Quick question: Will different brass give me different setup measurements?

[TheGerman]

I have alot of 5.56 brass in buckets after bucket. I plan on sorting the headstamps, but ran into an interesting question. Obviously I will resize them all, and most will need trimmed, but besides that, will they be different from each other (besides crimped primer, etc) outside of the neck thickness?

This is not for high end precision loading but for a 16" carbine so I am going with standard, mag length OAL and have set my FL sizing die up correctly using a LE Wilson headspace gauge with Lake City headstamped brass. If I change to Winchester or Remington 5.56/223 brass will the brass come out differently (i.e. Lake City passes headspace, but Winchester won't?) or will the FL die ensure I'm GTG? Besides the neck thickness, will different brands of brass give me any issues anywhere else or should everything go through fairly standardized?

Thanks

 

[SPAK]

You should be fine.... You might have small differences in case capacity between the different brands but you shouldn't have a problem.. I run mixed brass on some of my non precision AR15s and they are still plenty accurate...

 

[elfster1234]

Do what i do when you have a bulk amount of brass....... Simply dont size the whole batch in one shot. Pull the amount you need in either 50 to 100 pc increments. This way if you need to make adjustments you can and is easier to keep track of the amount of fires on the brass.

I have alot of 5.56 brass in buckets after bucket. I plan on sorting the headstamps, but ran into an interesting question. Obviously I will resize them all, and most will need trimmed, but besides that, will they be different from each other (besides crimped primer, etc) outside of the neck thickness?

This is not for high end precision loading but for a 16" carbine so I am going with standard, mag length OAL and have set my FL sizing die up correctly using a LE Wilson headspace gauge with Lake City headstamped brass. If I change to Winchester or Remington 5.56/223 brass will the brass come out differently (i.e. Lake City passes headspace, but Winchester won't?) or will the FL die ensure I'm GTG? Besides the neck thickness, will different brands of brass give me any issues anywhere else or should everything go through fairly standardized?

Thanks

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Brass manufacturers have different blends of metal in their brass and the spring back differently. I haven't measured but I know a guy that does processing for match shooters. He sets up his sizing dies when you send him sorted brass. He won't process mixed lots because one headstamp may size to minimum after it springs back, another may spring back over max length.

Personally, I haven't seen a difference between Lake City, PMC, or Winchester (WCC or commercial) when I size them in 5.56. In .308, I have seen a difference in Hirtenburg and Lake City.