223 brass choice

[John Russell]

What do you guys consider "good" for a number of firings?

I've never worn .45 ACP, 9 or .38 Super out. I always lose it before I wear it out.

100 Lapua .223 from Midway, as I type, is 56.99. That's 57¢ each. If you get ten firings, that's 5.7¢ per shot.

30 firings from modern bottleneck cartridges is good - 40 or more is real good.
It is acheaveable if you know what you are doing.

 

[Jammer Six]

Wow.

Those guys were talking about ten. And ten is very affordable.

The cost of brass is not a factor, then.

 

[John Russell]

Wow.

Those guys were talking about ten. And ten is very affordable.

The cost of brass is not a factor, then.

Nope... I buy the best I can... good brass is a bargan.

 

[MS50]

For my .223 1:9, I use Win and Rem brass. I load 69SMK in both exactly the same and get the same results, which is very good for steel to 700 yds. Despite my friend's sage advice to recycle all of my Win and Rem brass, I haven't tried Lapua brass in the 223 yet. With the results I'm getting, I have no plans to upgrade at this point.

 

[Brians356]

FWIW The first rifle I reloaded for is my 700 VS in 223 Rem. For over twenty years I used only cases from fired Win ammo I purchased with the rifle. Many of those cases had been reloaded 9 times, only Redding bushing neck sized (no exp. button). Never annealed them, and never had a split neck. But not long ago I got a batch of beautiful RWS cases from a friend (fired Black Hills ammo) and I switched over to those, retiring all the old Win cases.
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[Jammer Six]

When I started reloading .223, I didn't know what I didn't know. I just went to my trusty Hornady manual, picked a bullet, then read that it had been tested with Winchester brass, and not knowing any better, I followed the recipe.

Someday I may fool around with switching components, but in my experience with other calibers, there's a lot of loading to be done, a lot of working up and testing to be done and a lot of fun to be had with Winchester brass before that day comes.

Since Hornady makes other, heavier bullets, and their recipes use Winchester brass for those, too, I could run my .223 for a long time before I'd need different brass, from what I understand.

I also have a 1:9, a Ruger Hawkeye, and I started with 52 grain AMAX, but I'm starting to think a heavier bullet is on the horizon.

 

[pete1955]

FWIW The first rifle I reloaded for is my 700 VS in 223 Rem. For over twenty years I used only cases from fired Win ammo I purchased with the rifle. Many of those cases had been reloaded 9 times, only Redding bushing neck sized (no exp. button). Never annealed them, and never had a split neck. But not long ago I got a batch of beautiful RWS cases from a friend (fired Black Hills ammo) and I switched over to those, retiring all the old Win cases.
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brians356

When you use your bushing dies without the expander do you turn the case necks? And if not what is your runout. I have read many posts where the reloader does not turn the neck and just pushes the neck imperfections to the inside the neck.

I have also read where they say that seating the bullet will push any defects to the outside of the neck. And I wonder if this effects neck runout without neck turning. On my factory rifles a bushing die always increases neck runout vs a Forster full length die.

Thank you.

 

[John Russell]

brians356

When you use your bushing dies without the expander do you turn the case necks? And if not what is your runout. I have read many posts where the reloader does not turn the neck and just pushes the neck imperfections to the inside the neck.

I have also read where they say that seating the bullet will push any defects to the outside of the neck. And I wonder if this effects neck runout without neck turning. On my factory rifles a bushing die always increases neck runout vs a Forster full length die.

Thank you.

What "imperfections"???

If there are lumps and bumps, it makes no difference whether they are on the inside or outside, they will keep the bullet from being centered in the throat. But I have never seen lumos and bumps - only necks what are not uniform in thickness (off center axis)... and there is nothing an expander can do to fix that.

I do not use expanders on Bushing dies - I pick a bushing for my final finished nick and go on from there... guns shoot fine.

 

[USMCDOC]

I started on Winchester brass, then used Rem UMC brass, moved to Lapua, then to LC.. Now i am back to Winchester brass

 

[Ned Ludd]

If your rifle has a "no-turn" neck chamber, the imperfections in the brass have less of an effect. Many of today's rifles, especially competition rifles, have very long, tight free bores to accommodate longer, heavier, high BC bullets. As long as there is ample room to accommodate the neck brass, such as is found in no-turn neck chambers, a long tight freebore will usually function to "self-center" your bullets. If you have a tight neck chamber that requires you to turn necks, that is another story entirely.

IMO, runout with the cartridges I shoot (.308 and .223) is typically coming from some other source than simply the brand of brass used, or whether or not the necks are turned. If something in the reloading process is canting the necks, no amount of turning is going to completely fix the issue. Although I typically use Lapua brass, I have used other types. I am not doing anything special as far as I know, and don't have any super-fancy equipment (Rockchucker press, Redding Type S Competition dies), but I never see runout greater than about .0015", usually .001" or less. I quickly reached a point where now I only use the concentricity gauge for a few sample rounds every time I load for a match. Checking all of them became a huge waste of time for me. If there might happen to be a few per batch loaded for competition with higher runout, I have not observed a significant effect on the target (or in my scores). My dropped points can almost always be attributed to missed wind calls or jerking the trigger, rather than runout issues.

 

[Snuggie]

My top three choices for my .223, .308, and 6.5X47L are 1-Lapua, 2-Lapua, and 3- Lapua .

 

[pete1955]

What "imperfections"???

If there are lumps and bumps, it makes no difference whether they are on the inside or outside, they will keep the bullet from being centered in the throat. But I have never seen lumos and bumps - only necks what are not uniform in thickness (off center axis)... and there is nothing an expander can do to fix that.

I do not use expanders on Bushing dies - I pick a bushing for my final finished nick and go on from there... guns shoot fine.

Mr. Russel

I did ask brians356 my question and in my opinion bushing dies work best with tight neck chambers and neck turned brass.

What I was getting at was brian356 said he used Redding bushing dies without the expander. "BUT" Redding supplies the expander with their bushing dies for those who do not turn their necks.

What I was looking for was a consensuses or opinions on bushing dies, expanders and neck turning. I ask this because I see no sense using brass with uneven neck thickness (egg shaped necks with lumps and bumps) with a bushing die unless you turn the necks or use a expander on unturned necks.

 

[John Russell]

Mr. Russel

I did ask brians356 my question and in my opinion bushing dies work best with tight neck chambers and neck turned brass.

What I was getting at was brian356 said he used Redding bushing dies without the expander. "BUT" Redding supplies the expander with their bushing dies for those who do not turn their necks.

What I was looking for was a consensuses or opinions on bushing dies, expanders and neck turning. I ask this because I see no sense using brass with uneven neck thickness (egg shaped necks with lumps and bumps) with a bushing die unless you turn the necks or use a expander on unturned necks.

Lumps and bumps... what lumps and bumps - my brass ain't got no steeenkin' lumps and bumps !!!