Im new to reloading and even more new to reloading rifles. I have around 150-200 pieces of 308 brass that ive kept from shooting gmm. Ive been looking into just buying lapua brass because they are all from the same lot and not mixed like the brass ive already collected. Is it worth buying new brass from the same lot number and if so, why? Why does consistent brass weight matter inaccuracy? I just figured that it all comes down to the primer, powder and brass to achieve max accuracy. Don't grill me, im new just like you were when you just started out!
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What .308 brass would be best to get max accuracy and why? New to loading rifles
- Thread starter nikdanja
- Start date
Since you are starting out, use what you have. This way if you make mistakes (like over sizing or not setting the die correctly) you can just chuck them in the trash.
If you want you can sort them by water volume and then use the middle distribution for your workups and the lower and upper for plinkers, or just load them all. Remember its case volume that matters not the weight. This is why you must work up loads for different brass.
You will prob only get 3-5 loads in FGMM before the primer pockets give, but you can find once fired pretty cheap. once they are all used up, then move into some Lapua.
You can always try to duplicate the FGMM load (if your rifle like it) this way you can use reloads or store bought. There are many threads about FGMM loads. Just make sure to verify any loads with manufacture load data and ensure the load is safe.
Be safe and have fun.
If you want you can sort them by water volume and then use the middle distribution for your workups and the lower and upper for plinkers, or just load them all. Remember its case volume that matters not the weight. This is why you must work up loads for different brass.
You will prob only get 3-5 loads in FGMM before the primer pockets give, but you can find once fired pretty cheap. once they are all used up, then move into some Lapua.
You can always try to duplicate the FGMM load (if your rifle like it) this way you can use reloads or store bought. There are many threads about FGMM loads. Just make sure to verify any loads with manufacture load data and ensure the load is safe.
Be safe and have fun.
I have had really good luck with using the FC brass from fired FGMM ammo. I bought 500 of them for dirt cheap and they should last me awhile even if I only got 3-4 firings on them. I started off using 100 of them over and over and got 7 firings on them and they still were holding up just fine. I anneal after every 3rd firing and I use a pretty hefty load of Varget 44.4g under a 178g amax or BTHP going 2830fps. I have great accuracy and the cost per piece of brass is almost nothing when you devide it by the # of firings.
Weight typically means that the case capacity is not consistent in my experience. Unless it is way different, I would load what you have until the primers come out. FGMM brass is butter soft. I got maybe 4 conservative loads out of mine. Accuracy was fine though.
Get lapua when you shoot yours out or Winchester if you are shooting heavies.
Get lapua when you shoot yours out or Winchester if you are shooting heavies.
I have been shooting the brass form all the Fed. GMM 175gr. that I had purchased when I first got my LR-308. It is okay but I would recommend sorting it by weight. I have found quite a bit of different in them. I did not buy all the FGMM from one lot and there is several grains different in them.
/\/\This right here.
Differences in weight, merely reinforce that there is no single recipe for cartridge brass.
I have mixed headstamps spanning several decades and brands. With my dies, they are all VERY close in water capacity, but not weight. So for what I am after, I interchange them.
+1 on Roggom's comment on using what you have while you're just starting out. There's enough to learn to keep you busy for a while before you completely jump off the deep end into Rabbit-Hole-Land.
Case weight is inversely proportional to case volume. You should sort your cases by weight in increments of one grain. In my testing one grain of case weight is worth .06grs of IMR4064. This is with a load that has single digit SD. Out of my TRG-22 Lapua brass gives me the best accuracy at 100 yards, although the SD is higher than in LC brass. I think it is due to consistent neck thickness and hardness. It's weird. I need 42grs of 4064 in the Lapua case to reach max accuracy but at an SD of 20. In LC LR cases I need 41.5grs and have SD of 8! Same velocity, different brass, different powder charge.
Case volume is the "important" measurement. Weigh, fill with water, weigh, calc the difference (water weight).
Case weight is used by some as a surrogate for case volume, making the assumption that heavier cases of the same external dimensions have less case volume. This is likely correct for cases of the same headstamp, I haven't personally tested that. But IME, when looking at different head stamps across multiple vendors, there is no fixed relationship between case weight and case volume.
Some folks have reported here that Federal (ie FGMM) brass have weak primer pockets yielding shorter life. Others report accuracy fall-off after the second firing and need annealing.
IME Lapua brass is extremely consistent as delivered and is durable. Others report it seems to require less annealing to maintain consistent accuracy. Others report Norma and Winchester approach Lapua quality as good brass for similar reasons.
Hope that helps.
Case weight is used by some as a surrogate for case volume, making the assumption that heavier cases of the same external dimensions have less case volume. This is likely correct for cases of the same headstamp, I haven't personally tested that. But IME, when looking at different head stamps across multiple vendors, there is no fixed relationship between case weight and case volume.
Some folks have reported here that Federal (ie FGMM) brass have weak primer pockets yielding shorter life. Others report accuracy fall-off after the second firing and need annealing.
IME Lapua brass is extremely consistent as delivered and is durable. Others report it seems to require less annealing to maintain consistent accuracy. Others report Norma and Winchester approach Lapua quality as good brass for similar reasons.
Hope that helps.
"when looking at different head stamps across multiple vendors, there is no fixed relationship between case weight and case volume."
Yes there is.
Yes there is.
I agree with using what you have to learn on. But, to answer your question about whats best, Lapua, Norma, RWS and Lake City Match are all very consistent. Unless you have a really accurate rifle and are a really gifted shooter, you probably will not see huge accuracy gains by switching brass. But it should last longer. Accuracy is all about consistency, and thats another good thing about more expensive brass.
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