6.5 creedmoor brass.

[Poppa1]

Hi Guys. I'm hoping this is the right place to ask this question.
If not, please point me in the right direction. It's hard to navigate as I only have slow cell phone access as I live on the grid fringes.
Back in ancient time I ran a couple custom gas guns in 308.
Life happened so I locked it all up for a long time. I am now cleaning it all out and I have come across 50 to 75 lbs of once fired lc brass. It's all 7.62x51 lc. Being that I'm shooting again and have chosen the 6.5 creedmoor, can I use this brass for precision work? I have necked down a few. Swagged trimmed chamfered etc just to use for rifle break in etc. I also posted a similar question in the Barnes match burner forum as it is one of the pills I'm using.
Thanks for any help.
Merry Christmas. Now please help me find my reading glasses!!!

 

[JimLee]

LC brass is very thick stuff, I would turn the necks as I have found theirs to be horribly inconsistent and also necking that stuff down probably gave you way thick neck walls, you might want to see if it will even chamber in your gun. All that being said the only way I have gotten LC brass to shoot very consistently (after neck turning) with low ES and SDs was to volume sort it which is a huge PITA. You gotta remember LC is on contract to provide 2 MOA ammo to the military. It's great brass for durability but it needs work to be good enough for precision shooting IMO.

 

[Poppa1]

LC brass is very thick stuff, I would turn the necks as I have found theirs to be horribly inconsistent and also necking that stuff down probably gave you way thick neck walls, you might want to see if it will even chamber in your gun. All that being said the only way I have gotten LC brass to shoot very consistently (after neck turning) with low ES and SDs was to volume sort it which is a huge PITA. You gotta remember LC is on contract to provide 2 MOA ammo to the military. It's great brass for durability but it needs work to be good enough for precision shooting IMO.

Great info and exactly what I needed to know. Being Disabled Vet I got time for sorting etc as I cant walk around etc every day so I have a PhD in Butt Polishing chairs etc. Current rifle is Ruger precision. They chamber ok. At least now they do. I will search up costs on a neck turning rig and concentric dial set. I'm thinking that's the only item left needed aside from seater mic dies.
Thanks for keeping hope alive for another day. Best recommendations for new brass if I have to go that route? I shoot a Norma mag. I'm used to sticker shell shock.
Many thanks!!

 

[JimLee]

Great info and exactly what I needed to know. Being Disabled Vet I got time for sorting etc as I cant walk around etc every day so I have a PhD in Butt Polishing chairs etc. Current rifle is Ruger precision. They chamber ok. At least now they do. I will search up costs on a neck turning rig and concentric dial set. I'm thinking that's the only item left needed aside from seater mic dies.
Thanks for keeping hope alive for another day. Best recommendations for new brass if I have to go that route? I shoot a Norma mag. I'm used to sticker shell shock.
Many thanks!!

I'm getting 1/4 MOA out of Starline brass currently, but I had to do a bit of work to it also. I neck turned it for consistency and the primer pockets were very shallow when I got it. I also anneal, but there are a lot of differing opinions on whether its necessary or not, I want the brass I put a lot of work into to last a long time and I don't have to worry about spring back. I have also tried Alpha munitions brass, Lapua, and Hornady. Alpha is by far the best right out of the box in my opinion (I actually have several boxes of unfired Alpha sitting aside for competition use) but its expensive and hard to get ahold of. Lapua is a close second to Alpha and Hornady is my least favorite out of the bunch although there are people who do very well with it. If you invest time into those LC you may find it works great for you, I think even so-so brass can be made good with some time investment, it all depends on what you want to put into it. My Starline brass has become my day to day go to because I brought it from ok brass to excellent brass. You have to decide how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. I am producing bench rest level ammo for PRS type shooting which isnt at all necessary but my work schedule puts me home late at night and I can only go shoot on weekends, so I have hours each night to blow on brass prep which i find far more enjoyable than just watching t.v. or some other stagnant activity. Thanks for your service BTW! From a retired vet.

 

[Poppa1]

I'm getting 1/4 MOA out of Starline brass currently, but I had to do a bit of work to it also. I neck turned it for consistency and the primer pockets were very shallow when I got it. I also anneal, but there are a lot of differing opinions on whether its necessary or not, I want the brass I put a lot of work into to last a long time and I don't have to worry about spring back. I have also tried Alpha munitions brass, Lapua, and Hornady. Alpha is by far the best right out of the box in my opinion (I actually have several boxes of unfired Alpha sitting aside for competition use) but its expensive and hard to get ahold of. Lapua is a close second to Alpha and Hornady is my least favorite out of the bunch although there are people who do very well with it. If you invest time into those LC you may find it works great for you, I think even so-so brass can be made good with some time investment, it all depends on what you want to put into it. My Starline brass has become my day to day go to because I brought it from ok brass to excellent brass. You have to decide how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. I am producing bench rest level ammo for PRS type shooting which isnt at all necessary but my work schedule puts me home late at night and I can only go shoot on weekends, so I have hours each night to blow on brass prep which i find far more enjoyable than just watching t.v. or some other stagnant activity. Thanks for your service BTW! From a retired vet.

