Silk Purse Lake City Brass

[Hoot]

I picked up a 10 year old Savage Model 12 BR wrongly labeled as a Model 12 F/TR, off of GB. Its sitting at my transfer agent's shop until I can (hopefully) pick it up on the 18th. Looked minty in the pictures but you you can't judge a book by it's cover.
Meanwhile, its winter in Minnesota which equates to clear deep freeze days punctuated by snow days. (Currenl;y -4F) IE time for indoor projects. I rooted around and came up with 150 1-F LC 08 M80 cases I still had from back when I had my RRA LAR-8 Varminter HP rifle. One of those seller's remorse rifles I had to sell during the 08 financial downturn.
I set about prepping them starting with depriming, de-crimping and a good wet tumble with pins.
Next I gave them all a good induction annealing followed by polishing off the mat finish on the necks and shoulders, left behind by the annealing. It's OCD but that's how I roll.



I weight sorted them but that can change once I size and trim them. I held off sizing them until I can scope the barrel and see if the throat is shot out or not, then cast the chamber. If its a go, I'll continue prepping the cases. If not, then I can either have it set back and rechambered or just get a new barrel, possibly a 30 BR. I love the older Model 12's. I already have two SA small shanks and a handful of different caliber barrels for them. Love my Shilen 6.5x47L on one of them. This will be my first large shank patform but I digress...

With the LC brass, of which I might mention 130 of the 150 weigh in with a 3 grain spread, am I trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? I'm not a high end competitor where talent is concerned. I'm retired and just enjoy experimenting with load recipes, pursuing small groups along the way. I know that I can't come up with something that many of you haven't already been there and done, so I'm seeking some opinions from those who have.

Thanks,

Hoot

 

[AckleymanII]

After you have them de primed, grab a hand full and cull the ones that have the flash holes punched off center. Not sure that it means much, but it irritates me anyway.

 

[6bra1k]

it aint "small target" brass.
blasting yes
100 premium small primer cases and just look forward.

 

[Hoot]

After you have them de primed, grab a hand full and cull the ones that have the flash holes punched off center. Not sure that it means much, but it irritates me anyway.

Me too., though I mostly see that in non-military Winchester and R-P brass.

it aint "small target" brass.
blasting yes
100 premium small primer cases and just look forward.

Yeah, I just mic'd some neck walls. Good Lord! averaging .016-.0165. My FL sizing die neck would need to be opened up as its yielding an ID of .296. I have pin gauges on the way for my Porter but that's a lot of working on the brass. The sow's ear is starting to smell. Time to price some quality brass once I inspect the chamber and bore of that 12 BR barrel.
I really like Peterson SRP brass in my 6XC, 6CM and 6.5x47L rigs. Lapua is good also. This past September, I helped a friend load up 200 Match quality rounds for his 308 using new Lapua and was impressed with its quality. My only previous exposure to it was for my 6.5 Grendel.
Time to take a chill pill until I can examine that barrel, hopefully on Tuesday.

Hoot

 

[mgunderson]

Made several attempts at this myself. My experience was the LC match was better than LC or LC LR. LC will either shoot or give you fits and will tell you quickly. I sorted by weight, year, annealed, turned necks in various combination..... if it doesn't shoot send it to the recycle bin.

 

[senderoll]

Made several attempts at this myself. My experience was the LC match was better than LC or LC LR. LC will either shoot or give you fits and will tell you quickly. I sorted by weight, year, annealed, turned necks in various combination..... if it doesn't shoot send it to the recycle bin.

if they don’t shoot! send Them To Me!!!

 

[butchlambert]

I have thousands of LC brass. How is the match headstamped?

 

[granite1]

I have thousands of LC brass. How is the match headstamped?

LC MATCH

 

[butchlambert]

LC MATCH

Wasn't aware of that. Mine are all marked LC-and a date. Must mean the Perry guys didn't like these and this is what I received. Guess I got sloppy left overs again.

 

[granite1]

Wasn't aware of that. Mine are all marked LC-and a date. Must mean the Perry guys didn't like these and this is what I received. Guess I got sloppy left overs again.

 

[granite1]

This is from some that was fired in a bolt gun. It was originally intended to be used at ”Perry” probably in M-14’s. I’m going to neck turn some and see what I can get it to do.

