Not all brass is created equal.....

[Bob Mc Alice]

Five of us met up at CRC yesterday for some practice before heading to the AZ HP state next weekend. Conditions were good for three hours in the morning with temps in the 40's and light winds out of the SW. I brought out two all stock Remington 700 Classics, a 7-08 and a .308 both set up the same with 6.5-20X Leupold EFR's. Trent used the 7-08 and me the .308 Trent's HP skills are improving and I would bet he would have shot 18-20 if we had a match. After getting zeroes that worked for him targets started to fall regularly. He hit three turkeys in a row once he got dialed in.I was hitting well with the .308.

I bought the .308 new in 2005, it was the last chambering offered in the Classic series of 700's. After tuning the trigger to a crisp 3.0 lbs. it was a half minute shooter right out of the box. My first test load and continued load of choice is a charge of 42.0 / RL-15 with either a Sierra 168 MK or an identicle Nosler Match bullet @ 2600 FPS..MV.This is a mild starting load that shoots very tight clear out to rams. Ram kill is 99%. It shoots so well, and with mild recoil I shoot this load at all of the targets. Barrel life should be long,too.

To date this rifle has 2150 rds. thru it. I started out with 100 new WW cases and have only needed to neck size them. They have been fired eleven times each and needed only one trim. Typical performance from Olin brass. Past experiance says these will go another five times, maybe more.Three years ago I decided to add another 200 rounds to have 300 on hand. I dug out a bag of new Federal brass I had bought 25 years ago. Federal no longer sells reloading component brass, if I am not mistaken. These 200 are on their sixth firing and are done. When I got home yesterday I dumped them on my bench to load them up again. Several showed bright stretch rings at the head, a few had partial cracking. Toast at six firings with a medium load. They never got to the point of needing trimming. All 100 showed similar failure signs. Time to tap into the 500 new WW case supply.

The range was busy with regular club members shooting. Three guys showed up in a F-350 dually packed tight with cased rifles, handguns and ammo. They were all younger guys and students at the Colorado School of Trades (gunsmithing ). They were there to test fire and shoot some of the guns they had built or worked on. One of them was very interested in watching Trent and I busting steel targets. After a few minutes he came over and spoke of always wanting to try HP silhouette. The wind was picking up a bit and I turned two minutes of left in . I handed him the .308 and five rounds . He had a big grin on after he hit two pigs. We spent the next half hour passing around the .308 to burn up the rest of the 100 rounds. He started talking about his next school project being a HP silhouette rifle. How can you blame him? Not long after the winds hit 15 to 20 like predicted and I headed home.

[BCloninger]

Love the rifles, but about that brass!

[Jim Beckley]

Just about all of the Valley Police Depts. use our range (sniper teams), they leave their fired brass for whoever wants it, for a short period of time everyone wanted it, but after awhile they just sat. They used factory Federal Gold Medal. In my experience the primer pockets are super soft, and will only reload a couple of times. One thing you could do to prevent headcase separation is to measure the fired case shoulder and just bump them back about .002" when you reload them, using a RCBS MIC.

[Bob Mc Alice]

Jim, the .002 bump technique is all I do on all brass regardless of case-caliber.The pockets started to loosen at #4 but were acceptable. No doubt the brass is softer than others. Back when I shot benchrest WW was my choice for .308 brass.

No wind next weekend, right? I am sure this is what Blueline was referring to in his .338 BR super magnum silhouette blaster post. We have been in a windy period here, too.

[Jim Beckley]

If I was shooting a 7-08, I wouldn't worry about a little thing like wind, here or anywhere else!

[Another Dang 9]

Bob, I don't know how much softer federal brass is but it is NOT recommended to use by both DPMS and Bushmaster for there .223 AR's. I have seen it blow out the primers even in their military crimped stuff. I toss out the federal stuff after 3 loading in my M1 just as a precaution.

[Trent]

Thanks for letting me shoot your rifles and ammo Bob! I really appreciate your generosity. I had a good time with you and Mr. Wendell. Good luck down in AZ this weekend. Knock'em down!!

It sure was funny watching that guy take his first shot at the pigs. You had him hooked right there! And the way you handed him another round... priceless. He looked at you like a new addict and you nonchalantly slipped him another hit.

[Jerry G]

Why worry? The wind never blows at Ben Avery.

[Bob259]

Why worry? The wind never blows at Ben Avery.

Jerry, Didn't McAlice say he WASN'T going to AZ to shoot and was going someplace else instead???? Is he getting old and forgot, or am I old and forgot/mistaken, or is it you bribed him with some good stuff

Gotta laugh McAlice, looks like no wind, even in CO, would blow those cradles away.... not that they are not just a tad bit over engineered though
Sweet, you sure do have nice toys.

[Innocent]

259...McAlice didn't forget, I just offered to do the complaining for him so he doesn't have to put up with JB. And furthermore he knows there will be lots of fun there!!
Innocent

[Bob Mc Alice]

Yeah, I did say I was not going this year. But I got a last minute offer to travel with Mr.Oneil and company. I could not pass it up.

The cleaning cradles... I made them from remnants while at another shop. I looked at Sinclairs high priced wimpy version and knew I could do better than that.

Windy or not, the AZ state HP is one fun match to attend. Always upwards of 75 to 80 shooters. Great people running the match. Full house steak dinner Saturday nite included in the very reasonable entry fee.....with BEER...too!! Lots of quality door prizes. Catered for purchase lunches. You have to put this match on your "must attend" list.

Best of all...Innocent will be there this year!


Your welcome Trent. I trust you are saving, stealing or what ever it takes to put your own HP gun together. Meantime, dont hesitate to ask for a loaner for any up coming CRC matches.

AD9...I have had similar short life from Federal brass in .30-06 and .243 with average pressure loads. The pockets loosened up much sooner than with WW or RP with the same loads. Never had a batch that failed in the head like these did. Anyway, that was the last of any Federal brass in the house.



Another one not to miss.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkZD-uf1IoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISTzzwn0 ... re=related
http://www.gufd.org/dynamite.html

[kevinbear]

I bought 500 rounds of Winchester brass for my first 7-08, shot silhouette with that gun quite a few times then bought a Stainless DBM and used the brass in it for silhouette. Meanwhile I bought a model 7 for my wife and another 700 I used to hunt deer and antelope with too date . Two years ago the brass started to fail as in case separations just ahead of the web, about the same time I bought another new 7-08 so it seemed like a good time to scrap the old brass and buy new. The 500 rounds had been fired in 4 different rifles with loads that ranged from very mild target loads to hot hunting loads. I always full lenght sized them with the exception of the hunter benchrest loads for that first Varmint Special.
The year I purchased my first 7-08 and the 500 rounds of brass? 1991! Not a thing wrong with Winchester brass, although ammo loaded in Lapua brass usually turns in smaller groups.

[Gringo Grizzly]

I can't verify this for certain, but have heard that Federal is using a different method - eliminating one of the steps normally used in making brass.
Results are fine for accuracy but the brass is softer than it used to be.

I wonder if this is true (about the method) and if any readers here can verify.

I used Federal brass, both reloads from OLDER Gold Medal ammo in my old .308's- and also the great old nickel plated Federal stuff for years and got great brass life.

A few years ago I shot service rifle competition with an AR.
Many of us used Federal competition ammo but all of us complained about the short brass life when we elected to reload the brass.

Those cases in the pic were a hair away from the Big D separation and I don't mean Dallas.

Gringo