Brother JimLess Thank you much. Been a long time in the rabbit hole. I dont bother to look up anymore. I've purchased 5 boxes of hornady match ammo when I bought the rifle. It's ok stuff. The rpr only liked the 140grain pills. Liked it alot actually. Shot some dime sized groups at 100 and hitting .3 at 550. Sad part is. I cant be forced to keep buying ammo so I have installed rabbit holes every 10ft or so where I walk just in case i should fall up instead of down. I have been oven baking brass as long ss i can remember for annealing and price of the modern rigs scares my stuff up into my throat. I also need to measure this chamber to finish off basic load development. Chasing the nose with .2 increments of h4350 from 40.6 upwards to 41.6 got it isolated there with hornady match 140s. Hoping it stays close with the matchBurners when they arrive.
My my my how the techy stuff has gotten into the game! It has come so far beyond the just know your rifle to Jesus H Christ! Used it for a lightning rod.
Will be checking in again as the holes get deeper.
Thank for my rights and freedoms directly due to your service!

 

[JimLee]

Thanks bud, anything to help out a fellow service member! RPR, 140 gr pills, H4350. Yup, you are on the recipe. Some guys think it's boring because it's so predictable but man, it just works. I'm going to go get my ass handed to me next year shooting PRS with my RPR, but hey I gotta try it before I go all in on a competition gun. I know mine shoots well enough to compete with, it's just a matter of my old ass wrestling the heavy beast into the right spot to do its job. You take care sir, and hit me up if you need anything or just want to shoot the shit.

 

[Poppa1]

I will be 65 in Feb. So we 2 old asses jumping down the same rabbit's hole. Here hold my hand I'm scared?.
Top Sgt T.D. Smart jr. Once told me I could see further than his radar reached. He taught me to clean dimes with a chipmunk 22 single shot. Back in 1962. I ain't ashamed to say somebody taught me to do what I do best.
When they hand me my ass at PRS. I will thank them for returning my lost property!!(stop laughing) I live in upper Maine near Canadian border. No matches around here. So if I'm gonna play. I surely got to pay.
Price of good boodie? $10 in the major cities. Mine is priceless it wont be cheap!. Working with a recently retired Marine S.S. He says to me, you should do this so I'm gonna. He is the RO where I practice when I have extra gas to burn for the trip.
We both using Ruger provisions, nice. I just swapped glass from leupold vx3i lrp 8.5-25x50mm to the Athlon midas tac 6 24x50. It arrived yesterday. Vortex rings and a bubble but no trigger time to. Weather too thick. It's a stock rifle but for my debatable duracoat rattle can job and a good chamber polishing before I ever fired it. Here she sits next to her big brother. M98 in 270 with discarded leupy on it. Cheers and God Bless you!

 

[65x55guy]

Just saw this post- I converted 300 pcs of Lc .308 to 6.5 CM about 2 years ago. Here’s what I did. After it was over, I decided to spend money on factory brass moving forward but was glad for the learning experience. I bet I spent 5-10 minutes per case after all the work, not including time to change between stations.

Basic steps-
1. Decrimp and Run through small base die. If you have a 6.5 CM small base, you can remove the expanding die and just work to bump neck down and slim it down.
2. Chop down excess length brass on neck- I would get within about .05 of the finish length you want.
3. Run through your 6.5CM die with expander included.
4. Measure neck thickness- mine were .0175, and wouldn’t chamber when loaded. Needed to thin necks to .0145. I used a wilson trimmer.

Challenges (besides the steps)
1. This is hulk strength brass, but that leaves you less room for powder.
2. About 1 in 10 I would crush the neck by moving too fast in step 1.
3. On step 3, if you don’t move slowly on the down swing of die, the neck will get a wrinkle that won’t leave even after firing. Doesn’t seem to impact accuracy but it doesn’t look nice.

 

[Rimfiremike]

One thing to think about is with the thicker LC brass, you may run into pressure signs before you get to the velocities you are looking for.
I've used a lot of LC brass for varmint wildcat calibers but often have to settle for lower velocities than other brass would give.
That being said, the brass is good and lasts a long time once you put the prep effort into it.

 

[Poppa1]

Hello to 65c55 guy and Rimfiremike.
Thanks for that info. I've got give some serious thought to timing it seems. I dont mind spending time working the cases as if been there with others in the past. Remember when the 300AAC was a rage with no brass. (Snickers). Us wabbit hole hunters must stick together.
I've got 3 months to finalize rounds in 2 weight classes. Glass Brass and a stock. Given the calender. I'm going to buy some brass. With an average of 90 to 120 rounds per day for 2 day outings, that doesnt leave alot of time for all else that's needed. I say that because as I sit here studying at 3am its -12 outside. Wearing prosthetics in snow gear hauling stuff around is a pita. Its takes alot of time to prep for going out and staying out. Time to prep test then work up loads for this season. Nope.
You guys spoke I listened. I will work my own brass next season. The coins saved on converting the brass this year will pay for this seasons brass badd on what I already have in factory brass.
You Gents have made my day!
Procrastination took a solid hit today and I am thankful. Now to find where to aquire ladder targets or do they have a new (cough) modern name? For load development and variable tracking calibration.
Have a great new year and again many thanks.!!

