LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

[USW.260]

About to get a batch of clean never loaded LC-77M brass in and most if not all "500 pieces" will be loaded for my M1A with H4895 and 175smk. I plan on running federal 210m primers or something with a hard cup. I've heard this brass is comparable to Lapua in quality. Anyways let me know what you know. Thanks.

 

[ksthomas]

Re: LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

Well . . . no, it's not comparable to Lapua in quality. Not in terms of dimensional uniformity, weight or toughness. You can assume that I'm bias here, but you can easily verify this by simply measuring and weighing some. It is, however, the best brass available for loading in an M1A. It's heavy, fairly tough in the head and yet annealed to a point that gives best function in autoloaders like the M14 or M21. Its primer pocket isn't crimped like the rest of the standard military 7.62mm brass, and it's generally prety good stuff. You should still toss it after the third firing from an M1A, but that's true for virtually any brass, not just the LC Match. More to do with the gun's being hard on the cases than the cases being of poor quality. It's good stuff, and still what I load in my M1A and 7.62mm M1 Garand.

 

[USW.260]

Re: LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

Good to know. Thanks Kevin

 

[ksthomas]

Re: LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

Almost forgot, the primer used in the LC Match ammo is a #43, which unfortunately has no commercial equivalent. CCI does market a #34, which is equivalent to the LC #34 used in the bulk of the LC 7.62mm ammo. The #34 is more on par with what we'd call a Large Rifle Mag primer, while the #43 is a somewhat milder Match primer. Watch the Fed 210Ms, though, as they do have a reputation for being more susceptable to slam fires than some others. Given the option, I'd prefer a WLR the CCI LR primer or a Remington 9 1/2. The Wolf or Tula work very well in 5.56mm stuff, but I haven't tried their Large Rifle stuff. Worth a try, though.

 

[Unknown]

Re: LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

I fully agree with what Mr. Thomas said. Oddly, the last batch of LC77M cases I used shot the same velocity, and point of impact at 300 yards as my Federal GMM cases when using the same powder charge.

I uniform primer pockets, deburr flash holes, trim to length, then load 'em up. I use CCI-BR2 primers as they seem to have a little tougher cups than the Federal 210M primers.

I used to be completely devoted to the Federal primers, but a few years back when there were no Federal primers to be had, I tried the CCI-BR2's, and they didn't get as much of an indentation from the floating firing pin on my AR10 type rifle, and I got better accuracy. The CCI primers continue to be easier to find. I'm sure you can figure the rest from there...

 

[jetmd]

Re: LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

I have used LC regular and match brass for 22 years, I have 3 M14SA's and I always uniform the primer pockets after decapping the first time.
In all of these years I have Never had a slam fire and on the firing line when I used to shoot HP Never witnessed a slam fire using 210M primers.
I will respectfully disagree with this statement.
Weight your empties after cleaning, decapping and uniforming the p pockets. Sort by weight and enjoy!!

 

[ksthomas]

Re: LC-Match brass....what do I need to know

Definately not common, but they do occur. In all the shooting I've done XC (even back when the M14/M1A was THE rifle), I've only actually seen one. It involved a 210M primer, although I can't say definitively that that was the problem. I've heard of others, but only actually personally witnessed the one. In that case, it was a combination of a slam fire, and an out of battery fire, since the bolt obviously hadn't fully locked. Damaged the gun, destroyed the magazine and would have done a helluva number on the shooter, who was fortunately wearing his shooting glasses. The peppered pattern on his face around the shooting glasses left no doubt that they'd clearly saved his vision. Bad stuff, and definately something to be avoided.