Only used Lapua 223 brass for my DD AR 15 to this point. Recently bought some new unprimed Lake City brass (not sure if classified as LC Match?) and ran thru my Forster FL sizer to get necks round. Then I checked on my Sinclair concentricity gage and Sinclair neck sorter. Am disappointed to see approx avg runout about .002 and many higher. And neck thickness on the sorter at .003-.004 avg. Was getting avg runout and neck thickness at .001 & .0015 respectively on Lapua. Is this typical and should it be a concern? My DD shoots right at 1 MOA. Thanks.
- Thread starter bbowles
- Start date
Deff not the best brass out there. No where close to lapua. But none the less I have had great results with it before.
Federal/LC from testing is actually one of the lower end brasses out there as far as reloadability.
Winchester and Lapua are 2 of the best and longest lasting brass cases right now. But this is all from 3rd party testing none of my own.
But I my self shoot Win and LC. One for my 700 the other for my M110.
Winchester and Lapua are 2 of the best and longest lasting brass cases right now. But this is all from 3rd party testing none of my own.
But I my self shoot Win and LC. One for my 700 the other for my M110.
LC .223 can be good with work. I deprime it, size it, expand it, trim it, deburr it, decrimp it, chamfer it, unform the primer pocket, neck turn it... A lot of work to get it where I like it to be. But... it is dark here and I don't watch much tv. Come summer time if I need fresh brass I will be turning to Lapua 
Lapua and Winchester as he has said. That is what I use for precision rifles. Now, I used mixed brass for the ol' AR-15. I obvious, do not prep brass the same as I do with the precision rifle.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I couldn't even think about using Lapua cases in my Stock, mil spec, runnin' and gunnin' Colt AR, but it has given me an average of 1" groups for 25 years, no matter what cases I feed it. It cheerfully eats Lake City, Federal,Winchester, Remington, and whatever else I throw at it, but I don't mix 'em up much.
Real military Lake City 5.56 cases are very good brass and made to higher standards than many civilian .223 cases. "BUT" the cases that Federal uses for its M193 and M855 ammunition are seconds or military rejects that failed inspection at Lake City.
Plus Lake City cases are made harder to withstand the larger diameter and longer headspace weapons.
As you can see below military 5.56 case necks are only allowed to vary .002 in neck thickness
Don't be fooled, Lake City didn't load the ammunition below for civilian consumption, Federal simply loaded cartridge cases that failed inspection at Lake City.
Plus Lake City cases are made harder to withstand the larger diameter and longer headspace weapons.
As you can see below military 5.56 case necks are only allowed to vary .002 in neck thickness
Don't be fooled, Lake City didn't load the ammunition below for civilian consumption, Federal simply loaded cartridge cases that failed inspection at Lake City.
I buy all my LC brass as once fired military. Not sure is the XM193 a LC or FC headstamp? Anything with an FC headstamp is junk IMO. Loose primer pockets after just two or three loadings. The bulk LC brass I buy has heavy crimps so you know it's once fired. With proper prep it shoots excellent and can be reloaded 8 or more times before they get sloppy. I load a MK262 Mod 0 clone with the 77g SMK and Alliant Power Pro 2000MR which moves 2850 out of my 18" SPR/DMR AR's. They all shoot sub MOA.
I also use LC once fired in my .308 gas guns as well as bolts. With proper prep it shoots just as good as the Lapua. Although there are differences in neck thickness and runout I really can't tell the difference in the results/accuracy. But then again I am not a BR shooter looking for .3 MOA. I bang steel from 100 out to 1K. So .18 cent LC vs .90 cent Lapua gets you alot more ammo for the $. And my Mega Keymod eats lots of ammo!
I also use LC once fired in my .308 gas guns as well as bolts. With proper prep it shoots just as good as the Lapua. Although there are differences in neck thickness and runout I really can't tell the difference in the results/accuracy. But then again I am not a BR shooter looking for .3 MOA. I bang steel from 100 out to 1K. So .18 cent LC vs .90 cent Lapua gets you alot more ammo for the $. And my Mega Keymod eats lots of ammo!
I have three five gallon buckets of once fired .223/5.56 brass and "thought" I had a gold mine. It was approximately 1/3 Federal, 1/3 Lake City and 1/3 Remington. The Remington .223 brass is the worst for neck thickness variations and runout, one batch of Federal is the worst for oversized primer pockets marked FC 09. "SOME" of the Lake City is very consistent in neck thickness and is VERY good brass and some has oversized primer pockets, excessive runout and uneven case wall and neck thicknesses.
The Army doesn't sell new unfired brass that meets quality requirements, they load and shoot it. And Federal sells the rejected brass in their cheap blasting ammo. Having said this and checking so many different make cases I think the ammunition manufacturers sell their cheap blasting ammo with cases that do not meet upper grade quality standards.
This type blasting ammo is good for covering suppressive fire in Zombie attacks. (bad brass humor)
For my AR15 rifles I will take all the Lake City brass I can get, BUT the good LC brass is for my A2 HBAR and my .223 Savage bolt action after checking, neck turning and uniforming the brass. And I would NEVER think of shooting Lupua brass from a AR15 rifle.
The Army doesn't sell new unfired brass that meets quality requirements, they load and shoot it. And Federal sells the rejected brass in their cheap blasting ammo. Having said this and checking so many different make cases I think the ammunition manufacturers sell their cheap blasting ammo with cases that do not meet upper grade quality standards.
This type blasting ammo is good for covering suppressive fire in Zombie attacks. (bad brass humor)
For my AR15 rifles I will take all the Lake City brass I can get, BUT the good LC brass is for my A2 HBAR and my .223 Savage bolt action after checking, neck turning and uniforming the brass. And I would NEVER think of shooting Lupua brass from a AR15 rifle.
Last edited:
Nothing wrong with LC brass. I love the LC in gas guns because it's cheap and easy to get from once fired military lots. It's generally very consistent and you're not going to notice the difference in the brass accuracy wise unless you're going down the benchrest road. Too many people put way too much emphasis on the little things of reloading instead of spending more time shooting. That's my take.
That being said, I do like Lapua cases. But I only bother with them on my bolt guns where case life is a bit longer to justify the cost and the volume of shooting is lower.
That being said, I do like Lapua cases. But I only bother with them on my bolt guns where case life is a bit longer to justify the cost and the volume of shooting is lower.
I picked up a 1000 rds of LC72 308 brass several years back and it works very well out of my M1A.
gmsharps
gmsharps
