reloading, I shot National Match Course Competition for many years.First competition rifle was a Winchester made Garand, which I seriously doubt was one of the $3000 examples mentioned on DCM price lists. After about 12,000 rounds, mostly hand loads, I switched to bolt guns, Winchester Model 70 Target Rifles and a Remington 40X Rangemaster in .308 Winchester.

Regarding .308 Winchester, most of this brass came to me courtesy of the USMC at Quantico, where I used to shoot matches. The ammunition, military match stuff, had been fired in Match Grade M-14’s, that the marines were using back them. Fired in bolt action rifles, the cases lasted forever, or so it seemed. The 30-06 brass, fired in bolt guns, mostly military match, was very long lived too.

I have no experience loading 5.56 x 45MM ammunition for AR-15 type rifles, however based on my experience with Military Match brass, using reasonable loads, I expect that it would turn out to be quite good and long lived also.

By: Jim Wilkins

Jim Wilkins — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 22:21:50 +0000

I have been using this brass as well for a long time. One interesting thing I have found is the capacity it has. According to my scale it is some of the lightest stuff which means it has larger powder capacity than other brass. I learned that while making up loads for a .25-45. That cartridge is dependent upon case capacity. It is loaded to try to achieve velocities that are similar to those of the .250-3000. Of course it operates at higher pressures than the Savage 99’s were designed to handle. That means it is wise to find good brass which also has higher powder capacity.

The ammunition that is supplied by the Sharps Rifle Company has a similar weight, thus a similar capacity to the LC brass. It’s within about one grain of case weight.

Just a comment.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 02:53:59 +0000

Been doing this sort of stuff since I started reloading in the 1970’s.

A couple of things I do / use:

Ensure there is only brass in each batch at each process. Dirt, seeds, sticks, etc make a mess of the gear.

“Raw” 1x brass gets deprimed without sizing. That way, there is no chance of damaging a sizing die.

After the depriming, cases get run through a Dillon 600 pocket “de-swager”.

First “wash” is a chemical one: Acid bath (Acetic (Vinegar) or Citric (from the home-brew supplier). This removes a fair bit of any oxide (nasty brown) on the cases.

Hot water rinse, then;

Quick sluice through a bath of “Washing Soda” (Sodium Carbonate) as found in the “Washing and Cleaning” aisle at the supermarket. Final hot rinse.

Shake off the water as per previous poster and lay out on clean beach towel in direct sunlight. This is less likely to cause domestic umbrage than “slow-cooking in the kitchen oven.

Now we get to the boring bit of sizing and trimming. Trim AFTER sizing as the brass will flow towards the neck, especially with “small-based” dies.

Mr. Dillon’s press-mounted power trimmer is a Godsend!

Chamfer and de-burr the necks, using the machinery of choice.

Final process: Polishing, if desired.

I got sick of “bowl” tumblers and bought a little Lyman rotary drum job. Their “secret sauce” is citric acid, so I just bought a couple of bags of the stuff from the home-brew shop and it works just fine. The tiny, magnetic stainless-steel pins do a splendid job, but it is interesting where they can be found, weeks after a polishing session.

More rinsing in hot, preferably distilled water, and drying as before.

Store your shiny trinkets in airtight containers, with desiccant packs as optional.

I tend to do these sessions in bulk, once or twice a year. Once the ex-mil brass is given “the treatment” you can scale back to an abbreviated process, just keep an eye out for over-long cases and “tired” primer pockets