308 reloading questions.

[bowrunner81]

I recently inherited some reloading stuff and have some questions. My grandpa in law had a lot of Lake City brass for his M1A in 7.62. Would that be good to use that brass for my .308 bolt gun? Would there be any accuracy deficiencies from using that brass vs some .308 win bras like Lapua or hornady? Any information is helpful as I have not reloaded anything before. He had quite a few boxes of 168gr Sierra match king bullets that I have to use for reloading so that is pretty awesome.

 

[Rob5589]

LC is quality brass. They may have primer crimps that will need to be removed prior to reloading. Easy enough with a crimp remover die.

 

[kpk]

Lake City is good brass - especially if you've got a pile from the same or similar batch lots.

 

[bowrunner81]

Awesome that’s good news.

 

[razorsharptokill]

Military cases can have reduced capacity I'm told. How much reduction in powder charge is recommended?

 

[Deplorable77]

Agreed, LC brass is good stuff. If its stamped "LR" the primer isn't crimped and there is no need to swage.

LC is quality brass. They may have primer crimps that will need to be removed prior to reloading. Easy enough with a crimp remover die.

 

[Jlee91w]

Be careful with Lake City 7.62. They are thicker than regular .308 brass and will use less powder. So start at the low end of the recommended powder weights and work up. I love 5.56 LC brass but the 7.62 caused me pressure issues in my savage bolt gun. Now I need to buy a semi-auto 308 rifle.

 

[Jlee91w]

Military cases can have reduced capacity I'm told. How much reduction in powder charge is recommended?

I had a middle of the road Varget load with .308 brass and 168 bthp. I bought some new LC 7.62 brass and got high pressure with my normal load, (here is where everyone says to re-work up your reloads). Had to pull down 49 pieces and went back to RP, Fed, Hornady and Winchester brass. I would start at the bottom and go from there with the military 7.62. Normally, with regular brass, I start halfway between the start and middle of the load data and work up. I.E. if the load was 50-60 grains, I would start around 52.5. With LC brass, I would start at 50. Hope this helps, Jared

 

[07yzryder]

Depends on how accurate you are looking for. I run mixed LC brass in an AR 10 with 1.5 moa accuracy. Process i use is.

Tumble brass depending on how dirty.
Deprime and swage the brass
Anneal
Full length resize
Trim
Wet tumble 2/3 hours
Run in progressive press.
Stage 1 universal deprimer (just in case)
Stage 2 prime and powder
Stage 3 bullet feeder
Stage 4 bullet seater
Stage 5 crimp

Like I said I don't load for super accuracy, just minute of target at 600 (IPSC silhouette). Use tac powder so it meters better.