IMI BRass
- Thread starter ArmyJerry
- Start date
My bud buys my IMI brass (7.62x51) since I don't reload. He never complains about it and pays me 20 cents/round which is about 6 cents/round less than he pays for my LC M118LR or FGMM brass
Ive loaded 2000 rounds of .308 imi over the years. When Loading at max pressure numbers, the brass expands and gives me sticky bolt. Occasionally powder escapes around the primers on 4 th loading.
I now load IMI at middle pressure for longer brass life.
Last week was shooting my Ruger PR .308 at 880 yards 8 of 10 hits on half man siloutte steel. Load was:
IMI brass
Reloder 15 - 42 grains
168 SMK
IMI BRASS
H4895 - 40.8 grains
175 SMK
I now load IMI at middle pressure for longer brass life.
Last week was shooting my Ruger PR .308 at 880 yards 8 of 10 hits on half man siloutte steel. Load was:
IMI brass
Reloder 15 - 42 grains
168 SMK
IMI BRASS
H4895 - 40.8 grains
175 SMK
In Cabelas there is brass for sale in a plastic bag with a greenish paper label. I forget the company name but their label looks military-ish and the bags are all bulk lots of brass. I have seen whole bags that are nothing but LC LR headstamp brass. It varies depending on what lot they buy but it is always worth a look. Good prices too if I remember correctly.
I have 500 pcs of IMI Match .308 same lot. It runs a tad thicker than Winchester or others. It’s about like mil spec brass. Very tough and long lasting but it will show signs of pressure sooner than other brass, just back off max loads.
A few years ago many considered IMI brass the go for rifles that were hard on their brass. It was considered tougher than most other brass. I doubt that it was any tougher than something like LC brass and I actually found it to be consistent with LC brass. I have no experience with recently made IMI brass.
I bought a case of 1,000 .308 Win IMI Match brass.
They arrived in good condition with only a few dinged necks. They showed about a 3 grain ES in weight and I had no problem sorting and getting groups within .01 gram for testing. Once I finalize the load I won't sort. Primer holes appeared very clean cut, all centered and uniform in size.
I've only been through one firing and have bent a few rims but I've sheared rims off clean with another brand. I've determined the rifle is very overgassed (PSA) and will be adding an adjustable gas block next. Thickness of the brass (Yup, that M stands for military) means less case capacity and I started to see light ejector swipes about one grain shy of Hornady manual maximum.
For 29¢/round to my door I'm pleased.
They arrived in good condition with only a few dinged necks. They showed about a 3 grain ES in weight and I had no problem sorting and getting groups within .01 gram for testing. Once I finalize the load I won't sort. Primer holes appeared very clean cut, all centered and uniform in size.
I've only been through one firing and have bent a few rims but I've sheared rims off clean with another brand. I've determined the rifle is very overgassed (PSA) and will be adding an adjustable gas block next. Thickness of the brass (Yup, that M stands for military) means less case capacity and I started to see light ejector swipes about one grain shy of Hornady manual maximum.
For 29¢/round to my door I'm pleased.
I have a few pieces of once-fired IMI 308 brass out in the shop that I could measure for you, but it may no be applicable since its been fired once. I would have to check to see if there is a date on it.
I'm in the process of evaluating various types brass for reloading in my FN FAL. This platform is the absolute best at destroying brass. That said, I did not expect this type head separation from brand new 2015 Lake City at three firings. Over 50% separated, even when turning off the gas. I had a few separate on the second firing. I believe it was ".308", not "7.62x51" brass. Fucking crap is what it is!
So far, military 7.62x51 from the likes of GGG and Venezuelan MCVR(?) do not have this case/head separation problem.
I'm in the process of evaluating various types brass for reloading in my FN FAL. This platform is the absolute best at destroying brass. That said, I did not expect this type head separation from brand new 2015 Lake City at three firings. Over 50% separated, even when turning off the gas. I had a few separate on the second firing. I believe it was ".308", not "7.62x51" brass. Fucking crap is what it is!
So far, military 7.62x51 from the likes of GGG and Venezuelan MCVR(?) do not have this case/head separation problem.
Still early on in this evaluation. New GGG and Venezuelan stretches 17 to 18 thou on the first fire without extraction enabled. There is some springback involved due to the thickness of the military brass. I got no springback with the LC as I'm assuming it is way too thin for this chamber. I know this because the LC brass would stick to the chamber during manual extraction. Keep in mind that this is an original FN G1 barrel. While in decent shape, it is not a SAMI spec chamber. FN has its own spec in terms of go/no-go parameters.
FL resizing results in an increase of +0 to +3 thou depending on the random brass types in this next batch. Have to do more measuring to see if this remains constant. Strange for sure. I have tossed all the remaining LC that was shot through the FN. I was able to feel a grove (using a small hook tool) developing inside the cases for every one that either completely separated or cracked.
FL resizing results in an increase of +0 to +3 thou depending on the random brass types in this next batch. Have to do more measuring to see if this remains constant. Strange for sure. I have tossed all the remaining LC that was shot through the FN. I was able to feel a grove (using a small hook tool) developing inside the cases for every one that either completely separated or cracked.
Be careful keep loads at M14 level of pressure. In my FN using commercial ammo it bumped fired and went into auto mode. Later I realized commercial hunting ammo in 308 win is hotter than military 7.62.
IMR 4895 @ 42.0 in LC Brass has served me well with 165gr or 168gr
Due to the barrel twist you might find better accuracy with 150/155 gr @ 44.5 in WW brass
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Yes their chamber is not a tight tolerance it’s like a AK 47 and Glock pistol very reliable in adverse conditions unlike the AR or M16 platform.
Keeping loads way on the low end! Only shooting 147gr projos using 42.0 gr of H335 and now 43.0 gr of TAC. It took a while to break the FN in with the new receiver and all new springs. Had to use H335 initially to get the bolt to lock back. Faster powder than I really wanted, but it solved the problem early on.
Anyway if you want that IMI brass to test out or measure I'd be happy to mail it to ya. And sorry for derailing the thread with my FN reloading challenges!
No thanks on IMI brass
For military brass I use LC Match 852 brass. But I have a ample supply of 1992 WW Palma Match Brass. Which has the same capacity as WW brass. I have reloaded the 308 Win for about 50 years now , I will always have a 308 Win .
