308 brass volume question
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In my small sample size, the PPU's and Federal's . . . though not near as consistent and Lapua. For example, my Lapua's tend to have volume ES of ~.5 grs. My PPU's ES were ~1.0 gr and my Federal brass ES's were ~.4gr.
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Thank you
Gonna stock up on more Lapua brass but it's good to know a close alternate for when it's OOS.
I've been having case head separations with Winchester brass, something that has never, ever happened in almost 15 years of using only Lapua brass. I've tripled checked my shoulder bump and it's no more than .002".
Several years ago I got a really bad case of cabin fever after hunting season closed. One cold raw weekend I gathered up 100 308 cases in as many headstamps as I could. I resized and prepped all of them and set up to compare them. I trimmed them to the suggested trim length, uniformed the primer pockets, deburred the flash hole and removed any primer pocket crimps. I weighed all of them and measured neck wall thickness for consistency and of course recorded it.
I can't seem to find those notes but going from memory;
Norma was the most consistent, Lapua was a close 2nd and would have beaten Norma but for 1 case, LC Match was next followed closely by LC non match, then Winchester, PMC, FC, a few that I don't remember and Remington in last place. After Norma and Lapua most were very close. Remington was all over the place.
I also made some general notes on the flash hole burr, the primer pockets and how consistent the length was before I trimmed them.
I know a sample of 100 is not conclusive but ............
I can't seem to find those notes but going from memory;
Norma was the most consistent, Lapua was a close 2nd and would have beaten Norma but for 1 case, LC Match was next followed closely by LC non match, then Winchester, PMC, FC, a few that I don't remember and Remington in last place. After Norma and Lapua most were very close. Remington was all over the place.
I also made some general notes on the flash hole burr, the primer pockets and how consistent the length was before I trimmed them.
I know a sample of 100 is not conclusive but ............
Am curious . . . did you happen to find what kind of consistency you had with your Winchester's?
The Winchesters I measured had an ES of ~.6 grs for its volume. And BTW, I corrected my typo regarding my Federal brass number as it was an ES of ~.4 grs (not 1.4).
I don't recall right now. I'll check my notes when I get home.
Thanks for that data. Looks like I need to try some Federal brass. I wonder if Lake City is as consistent as Federal commercial brass.
Good question. I've not ever reloaded any cartridges using Lake City brass as I only reload for my .308 bolt's, so I have no reloading data for it.
Federal brass has worked well for me, though because it's a little soft, I only used it for moderate loads and have gotten 11-12 firings out of them with no real loose primer issues, but had to retire them when case head separation signs were getting clear. When I started loading Federal brass, I contacted them to find out what the difference might be between the brass they use for their high end products and their standard products as I had picked up some Federal range brass. I was told they were all the same since they're production line doesn't do any sorting.
Thanks for that. I'm inclined to pick up 500 cases of Lake City 7.62. They're not expensive (1/5 the cost of Lapua) and I have had really good results loading Lake City 5.56 cases for NRA Service Rifle competition loads. Like 3/4 MOA prone with a sling and iron sights good.
I don't have data currently, but I recently started running Starline brass (large rifle primer) in my .308 Win bolt gun. The accuracy and ES spread on virgin brass has been excellent. All I've done is prime and run an expander mandrel through them. I can get a series of case weights later this week for you.