 

[Poppa1]

Happy 2019 to the Hide crews.
I continue with load development using factory Brass. This got round I'm using hornady match. From the 3 boxes purchased when I got the rifle. Other than trim and chamfer, no other cuts or bumps made. Looks like I got 2 nodes peeping over the edge. The first at 40.5, and the second at 41. This next load set is 40.4 -40.6 and 40.9-41.2 in half grain steps.. we shall see.

 

[Poppa1]

One thing to think about is with the thicker LC brass, you may run into pressure signs before you get to the velocities you are looking for.
I've used a lot of LC brass for varmint wildcat calibers but often have to settle for lower velocities than other brass would give.
That being said, the brass is good and lasts a long time once you put the prep effort into it.

Happy Polar Bear weather Gents. The temps here have stayed below zero since the last time I posted. When it was above the freezing zone enough to send anything. It either rained, snowed. Selected or mix of all three. Bummer. Good news is the ice one the lake is good for the sleds so I powered across to a desirable target range area and did some prep. Targets will at 200 400 500 700 900 and 1100. Got a 12 embankment 600 yards beyond the last target. I saw another human being couple days ago!! Was a short but nice visit. The 140 grain matchburners are in as well as the nosler rdf, and the Atlon Tac6. . Praying for above 25 weather and decent sunshine so I can get busy. Hope everyone is well out there on the grid.

 

[MK20]

About the LC brass, if it is the LR stuff, just anneal, load and shoot and it will exceed factory match ammo easily. MG brass is another story.

 

[Poppa1]

MK20 That is the best news I've heard since I Started this project. The pastime someone mentioned the LC brass. It was a no go issue with a lot of work involved. Serious bummer ss I am a huge fan of the 7.62 Brass for reloading. I have to be honest I miss my converted oven and deep tray for annealing. Take the time to get a couple hundred in the tray pop in the oven. 10 min and done. How good and how fast are the new systems? Any particular one you would recomend? Again many thanks for that tip. I've been sorting brass for my 300 blackout and 556 for 3 days now. Everytime I open the bin the creedmoor scoffs at me. This pic is my morning mess. God Bless an shoot straight.

 

[MK20]

Check out the MRB annealer. tough, reliable, and fair priced. The only reason that you really want to anneal 7.62 LC LR brass is that lots of that stuff is shot through SCAR H rifles and they leave a narrow ding in the case mouth that a die wont really remove unless you anneal it. Make sure that your brass is the LR headstamp otherwise it is machine gun brass and not really worth it.

In my RPR this load shot .3 MOA out to 700m:
S&B primer
LR case
47.7 gr PP2000MR
178 Hornady HPBT

 

[Poppa1]

Hi Mk. .3 @ 700 is a nice slice on any sandwich. Last go round doing load workup. I'm close to cleaning dimes at 100 and now 150. Posted the last target with dimes next to the groups. Cant use standard grids at the moment as the weather up here in northern Maine interferes. So the shootnsee will have to do for now. Hoping to get this RPR dialed in under .5. If not I'm gonna get another barrel. As much as I like to shoot, I'm not heading into the fray for chits n giggles. If I'm gonna get a whupping I'm leaving a trail of black eyes in the wake. Coming back to the hide has proven the best move I could have made. I've missed reading the forums and the quality of resources is top notch. I will check out that annealing unit. And get my next set of beggars questions ready.
Again many thanks. Learning new tricks for a brain dead old guy is challenging!
God Bless

 

[MK20]

If that load I gave you ends up working really well you can buy those bullets in bulk from midsouth ss in a 1600 piece pack for about $400. And S&B primers are super cheap at cabelas.

 

[shooter98]

I never gave much thought about separating my brass until last weekends shoot with my son. We set up a target for zeroing at 200 and I was doing fine except every other shot would randomly go nearly off the paper. After we got to looking at things we noticed that it was the federal cases that were fliers. So I separated the remaining loads and my groups became rock solid. Now it looks like I will be sticking with one brand of brass and just setting the others off to the side.

 

[Poppa1]

That's exactly the primary purpose of sorting. Brass is every bit as important as the projectile and powder. It is 1/3 of the bullet and the largest piece. It matters.
Have a great day and shoot straight!

 

[Poppa1]

If that load I gave you ends up working really well you can buy those bullets in bulk from midsouth ss in a 1600 piece pack for about $400. And S&B primers are super cheap at cabelas.

Now were talking! 1600 pills at 400 is serious business given the overall project cost. That will save me $1k right off the top. Primers will wait I think I've got close to 25k large and large magnums on hand. But still good info for future reference. The longer I'm back here the more likely I am to try new suppliers. Hell its Christmas all over again!
Thanks MK !