A buddy and I have been tinkering around with some reloading recently and after a sort of expensive learning curve, we ended up finding the Mk316 Mod 0 recipe which worked perfect since we had a solid line of (relatively) cheap 175gr SMKs and IMR 4064. I was able to aquire some LC machine gun brass through a local shop that is all the same lot and then we've tried both CCI #34 and some Winchester military primers. The load has worked very well for us, landing about .75 MOA out of an LMT MWS and closer to .6 out of my custom R700. Honestly I'm almost comfortable using every component I have with this recipe, but the only thing holding me back from doing it is the fact that once in about every 10 or so rounds, I'll get a flier in a random direction that puts it at about a minute or sometimes a little worse. We're pretty exacting with our loading for our standards and what were expecting, cases all trimmed to within ±.002 case length, powder charge to the tenth of a grain, COAL measured on each round to be within a thousands or so. What would yalls best guess be for that error? Obviously there shooter, but between the two of us and 3 rifles, we can call our shots to be a solid string and still both end up with about that 1/10 figure. Maybe the brass has some inconsistency and we just discard that piece of brass for the next round of loading? I haven't been able to do more loading after firing it from our rifles, so maybe results will differ with a 3rd run. We're very much amateurs so any advice or ideas is appreciated.
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7.62 Mk316-ish hand load expectations
- Thread starter Barrett.
- Start date
I too found a large batch of LC machine gun brass (LC 07) several years ago. As I began processing my brass I added the step of weight sorting the brass. I recall weighing 10 random cases for a weight average then settled with a 1.5 gr plus/minus limit. This yielded a little over 400 pieces. Using Dan Newberry’s OCW method, I found my Mk118 load and was very happy with it.
Later I found a large batch of FC 12 brass. This brass proved to be better in weight consistency than the LC 07.
My rifle has a fairly new barrel (<160 rds) but both old and new barrels, 175 SMK’s, IMR 4064 and FGMM primers along with a bit of attention to the loading process leaves me with a big smile after a range session.
Later I found a large batch of FC 12 brass. This brass proved to be better in weight consistency than the LC 07.
My rifle has a fairly new barrel (<160 rds) but both old and new barrels, 175 SMK’s, IMR 4064 and FGMM primers along with a bit of attention to the loading process leaves me with a big smile after a range session.
The Mod 0 was not loaded at Lake City as far as I know but it actually used Federal Brass and standard FGMM primers.
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Could be normal shot distribution. You could easily be interpreting this "error" incorrectly.
How often are you actually observing this? Recorded sample sizes? Thought: If you printed (10x) 10-round groups, you're saying every single one has a "flier"?
If you're actually concerned with a single component then change out one component at a time and see if it makes a measurable difference. Use large enough sample sizes so you're not fooling yourself.
How often are you actually observing this? Recorded sample sizes? Thought: If you printed (10x) 10-round groups, you're saying every single one has a "flier"?
If you're actually concerned with a single component then change out one component at a time and see if it makes a measurable difference. Use large enough sample sizes so you're not fooling yourself.
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Most likely this is the load & shooters' capabilities. How does it do at distance, like 300-600yds?
I haven't been keeping as meticulous detail as i probably should with round counts of this load, but it's been a consent observation across the probably 80-100 rounds I've loaded of the stuff. The only good example i have with me at the moment is this battleship target my buddy and I shot at 100 yards
It does well. We can hit a full size steel IPSC 100% of the time out to 600 but usually the steel at the range is shot up enough that you can't spot impacts super well. The 1/3rd IPSIC at the same yard line is about in line with what our 100 yard shows, the majority of rounds will connect but here and there you'll have a same wind observed all the way down range and the same hold and then it just won't connect how you'd expect. We haven't been able to strech it any further unfortunately.
As i was, then. I don't know where the distinction comes in exactly but the "Mk316" is more the fact were loading a 175gr smk with 41.7 grs of 4064 in a 7.62 case and getting similar velocity and all to what the military round has. I'd rather have the Federal brass and primers but you work with what you have lol
You don't recall any consistency issues at all once the LC 07 brass was all prepped and trimmed? Would you discard cases outside of that 1.5gr threshold or was that purely your observed average?
Did you do load development or just 41.7gr like in that spec sheet?
Lake city brass is decent, the machine gun fired can have wonky necks every now and then making weird tension or fliers, my loads with it and 175smk were 43gr IMR 4064, 43gr RL15, and 41.5 H4895. The mk316 load in that sheet never shot well for me I even had the fed brass, fed match primers too.
Honestly we just kind of sent it at 41.7, got 2600fps out of a 22 inch barrel and the groups you see in that battleship target which aren't bugholes, but its what we were hoping for. I'm reloading more to have 1 load that works well in 3 rifles more than 3 exact recipes to shoot perfect in 3 rifles. With that neck tension, I guess that wouldn't be fixed by fire forming would it, which would just lead back to discarding the flier brass?
Random flier = LC machine gun brass.
Even their "LR" stuff has poor consistency. I've got 500 pieces of '12 LC LR brass and the internal capacities vary by a lot.
I still use their 'machine gun brass' too. It is my primary brass for my hog hunting loads. Just be careful if you are ever bumping up charge weights. The internal capacity of that stuff is several grains less than a few commercial brands and you'll be into pressure signs quickly.
Even their "LR" stuff has poor consistency. I've got 500 pieces of '12 LC LR brass and the internal capacities vary by a lot.
I still use their 'machine gun brass' too. It is my primary brass for my hog hunting loads. Just be careful if you are ever bumping up charge weights. The internal capacity of that stuff is several grains less than a few commercial brands and you'll be into pressure signs quickly.
So sort the fliers and call it good enough? Do you think there's anyway to mitigate it on the first reload?
Nope. Not guaranteeing that the brass is the culprit of the fliers either...just that your LC brass is so inconsistent that it will handicap your precision shooting at distance.
Literally a 2% difference in case capacity in the LC LR stuff when I measured 20 cases. Imagine what that does to your velocities with the same load... I'll happily use it still for blaster ammo as it is thick and theoretically should hold up well. You just have to understand its limitations.
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