Anyone have any experience with the Lake City pull downs in 308 or 223? My understanding is that there is a sealant in the case neck. Are you removing that or simply reloading with it there? I didn't see a thread about it.
Lake City Pulled Down Brass
- Thread starter WT1
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Folks have been reloading this stuff since the Vietnam War or longer ( i have some ' 73 headstamp found in an old ammo box)
Any who, you will need a pocket swager. I suggest a bench mounted, as I have used a hand reamer and a press mounted and they are both a pain in the rear.
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/31...dnYaAitT8P8HAQ
The pockets will have a tiny semicircle where they are crimped to keep the primers in, you will have to remove that to reprime the pocket.
Its no big deal, you do it once and your good from there.
here is a vid of someone using a Dillon swager
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4GnhSS-d7PM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Any who, you will need a pocket swager. I suggest a bench mounted, as I have used a hand reamer and a press mounted and they are both a pain in the rear.
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/31...dnYaAitT8P8HAQ
The pockets will have a tiny semicircle where they are crimped to keep the primers in, you will have to remove that to reprime the pocket.
Its no big deal, you do it once and your good from there.
here is a vid of someone using a Dillon swager
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4GnhSS-d7PM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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OK I think we are talking about two different stages of casings. The cases I'm considering are primed and ready to go but I've heard they have a sealant left (waterproofing presumably) inside the case mouth that remains after the bullet is removed. This isn't fired brass. They are unfired, bullet pulled, powder removed.
I've head Xylene works to remove the gunk that remains in the case mouth. I'm just attempting to determine if they are worth the time?
I've head Xylene works to remove the gunk that remains in the case mouth. I'm just attempting to determine if they are worth the time?
I have used a good number of the pulled down cases also. I did remove the sealer because there was a good bit of powder stuck in the remaining sealer and I didn't want to take a chance on it causing any problems.The way I removed it was using q-tips and lacquer thinner. It's kind of tedious, but it works. A word of caution though, check every one of those cases in a case gauge, such as an L.E. Wilson, lyman, dillon, etc.The last batch of lake city 308 I bought had between 15% to 20% that wouldn't fit. Because they were already primed, I just removed the decapping pin and resized and trimmed them. They worked fine.
You are very welcome, WT1. you can get some good deals on military brass sometimes, just double check everything and you''ll be fine.
I have 8 k of the 175 4064 loaded with this brass and primer set up, I run them through a sizing die with the decapping pin removed, I use a lee collet die with the tit of the decaper ground off the pin to size the neck, yjis is great brass for long term storage and the evental zombie attack, it shoots as good as my lake city virgin brass but its sealed even further with the tar and the crimped primer, if you ever need to ford any rivers to get away from zombies this is the payload you want to carry. I do clean the LCD every 500 round or so with wd40.
Can I ask where you got the brass I been looking and could use a couple more K
Can I ask where you got the brass I been looking and could use a couple more K
I haven't purchased any yet. Found a few listings using the ammoseek.com search engine under "reloading."
I have found that brass at wideners in the past. I just purchased some recently, but I'll have to check to see who I bought it from and let you know. And to ArmyJerry, that's almost the exact same recipe I use, except I'm using 178gr a-max's with 4064. They're good to 1100yds!
So ArmyJerry, you are not removing the sealant, then. Are you simply reseating a new projectile into the sealant?
That is in fact how a size new brass with an excellent Lee brand die made in Hartford, Wisconsin. I remove the pin and grind it to the point where it won't contact the inside of the neck. If there is a serious inward dent or bulge on the new brass I use a regular sizing die that I haven't ground off the pin. Works great on new brass. Then I prime.
I have never needed to swage the primer pockets, although I chuck a standard L E Wilson (RCBS) chamfering tool into a hand drill, and chamfer the primer pockets. The tar can be left in, but it gets on the expander button and has to be wiped off. To clean it, use an oversize stiff nylon bore brush coated with Hoppe's or Shooters Choice or your fave solvent. Water capacity for LC cases has always been very consistent, and measuring error is most of the variation. They hold 54.6 grains of water on average, and the extreme range of weights for 50 (unfired pulldown) that I tested was 54.3-54.9 grains. I fired a 9-shot group using the ones with the extreme capacity, and a 9-shot group with cases which all held 54.6 grains of water, and the groups were within 0.006" of each other. 0.726" center-to-center for the ones with the most case variation, and 0.732" for the ones with no measured case capacity variation. In other words, just load them and go.
I won't buy this brass from Wideners again. They advertised mostly '11 and '12 pulldowns when I bought. The vast majority was '04/'05.
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Yes, I'm beginning to believe it is more trouble than it is worth. The steps involved in removing the tar in the case neck and prepping exceed the effort to simply prime new, to be sure.
I would rather buy LC brass that's been processed, .308 I mean, and run it through a small base die. And the price wasn't really that great of a deal to get a primer and unfired. If you look you can find the LR brass that wouldn't have been shot in an MG.
