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Full Length size, only, and always in any autoloader. S/B sizing die, even better, and just a little added insurance that makes things easier on the rifle. You guys who are neck sizing, stand by. Can't say just when, but I'll promise you, you will see the light after Murphy visits. There's so...

The earlier (and possibly current) LC M118LR was indeed canister grade RL-15, no different than what you buy at the local shops. Earlier lots, when Olin still held the contract, used a non-canister grade powder known as WC-750. I certified hundreds of those lots, using both powders over the...

Roz, Assuming everything is just as you describe it, these bullets are going to be stable, no question. Makes me wonder if something you may have overlooked, isn't quite what you've described. You don't mention what type of barrel you're using, but that's the first thing I'd check. Cut rifled or...

Nuther, Two common Soviet quotes here that may shed some light. The first was from Joseph Stalin himself; "Quantity has a quality all of itself." The second was a general quote often heard in a great many contexts of Soviet design and production; "'Better' is the enemy of 'good enough.'"...

Depends on the rifle (of course) but anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 MOA, with virtually none of the groups going over 1/2 MOA, if you do your part. I ran a rather lengthy test on this some years back, at a time when I was totally buried in work doing daily QC testing. I was loading and firing...

rpk762, Negative, Sierra makes a 150 FMJBT similar to the M80 Ball round, but it's not the one that LCAAP uses in their ammo. They have exactly one press on which they can run the 150 FMJ, and there's no way it could even remotely keep up with LCAAPs peacetime demands, much less what we're...

29aholic, In Sedalia this morning, but heading over to St. Louis BR Club for an ARA/PSL match this weekend. Yeah, we get around. Stop on by if you're ever in the area!

Millertime2, We produce two different size flash holes, as you've discovered with the 6.5x47 cases; 1.5mm or .060", and the standard 2mm or .080" diameters. Nearly all of our cases use the standard 2mm/.080" flash hole size, except for a few accuracy oriented cases. Frankly, we've found that...

29aholic, No, the 1x9" won't handle a 77 or above, but there's a bit of a rub to it from there. You'll hear from many who have used them in their rifles and have gotten good results from the 77s, and that's quite possible. Most of these, I'm willing to bet, don't have an actual 1x9" twist. In...

Bucksnort is my "home" range, and I've been shooting there for over 20 years now. Got the State Mid Range Championships coming up in October, and a Service Rifle Match the weekend after next. The place is still going strong, and turning out a good match. I shot the very first HP Across the...

VP, The long term degradation could become an issue over time, but it's the temperature swings that really cause the problems. As to the moisture content, yes, if you're ever seen powder being made it starts off as a very moist dough. Literally. Looks exactly like something you're wife or mom...

Wrangler5 Absolutely right, and a lot of people just don't get that; Lake City (and any other military case) wasn't made to be reloaded. The fact that it can, and most of it is pretty good brass, is nothing more than a happy coincidence. But it certainly wasn't in the designers criteria when...

When LC was loading M852 (the 168 SMKs) and first started doing M118LR, they actually mixed bullets of different lots for certification before acceptance. They also loaded them the same way; no regard to keeping them separated, as this was considered to be just too troublesome at that time. As...

MarcoPolo, Quick question for you here first; what's the chamber? We know it's a 223, but what reamer? A standard 223 is going to be a problem for you, in that you're not going to get the full use out of the 80-82 grain bullet that the rifling will stabilize. I'd have suggested (and hopefully...

If you have dedicated 45 Win Mag dies, then no, you wouldn't be able to crimp the ACP cases. Just as you couldn't crimp 38 Special cases with dedicated 357 Mag dies. Should do just fine reloading the Win Mag using ACP dies, just by backing the dies up a bit to proper height for crimping...

Partial Sizing is a euphemism for saying you're not Full Length Sizing correctly. As others have said, get yourself a case gage or bump gage, and use that to set your die to where it's only setting the shoulder back .001"-.002", and now you're correctly Full Length Sizing. Chambering (and...

Much of the difference that you're seeing in the ogive could be from the bullets coming from different lots. While LC used to mix all lots together (they called it "compositing") for their M118 runs, they quit that and began loading in smaller batches, separating the bullets by lot for each...

VP, Yes, it really is that bad. Powder longevity is determined largely by storage conditions. Temperature swings, especially trending towards the high extremes, will degrade powders. CIP officially lists powder shelf life as 10 years. We've probably all used powder, ammo, or both that were far...

Wrangler5, got it, and no, no problem at all in a bolt gun. LC is generally pretty good stuff, especially in the Match configurations. Keep the loads to a reasonable level, don't push the shoulders back more than a thou or two at each resizing, and you should have no problems in getting ten or...

nikdanja, Max OAL for the 223/5.56 is 2.260". That's mag length, and will allow it to function in any SAAMI length mag. That said, the bullets themselves will vary in length by a substantial amount, with .010"-.015" being both perfectly normal and fairly typical. You have to account for this in...