Question about brass prep for precision reloading Nato LC 5.56

[Onyx Z]

You don't get mixed AOL useing mixed brass? To keep all cartridges the same OAL I have to back my seating die off and adjust it down to make sure they are all say 2.200 if not some are shorter or longer than others. Not a lot shorter or longer but some.

On just plinking rounds I would say it doesnt matter but for accuracy a few thousands either way in COAL can make a difference depending on what the rifle likes the bullet set at. There has been a few test targets posted here that show this extremely well.

Maybe it's time for me to get a new seating die. But I don't know how that could adjust automatically for inconsistent bullet lengths and thicker or thinner bases unless all brass is trimmer to exactly the same length. I have yet to find a box of bullets in pistol or rifle that were all the exact same length. Some vary a great bit.

Maybe iam just thinking more of useing mixed brass IE mixing Winchester,remington and LC all together. I just separate everything now into groups. Including LC by year.

What you are seeing is the difference in the ogives of the bullets. I have seen as much as .010 difference from SMK's, but they still shoot lights out.

[texasgunhand]

Yes ,on cheap bullets I've seen it worse..lol

I love the LEE FCD its so simple to use.. I own one for every caliber but 6mm Rem. ,havent found that one yet,dont think they make one. I wonder if the one for .243 would work ? Never thought of that.

[Waylander]

Yes ,on cheap bullets I've seen it worse..lol

I love the LEE FCD its so simple to use.. I own one for every caliber but 6mm Rem. ,havent found that one yet,dont think they make one. I wonder if the one for .243 would work ? Never thought of that.

Lee makes a 6mm Remington FCD.

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[texasgunhand]

Hey thanks,, that will be my next purchase when I find one...I've got rcbs dies for my 30.06, that FCD should be a whole lot easer to find local. I don't shoot it much though...6mm rem. is a different story even the brass is seasonal like factory ammo.

And of course thats the round I like best for the smaller S.texas white tail deer. I think a change to a more popular caliber is coming though. I sure don't want to , but may be forced to in the future.

[bigedp51]

I've got all this once-fired Nato-LC 5.56 brass. I want to make as much of it as I can into match-grade ammo. So I start sorting it by head-stamp year but then I get to wondering if that makes any difference at all. As I'm sorting I'm noticing that even within a given year some headstamps look different then others and some have a different style crimp. So I'm figuring that there's likely to be as much variation of critical dimensions between cases of the same year as ones from different years.

So I guess that's my question: have you noticed any correlation between headstamp year and consistency of critical dimensions? Should I sort this way or skip that and proceed directly to sorting by case neck thickness / uniformity, case volume, case weight, etc.?

It depends on your rifle I have two AR15s and a bolt action .223 with a heavy 26 inch barrel. The bolt action gets the best brass followed by my A2 HBAR and the carbine gets the unsorted left overs. And Lake City brass is the best brass the tax payers can have made and I would never think of letting any of my AR15s chew the rims up on Lapua brass.

Just run a test of 50 cases, sort by matching headstamp and then weight sort and load, then load 50 without any sorting and see if you see any difference. Your the one pulling the trigger and it will be a learning experience about your rifle and ammo.

And if you want to load ammo with the least amount of neck runout then buy a Forster full length die with the high mounted expander. I converted my RCBS dies by buying Forster expanders and spindle assemblies and I'm getting .001 or less runout after sizing.