 

[dhagerty40]

the case you show is a Lake city 1968 Match case. I cannot remember which bullet they used in 1968 for match ammo.

Brass from that time was nowhere near as consistent as it is today. a 3gr spread would have been good then.

 

[Hoot]

My LC is not match but it is from 2008.

In about a half hour, I get to pick up the 12 BR from my transfer agent. First stop will be a patch or two, then the bore scope. If it passes muster, I'll yank it and cast the chamber. If I don't like what I see, I'll probably order a 30 BR Shilen Select Match for it from Jim, over at NSS. I've been wanting to shoot the 30 BR for some time. If the bore and chamber are in as good a shape as the rest of the rifle looks, I already have a source for some Lapua brass lined up at a good price and the LC will go to my FR-8.
The Walter Mitty experimenter in me wants to have a 30 RAR chamber cut, just to see how it would perform as a BR caliber. Brass is the same length as 30 BR. Very similar profile other than being from the 284 parent case and I have 100+ 1 fired brass along with an additional 120 new, loaded ammo. Admittedly it's an itch I'll probably never scratch but it would be a fun experiment. It shoots very well in my R-15 AR platform.

"A man's reach should always exceed his grasp"

Hoot

 

[bpd459]

the case you show is a Lake city 1968 Match case. I cannot remember which bullet they used in 1968 for match ammo.

Brass from that time was nowhere near as consistent as it is today. a 3gr spread would have been good then.

173gr FMJ

 

[Hoot]

The 12 BR bore and chamber were just fine once I cleaned them down to where I could see them. Lugs show even wear. Headspace is spot on. The previous owner was good about removing copped buildup. Just a few minute streaks in the entire bore. Rifling looks strong and sharp with some barely visible tracks here and there that are the norm with savage barrels. Patches slide down with ease. Accutrigger breaks crisply at 15 oz. No discernible throat erosion to speak of. Freebore is on the order of .086



I have lots of 308 bullets to work with, just not much in the way of precision ones. Closest I have are some 168 Amax's. Seated to the lands, the COL is 2.772.

Bottom line is it looks like I'll be fiddling with 308 loads besides my other 3 calibers come spring. It's dropping below zero tonight and won't come up above zero until Friday. Such is life up here in the great white north. We're in indoor mode now and for the foreseeable future. Happens every year... July and August in the upper 70's makes it all worthwhile.

Hoot

 

[Ray123]

I picked up a 10 year old Savage Model 12 BR wrongly labeled as a Model 12 F/TR, off of GB. Its sitting at my transfer agent's shop until I can (hopefully) pick it up on the 18th. Looked minty in the pictures but you you can't judge a book by it's cover.
Meanwhile, its winter in Minnesota which equates to clear deep freeze days punctuated by snow days. (Currenl;y -4F) IE time for indoor projects. I rooted around and came up with 150 1-F LC 08 M80 cases I still had from back when I had my RRA LAR-8 Varminter HP rifle. One of those seller's remorse rifles I had to sell during the 08 financial downturn.
I set about prepping them starting with depriming, de-crimping and a good wet tumble with pins.
Next I gave them all a good induction annealing followed by polishing off the mat finish on the necks and shoulders, left behind by the annealing. It's OCD but that's how I roll.

View attachment 1307997

I weight sorted them but that can change once I size and trim them. I held off sizing them until I can scope the barrel and see if the throat is shot out or not, then cast the chamber. If its a go, I'll continue prepping the cases. If not, then I can either have it set back and rechambered or just get a new barrel, possibly a 30 BR. I love the older Model 12's. I already have two SA small shanks and a handful of different caliber barrels for them. Love my Shilen 6.5x47L on one of them. This will be my first large shank patform but I digress...

With the LC brass, of which I might mention 130 of the 150 weigh in with a 3 grain spread, am I trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? I'm not a high end competitor where talent is concerned. I'm retired and just enjoy experimenting with load recipes, pursuing small groups along the way. I know that I can't come up with something that many of you haven't already been there and done, so I'm seeking some opinions from those who have.

