.223 brass vs 5.56 brass

[Zatoichi66]

I’m curious as to how many reloaders are pushing Federal or Winchester .223 brass to the same pressures as Lake City or Lapua?

i’ve read & research here, online, youtube and overall have gathered there’s really no difference in the brass—and want to be 100% sure, because i grew up on the pre-internet when Lake City brass was “less volume & thicker to deal with 5.56 pressures....”.

i know the chamber differences—this is a Compass Lake build SAM-R Kreiger barrel.

am using VV N540 for some 77gr Nosler OTM and have virgin .223 brass i’m considering using instead of futzing with processing LC.

opinions welcome!

 

[db2000]

Doesn’t matter

 

[918v]

Which brass are you considering?

 

[Zatoichi66]

Winchester bagged virgin .223 & Federal.

my Dad had some & never used it. He died a few years ago & I’ve always been a Lake City snob

 

[918v]

Win and LC are pretty similar. FC is soft and you can’t load it as hot.

 

[Rust]

Chronographing tells the difference between brass. Years ago .223 Lapua brass was quite a bit heavier than W-W and required a slight reduction in charge to achieve the same velocity in the same rifle. Lapua made their brass little lighter about the time they started packing it in blue boxes which required a slight adjustment up in charge weight to achieve the same velocity.

If you have particular node for maximum accuracy checking for changes in velocity for different batches of brass, powder and primers needs to be done.

 

[Mr Tibbs]

I’ve found through load development using W748 that LC 5.56 brass has less internal capacity than Winchester commercial brass.