223 Highpower Loads Lake City vs Lapua case capicity

[djtjr]

guys for those of you that shoot high power and or relaod for the an AR 223 what are your thoughts on Lapua brass? I know its great brass but i have heard the case capacity can be fairly substantially lower that some of the more common (*for Highpower) brass and i wanted to know if anyone had some case capacity info one brand to the next to see if I will likely have to reduce my loads. I will always build up but wanted to see if there was a standard etc. My typical load W moly bullets for 80gn 600 yd line shooting is 24.5 at 2.5" with lake city and wanted to know your experience with lapua as it relates to capacity. Again ill build up either way just wanted to see if there were some standard thoughts on where to begin. Thanks

 

[KMart]

Here is a capacity chart posted in the 223 section, compairing different cases

.223 Rem Case Weight vs. Capacity
Case Manufacturer Case Weight* H20 Capacity**
Lake City 06 92.0 30.6
WCC99 95.5 30.5
Sellier & Belloit 92.3 30.5
Remington 92.3 30.4
PMC 93.5 30.4
Hirtenberger 93.7 30.4
Lake City 04 93.0 30.4
Federal 96.3 30.2
Hornady 93.9 30.1
IMG (Guatemalan) 95.4 30.1
Lapua (new lot) 93.4 30.1
Winchester 93.9 30.1
Olympic 97.4 30.0
Radway Arsenal 96.1 30.0
PMP 104.5 29.9
FNM 93-1 97.3 29.8
Lapua (old lot) 104.0 28.0

 

[ar10ar15man]

there are two different 223 brasses from lapua.
the first stuff is markerd 223 and to the best of my knowledge was SUB CONTRACTED..not built by lapua and basically sucked as competition brass...i know i had some and it was terrible.

the newer stuff is marked MATCH and is suppose to be built by lapua..i have one box, but have never opened it to even to a wieght spread on.
so keep your eyes open on what you buy.

an alternative to lapua is to buy 500 or a 1000 winchester....prep then wieght sort. when i did a lot of 500 i got 300 plus pcs that were match quality......50 rd lots from plus or minus .1 to .3

 

[ar10ar15man]

i would not trust the chart above for case capacity of winchester 223 brass.
my 500 pc lot ran from 89.6 to 94.5. both of those numbers were single pcs..there were 23 pcs lower than my normal weight spread, and 22 pcs higher than my normal wieght spread. my average was around 92.2 plus or minus 1.2.

your milage may vary

 

[bigedp51]

I have Quickload and its a love hate relationship but it does list the chamber pressures for the .223 and 5.56 and loading data. Max pressure for the .223 is 55,000 psi, max pressure for the 5.56 NATO is 62,366 psi using CIP standards.

Bottom line, Lake City 5.56x45 NATO cartridge cases are made to higher standards than SAAMI or CIP commercial standards.

Part of the early jamming problem on the M16 was the commercial cartridge cases were too soft and new mil-spec requirements were laid down for commercial contracts of military 5.56 ammo.

I hate to say this because of all the Chevy owners in this forum, BUT Lake City brass is made Ford truck tough.

 

[djtjr]

thanks guys yes part of the problem is i am only a semi hoarder so i have 300 lapua 223 cases but cant find much other quality 223 brass available with the season right around the corner.

 

[ar10ar15man]

fl size, trim to length, debur flash hole in side( check them...may not be needed), uniform primer pocket..make them all the same depth, not just a clean up......de bur case mouth......now weight sort.....

if you just load them you will likely have flyers YOU cannot explain....

hipower only requires 2moa..but why shoot 2 moa ammo..give yourself an edge and shoot one moa or less ammo.

 

[searcher]

As stated by other reader, I wouldn't trust the capacity chart shown. I shoot a lot of Lake City (unfired new brass purchased from Natchez when we could get it) Excellent brass but when I quit using Winchester cases, I couldn't get enough Varget into Lake City to seat the bullets. The capacity chart shows this to be the other way around. In any event, I love using Lapua in my bolt rifles but don't in the A/R's as not enough case capacity compared to Lake City and at over two times the cost - makes less sense to me. Viable plan B is to buy 1,000 once-fired LC cases from trusted vender. Sort by year headstamp then by weight. Go all out by uniforming flash holes and primer pocket depth and turn necks to 75% clean metal (use bushing die for sizer) and you will have cases that are more competitive than Lapua -for the A/R. Lots of work for brass that only gets used maybe 8 times compared to a bolt gun where you are going maybe 20+ with Lapua.

 

[ar10ar15man]

i would suggest you weight sort AFTER full prep.
trim to lenght removes weight but does not affect usable case capacity;
primer pocket uniform removes weight but does not affect usable case capacity;
neck turn removes weight but does not affect usable case capacity;
flash hole internal deburr affects weight and useable case capacity...
bottom line..prep then weight sort.

As stated by other reader, I wouldn't trust the capacity chart shown. I shoot a lot of Lake City (unfired new brass purchased from Natchez when we could get it) Excellent brass but when I quit using Winchester cases, I couldn't get enough Varget into Lake City to seat the bullets. The capacity chart shows this to be the other way around. In any event, I love using Lapua in my bolt rifles but don't in the A/R's as not enough case capacity compared to Lake City and at over two times the cost - makes less sense to me. Viable plan B is to buy 1,000 once-fired LC cases from trusted vender. Sort by year headstamp then by weight. Go all out by uniforming flash holes and primer pocket depth and turn necks to 75% clean metal (use bushing die for sizer) and you will have cases that are more competitive than Lapua -for the A/R. Lots of work for brass that only gets used maybe 8 times compared to a bolt gun where you are going maybe 20+ with Lapua.