Thanks,

Hoot

I use mostly lapua, Lake City and Winchester in that order. Depending on what I'm using it in and for what. LC is OK in my book. Tested it against Lapua with the same load same match bullet... 5 shots of Lapua 308 brass went into .314" 5 shots of LC went .454" in same 308 bolt gun...with nothing done but remove primer crimp and clean. And 10 shots of 168 gr went into .98" in an AR 10 at 100 yds with LC brass and I didn't weight sort it just swaged the primer pockets clean and load. Maybe not for serious target competition, but you can shoot steel and hunt with it all day and never miss you target because of the brass. It will shoot .5" groups at 100 just as it is in a rifle that is capable of it. Don't wast time annealing, neck turning, weighing, although I do sometimes weight sort it for slightly better accuracy when loading in a target rifle, as opposed to an AR.

 

[JSH]

Cull the brass pretty hard. I have some various lots of 223,308 and 30-06 LC all but the 223 were weight sorted. It will shoot right with my Lapua ammo, make sure to anneal on a regular basis.
My 308F/TR favored a large dose of Varget with a 155 Palma on top. It shot better than it should have and was advised by several to switch to a Berger for even better. Funny thing was the Palma was beating the bullet they told me should be better.

 

[Hoot]

Just an update. I picked up 200, new, Lapua SRP. Played around turning 10 of them down to .014 from .015. We'll see how that works, as apposed to no turn. My barrel has been in gunsmith purgatory getting the muzzle threaded, so I haven't cast the chamber yet. Hope to get it back in the next few days. Not that it matters in terms of range time. It's currently -5F, heading down to a predicted -16F tonight. Puxatawny Phil can bite me! I've been on the lookout for a 100 count box of 155 gr or thereabouts so I'll be ready when April arrives. I could use a .336 TIN neck bushing. Got all the other ones I had on my list from the reloading shop and not jacked up in price. That one was out of stock, with no solid restock prediction. It breaks my heart to see that shop with zero primers and little powder in stock, not to mention low on other reloading components. Certainly none that I was looking for. It used to be busy as a bee hive on weekends and around 100 powders in stock. Ditto on the local Scheel's, Cabelas, or Fleet Farms stores near me. To each his own but I refuse to buy anything online that requires a hazmat fee. I'll have to be a lot more desperate before I embrace that solution. Luckily, I just shoot for pleasure of load development and experimentation.

More to come...

Hoot

 

[Hoot]

Just an update while winter ravages us up here.
Got the barrel back. The smith did a great job. I cast the chamber and it is GTG with no-turn necks. Had a heck of a time getting the carbon ring out just where the neck ends. It was not built up however. Sorted the cases to pass the time. They appear to be from different lots, judging by how they weight sort:

We had a gift from the weather gods last Sunday and it got up into the 30's for a day but with a withering headwind. I loaded up five of the turned and unturned brass with a couple of powders I have a lot of. Benchmark and AR-Comp, so 44gr pushing some Weight, then BTO sorted, HBN plated 150gr fmj's so as not to waste good bullets in less than desirable conditions and to sight in the Nikon Monach 6-24x50 scope. I wanted to see how the cases formed out and get a brief respite from cabin fever. The .014 turned, Benchmark loads ran really well. That's the first time I ever tried Benchmark in 308!
Now that that's out of my system, I'll wait for warmer weather and the perma-snow to recede before heading out again. Now that I have some, I want to give the resized brass another go with better bullet and powder choices before deciding to turn the remaining 180 or not.

Kudos to the Savage Model 12 BR. I have several other plain, vanilla Model 12's, all from back before Savage cheapened them and I must say, this BR variant is a rock solid rig. Much more classy and no "Savage Tracks" in the bore.

I'll stop going on now.

Hoot

 

[Ray123]

Just ordered another 1000 LC brass to complement the Lapua and a few Win. Loaded a bunch of rds to test 110, 125,130, 147, 150 two types, 155, 168, 175, 208, 225 grains mostly with Lake City. Loaded the first bunch of rds with 130 Speer, and 748 powder ...they shot .374" and .45" 5 shot groups at 100, with a new proof barrel.. As the weather turned bad no further testing...So gonna find another good load and load 1000 rds in LC brass... no sorting, no culling of brass, it all gets used...for fun.