Once fired lake city 308 brass issue

[Metal God]

The brass will slide all of the way into the gauge, it's just the rim will not go down to the point where it is supposed to.

This sounds to me that you may not have sized it down enough yet . What press are you using and at top of stroke is there a gap between the die and shell holder ?

 

[1bamashooter]

Fired in a M240 Bravo machine gun to me its not worth fooling with

 

[Abram]

Last night I checked to see if the bolt would close on a sample of the cases and it did so, was not hard or difficult and the brass ejected easily. I also flipped several of the cases around and the rim fit into the gauge. I am using a Lee press. At the top of the stroke there is no gap between the shell holder and die. I really would not want to trash all of this brass. Again it supposedly came from a dealer that came recommended on this website.

 

[DiffEQ]

Based on my experience, sometimes annexing and small base resizing are still not enough to get a case to fit the gauge. Those go in my brass scrap bin.

 

[Sandstorm]

Those go in my brass scrap bin

Yea...brother we all gotta brass scap bin and then some...mines getting so its hard to move it around.
Time to hit the srcap yard. lol

 

[JLT]

I’ve never heard that before. Are you serious?

You can also use a .45 ACP die . . .

With the decapping assembly removed, of course.

 

[RegionRat]

Last night I checked to see if the bolt would close on a sample of the cases and it did so, was not hard or difficult and the brass ejected easily. I also flipped several of the cases around and the rim fit into the gauge. I am using a Lee press. At the top of the stroke there is no gap between the shell holder and die. I really would not want to trash all of this brass. Again it supposedly came from a dealer that came recommended on this website.

Well, then you can move forward while you learn about sizing and measurement.

As you go forward from here, start collecting your tools and skills to be able to understand your chamber, brass, and dies. Keep an eye out for case head separation as you get cycles on that brass.

Get a mentor if at all possible and always play it safe. Brass is far more replaceable than fingers and eyes.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Since you have brass that chambers correctly, now use a spent primer to measure the bolt face clearance. Measure the sized brass length, seat a spent primer so it is 0.008-0.010 proud(case length is now 8-10 thou longer). Chamber and close bolt, extract and measure the brass. Correct sized brass should have 0.002-0.003 proud primer. Some rifles will function correctly with 0.001-0.0015, others require slightly more head clearance(my AR's I run between 3 and 4 thou). Your M1A may need to be closer to 0.004 for reliability.

 

[nilebartram]

I think when you buy LC brass you got to know the source and what they are gun they are fired from. I got some 7.56 from a marine buddy's son. Did not ask that question. When i could not resize them to fit in my prone rifle. I asked, machine gun. I had another friend who shot for the army reserve team. Got his (LC) loaded ammo from the army. Shot from a M14 once and it sized well.

 

[teele1]

+1 on that 45ACP die ...works to get the click out as well on all 308 based cases

 

[Barman54]

Too Many operations to do in one operation.
Base, shoulder, on Brass shot on an Oversized Chamber?
By using a 30.06 or .45ACP, helps gets the Base back to Spec's.

After the Base is made smaller, any attempt for Resizing is greatly improved, and is easier to set the
Shoulder.

Been using 30.06 for a while, may try using my Carbide .44 ACP?

Barman54
Out

 

[Big Mc]

I purchased some once fired lake city brass and have finally gotten around to processing it. It looks to be good brass but looks can be deceiving. During the resizing process several cases did not go all the way into my case gauge and what I men is the rim of the case would not sit flsuh or right below flush. Some of them you could gently push and the case would go all the way. I checked my sizing die and all is good and not all of the cases do this. Do you guys have any ideas as to what may be causing this? All of the cases still have the primer crimps.

Thank you

May have been used in a M60 machine gun. That makes them fat. Tommy Mc

 

[Ray123]

I have no trouble with military LC brass and I used thousands through the years, I find them a good value for most uses. And run LC brass in multiple 308 AR10s no problem, as well as many AR 15's LC brass, almost exclusively.
A few that seem raised above the gauge may have slightly bent rims from extraction from military auto firearms...or rims can be bent from sizing .with the shell holder..if sizing some of these cases seems difficult. Try Lee sizing lube, it works on these military cases that require more effort to size with common spray lube...works on 50BMG and 308 military brass. Then after they are fired in your chamber, you can go back to spray lube. Bent rims should be discarded. I also check my Wilson chamber gauge against my 308 Go gauge to see how far off it is. My standard base 308 Wilson bushing die is used on LC brass & Lapua no bushing change.. Winchester, needs a bushing change and range pick up brass with no problem if separated, in any AR10 or bolt gun I own, tight and not so tight chambers as long as they are no neck turn...and head space chamber gauges are available, to see how much the shoulder is pushed back....which will vary slightly with Military brass as the spring back and dwell time of the handloader who sizes them. An AR 10 will slam those easily pushed down cases into the gauge and only slightly hanging up,...home with no problem.

 

[Doom]

I used LC brass for about 10 years, until two years ago. I was cleaning the storage room today and found 9 pieces of 07 that hadn't been cleaned. All had soot on the necks. I concluded that the brass was sealing at the shoulder before the neck expanded then the neck startts to expand and the bullet released. if this happens the pressure on either side of the neck is the same and the neck expansion stops.

 

[Norton1945]

Naw, this is what you do!!

Run your entire .308 Brass through a 30.06 Sizing Die.
Then run them through your .308 Die.
Trim, and Load, No Problem.

Speaking from an M1A Shooter

M1A, eats Brass

Thx,
Barman54
Out

What about the ought 6 sizer that does the job better?

 

[FloridaAKM]

I got a few thousand LC .308 cases that were polished from the vendor, so they were clean to start with. Using a Dillion .308 case gauge, they consistently almost fit in the gauge before being sized. After sizing them with an RCBS small base die, they fit in the case gauge perfectly as long as I set up the dies correctly.
The lube used is the Dillion D.C.L. which is just lanolin & isopropyl alcohol, never a case stuck with this lube.

All of the cases are once fired with the primer & crimp in place, so I know that they are actually once fired, not someone's rejects left of the range floor. What rifle/weapon they were originally fired from is unknown, but a good bet is that it is not an M-60 or a M240 as a cartridge fired through those guns would show lots more stretching when placing in a case gauge.

These cases will probably never be fired more than once by me as I have so many of them, unless I save them to load back up for the 1919a4 or the HK-91.