AR-15 Service Rifle Brass New Win. or LC used ?

[Weez556]

Is there a noticable differance in accuracy with new Win .223 brass ( that I would process ) or useing my once fired LC 5.56 ? That I process resize,trim & primer pockets ?
Or should I at least get and use new Win. .223 brass for 600 yard line w/t 80gr SMK load and use LC for 200 & 300 line w/t 77 gr SMK's ? Thanks for your thoughts

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[High Plaines Doug r]

I use LC once-fired for short range and new, commercial Win at the 600 yd line but I've come to understand that Win brass is the most inconsistent for weight of any of the commercial manufacturers.
Still puts bullets where I have the barrel pointing when I drop the hammer though, unless the wind is blowing. HTH

[Gun Surfer]

Sorry, never used Winchester brass in .223, but

I have LC, IMI and back when brass was MUCH cheaper, bought a bunch of Norma .223 cases used only for "special occasions". Yes, you can say it is stupid to use Norma cases in an AR, and I totally understand that opinion. But I will tell you that there is noticeably better accuracy with the Norma cases with the same components (24.5 gr AA2520 over a Sierra 69gr & Win SR) over any other. Also, high quality processed brass from Top Brass (LC) also performed exceptionally well in my tests. The IMI and "regular" once fired LC cases processed by me are about MOA capable, but not as accurate as the others. I have very nice Bushmaster (w/Rock River trigger) and Rock River rifles 1:8 that can tell the difference.

Thus, my humble recommendation is do the best job processing brass that you can with a proven load, then test them out. For really accurate shooting at long range, consider getting high quality professionally processed brass, to me Top Brass (Scharch) is always one source to consider.

[limazulu]

Is there a noticable differance in accuracy with new Win .223 brass ( that I would process ) or useing my once fired LC 5.56 ? That I process resize,trim & primer pockets ?
Or should I at least get and use new Win. .223 brass for 600 yard line w/t 80gr SMK load and use LC for 200 & 300 line w/t 77 gr SMK's ? Thanks for your thoughts

You don't mention as part of your processing of LC brass if you sort the brass by weight and year. If you don't, I would try sorting by weight and year of LC brass and save that for the 600 yard line. I once sorted by year but it got a bit complicated so I just sort by weight.

[Mudcat]

IMHO, sorting 223 brass by weight and year is a colossal waste of time. LC brass works just fine, so does Winchester. Spend your time loading ammo to go shoot and then practice and then practice some more. Folks spend WAY to much time worrying about crap that isnt going to improve their scores, or at least not going to improve them to where you see a difference.

Get good components, ie, LC, win or some other good brass, get some good powder, Varget, RE15, AA2230 (if you want ball for metering purposes), and good bullets, SMKs, Bergers, Noslers, etc, load up something decent and go bloody shoot. PRACTICE is how you are going to get better, not spending hours upon hours sorting bloody brass! I dont even sort my Palma brass any more cause I am a bigger factor on the scores than the weight of my brass!

I am not saying dont put effort into reloading.....but when that effort is for extra stuff that isnt going to make a marked increase in scoring potential, you are being counterproductive and wasting time you could be using on real improvement spots.

My 3 cents....
John

[airdrop]

Have gone to win brass more as it seems to weight consistant. The only thing I like to do out of the bag is uniform the primer pocket depth to get the prime down in the pocket all the same. The little AR throws a 75 gr match bullet under 1" moa at 100 yds. Most times it's 3/4 " so win gets a thumbs up from me.

[limazulu]

IMHO, sorting 223 brass by weight and year is a colossal waste of time. LC brass works just fine, so does Winchester. Spend your time loading ammo to go shoot and then practice and then practice some more. Folks spend WAY to much time worrying about crap that isnt going to improve their scores, or at least not going to improve them to where you see a difference. .....

I am not saying dont put effort into reloading.....but when that effort is for extra stuff that isnt going to make a marked increase in scoring potential, you are being counterproductive and wasting time you could be using on real improvement spots.

My 3 cents....
John

I sorted following someone's suggestion and I did notice a difference and got into the habit of sorting as part of the reloading process. The difference I notice was much fewer unexplained shots (outside of my call) to nil and a more uniform grouping. I did wonder whether all that extra work just made me try harder not to waste a shot.

[slamfire1]

Spend your time loading ammo to go shoot and then practice and then practice some more. Folks spend WAY to much time worrying about crap that isnt going to improve their scores, or at least not going to improve them to where you see a difference.

I like the way you think.

Shooting is a skill. You acquire this skill through practice.

You won't find this opinion reflected in Gun Magazines. The articles in them are infomericals designed to sell hardware.

But there are no equipment related solutions to poor shooting skills.

[Mudcat]

I like the way you think.

Shooting is a skill. You acquire this skill through practice.

You won't find this opinion reflected in Gun Magazines. The articles in them are infomericals designed to sell hardware.

But there are no equipment related solutions to poor shooting skills.

Bingo! Sorta like when some where concerned that the Sierra 69SMK 2nds I was loading up for our juniors wouldnt be good enough (all laoded progressively on a Dillon 650 with AA2230c powder). Well, I grabbed a couple boxes of them and proceeded to go out and shoot a 794 on the 2/300 reduced course and told them that when they beat that score with that ammo then I will load them up 1sts but until then, the 2nds will do just fine.

John

[hagar in SC]

When I lived in AZ I did an experiment. I loaded one batch with WW cases where I did everything I could to improve accuracy, weigh the cases bullets and powder, uniform the primer pockets, check oal, chamfer case mouths. I then loaded a bunch where I used Scharch 100% processed brass and just seated a primer, dumped powder from my Lee measure, and seated the bullets. Guess which batch shot the best...

Hint, it was not the batch I spent the most time on.