LC brass?

[MTGunner]

Anyone loading Lake City brass in .308? Opinions and information request for 150 grain Partitions. MTG

 

[46and2]

I have 200 pc at home. I'm not going to use it because I started using 277 sig brass.

 

[MTGunner]

Is LC brass worth loading in .308? Is LC brass quality brass? MTG

 

[64Rambler]

Anyone loading Lake City brass in .308? Opinions and information request for 150 grain Partitions. MTG

I'm loading .308 for two of my sons for their Sig 716s. One uses Peterson, the other is using Starline. The Starline is loaded for 150 Hornady SST and the Peterson is loaded for 168 SMK. So far for the 150 SST we've tried Varget, N140, N150, N540 and it like N540 the best, so far. Not too deep into it yet, but dialing it in.

 

[DShortt]

IMHO - Lake City is fine if you aren't looking for the best possible groups. I use it in hunting loads where I may not recover the brass, nor do I want to worry about it.
If you're trying to shoot the smallest possible groups, do yourself a favor and buy some better brass. I could say the same about any reloaded factory brass, not just Lake City.
Some will disagree, that's fine. It's my opinion based on my experience.

Edit to add - I should have qualified my post. If you are trying to consistently break under 3/4 MOA at 100 yards, you should consider better brass. *Most* hunters can be successful with that limitation.
Again, just my experience and opinion.

 

[joshb]

I have and will continue to use Lake City brass in my 308s. It works fine. The walls may be a little thicker than some other brands and reduce internal volume, there by raising internal pressure. Pick a powder/bullet combo in your manual and test it in your gun. I usually start powder weights in the middle of the chart and move up in .3 grain increments but not going over book max. While shooting, watch for over pressure signs. Hard bolt lift, flattened primers, etc. Stop shooting if you experience them and record that data. Check your targets for the load that gives you the best group.
If you buy the LC brass in bulk, you may get brass that was fired in a machine gun. That brass will be harder to resize but it works fine after you bring it back in “spec”.

 

[willyp19]

I recently reloaded some once fired 308 LC brass, noticed pressure built up faster than non-military brass. High quality for sure, after running the brass through SB full length sizer dies and cleaning up the necks.

 

[Doom]

I load Lapua, LC and Federal in 308. Have also loaded a lot of Blue Bag Winchester. The LC is once fired and probably mixed lots sorted by year. The Lapua is new. On its third firing. Federal is from FGMM and shoots fine but don't know about how many firings it might last. Not a fan of Winchester as it has the greatest weight variation and it seems that one lot may come off of separate machines or the machine is inconsistent.

I can't say with any certainty that Lapua is superior to LC. They seem to shoot about the same. My LC was mixed and some is definately MG fired. I resized all of it in a SB die.

For hunting I'd would load LC in a heartbeat.

 

[kevinbritvec]

Anyone loading Lake City brass in .308? Opinions and information request for 150 grain Partitions. MTG

I've been loading it for over 45 years. We used to get Lake City Match brass, brand new from the Department of Civilian Marksmanship for $10 per 100 in the 1980's.

Most published starting loads are at, or very near, maximum when using Lake City 7.62x51mm brass. A good rule of thumb is to use 2.0 full grains less powder than whatever you have been using in commercial .308 cases.

 

[Doom]

I've been loading it for over 45 years. We used to get Lake City Match brass, brand new from the Department of Civilian Marksmanship for $10 per 100 in the 1980's.

Most published starting loads are at, or very near, maximum when using Lake City 7.62x51mm brass. A good rule of thumb is to use 2.0 full grains less powder than whatever you have been using in commercial .308 cases.

I am going to disagree with this a little. LC. FC and Lapua are all very similar in case capacity and published loads based on those cases don't very that much. HOWEVER, loads based on some of the lighter cases such as Winchester, Hornady, and some Black Hills will vary significantly and the 2gn suggestion does come into play.

 

[jpjulian]

I have a few hundred '93-'94 LC Match cases I obtained in that time frame that had been fired initially in military 7.62 sniper rifles. I sat on those cases for 30 years until I scoped my old M1A last year. They are heavier than the Federal and Winchester cases I used back then but the weights are very consistent. I have had to reduce powder charges 2-3 grains to get to my target velocity and I am getting decent accuracy. Nothing earth shaking but decent. Also, the brass is rather hard and sizing takes noticeably more pressure. I had to toss commercial brass after 3-4 loadings back in the day. This brass is tough enough I'd say I may be able to double the number of loadings. We'll see.

 

[kenhwind]

The only LC Brass I'm very familiar with is 30-06 LC 62 Match.
The advantage I have is I shot the ammo in the first place. My loads are generally for the M1 using either the 147, 150 FMJ or the 168 Hornady bullets because I'm mainly interested in ammo to shoot.

I do load for the 7.62 x 51 but have not used LC brass. Again, I'm only loading to shoot, so I'm not using anything but target type bullets.