Free Brass! Any Good?

[@donbenson5292]

Funny you did this video. I just finished a 3 day run of sorting all my "collected" range brass. LC brass in 800 counts of same year head stamps clear back to 1989. Smaller quantities back to when I was in the Army in the early 70's. In 308/7.62 back in the 50s.. In the 5.56/223,gee the number of manufactures is phenomenal. Any way I decided to tru and stop my addiction of picking up range brass. Process it and reloading it because I am petty sure I will have enough for my lifetime, my sons lifetime and my grandsons along with enough to supply a few platoons. Lol my eyes were cross-eyed towards the end. I go one step further in my brass prep. I do all the pruner pockets, size to "0" headspace trim it deburr into include the flash hole. Then as I put it in 50 rd boxes separate by .1 grains.. That gives me a thorough look at each case. The ones I anneal are the ones I use in my AIs. Other after I shoot them the first time. I have some I am up 8 loadings with absolutely no issues with any LC brass. When I am done I have dimensionally as humanly possible the most consistent brass. The foundation of any consistently accurate ammunition. My philosophy, I have not been rich enough to buy the best, but I can acquire a lesser expensive product and make it perform as good or better than the "best" with a little sweat equity. Thanks for another factual video! Happy New Year!

[@DavidStoenner]

I worked at Lake City over a summer in 1969. Then we had about 5 machines cranking out cases and the output was all mixed together. So sorting by year alone isn't going to give you consistent brass. I used LC brass for years shooting NRA High Power and made master with it. But I weighed the brass and grouped things together. I didn't pay attention to the year. It worked for me. I got about 7 reloads but since I didn't anneal that is to be understood. Last year I got a whole set of LC brass off of a guy at the range 2016 date. I did all of my brass prep and my first firing went well but when I went to size them again they would pull through the button on the sizing die not touching the button. They were so stiff that they would size down. Be aware you might get what you pay for.

[@MichaelMiller-ww9iy]

My 12-year old son and 9-year old daughter are indeed goblins. They pick up all the brass they can when we shoot at the local ranges (and indoor, they'll ask other shooters if we can have their brass). Our AR is .556, so we don't care if it is 223 or 556 brass. If primers are crimped, it goes in the recycle bucket. If we can clean it in walnut media and primers are not crimped, we'll reload it and use it (trimming when necessary). Our brass is head stamped GFL, PMC, RP, LC, and Hornady. We have more GFL than the others so that's what we've used so far and stock piled the rest. All the brass that goes in the recycle bucket, the kids take to the metal recycling business. They earn $1.65 per pound.

[@oldschooljack3479]

Goodness... I will pay you twice that, plus shipping, for every pound of Lake City 5.56 brass you can come up with.

[@AaronBrand]

I invested in a swager to be able to all the LE brass at my local range.

[@valitchka1]

Thanks Keith, glad you advocated for picking up free Lake City brass, and compared it to your Lapua or Starline. I have picked up thousands of LC brass, and find it to be excellent in a couple ways. First, it's free! I love free, just cost me the time and effort. And I also sort by year, as the batch will have the same web thickness, case capacity and weight. I've seen tests / comparisons of various brands of brass, including Lapua and LC, plus various others, and LC has always compared favorably in weight and consistency to all others, but Lapua is always a bit better. And Lapua is lot more expensive. I use a Dillon super swager for removing the primer crimp, RCBS is excellent too, one and done.

[@oldschooljack3479]

With the exception of one time, I have never bought .223/5.56 brass... And the one time I bought it, it was ten cents a piece for once-fired LC brass. The rest has been all range pickup. And I have thousands of pieces of it. And honestly, I prefer LC to everything else. The results of my own testing (and comparing with others) is that it generally has the highest case capacity of all .223/5.56 brass. The downside is the crimped primers... But a Lee Universal Decapping die and primer pocket swager solve that issue handily. I recently picked up a 20" 8 twist barrel and have just started loading the 77 gr SMK... Got some work to do yet, but am confident it will get there.

[@davidlong6796]

Same here, but I paid $0.20 for virgin LC brass so I didnt have to ream crimps.

[@lovetoflylovetofly3843]

Fantastic!! Good results. I have some nice free brass that I have shot for years!

[@graybeard101]

from experience once fired Radway Green brass shot in badly worn chambers is not worth messing about with. other than that what you describe has worked fine for general use.

[@zact9941]

I call this load my “silver medal match”…. 77gr seconds, CFE223 in a stage 1 charge weight, loaded to GMM OAL. I get my brass processed commercially and then I just load it straight from the box into the press. If I am shooting a big match I will sort based on headstamp and OAL comparator. If not I just run it. For 0.45/per and an endless supply I couldn’t be happier. Not PRS but for AR games it has gotten me a 5th/60 overal finish

[@sjohnson1776]

Excellent info! I bought a 5 gallon bucket of mixed head stamp 5.56/.223 a few years ago planning to use it for AR candy. In that role it's worked great. I can load it and shoot it and if I lose some, it's no big deal. I did all the steps noted in this video except all the sorting LOL. I deswaged the primer pocket trimmed and sized and loaded it. Good enough for me. But then I wondered what might result if I sort by headstamp. Another rabbit hole! Dangit! I sorted out 100 piecs of lake city I think it was and it shot pretty well (meaning sub MOA at 100 yards). Is it worth the effort? It's 20 degrees here, windy with snow and frozen ground so for now it's worth it and gives me something to do.

[@richardt.4224]

Brilliant job, although it doesn't affect me, because I don't use a range, let alone have one nearby! I very much enjoy your posts because now and again, I get a snippet of information that aids me. Thank you for sharing.

[@michaellane1316]

Haven't started loading the 223/556 yet. However, at my range, there seems to be tons of it left behind. Every once in a while I'll pick up double what I shoot. Note ; I am not a die hard 556 feller. What I do pick up though, has to be pretty clean looking already, little to no dents, etc.. I am with you on the sorting though. Always good to pick up sound information.

[@mikecollins8241]

I was burning up some 270 loads that I got somewhere/ with a used rifle the other day.. a round went off and something didn't seem right, I checked it and sure enough it had a crack (radial, about 1/2" above the head) on it.. I checked the previous few rounds and sure enough they had the faintest signs of cracking as well.. the rest will get bullets pulled, primers removed (for use in foulers) and all the questionable brass tossed.. simply not worth the risk, even a stuck case would be a major PITA ;)

[@cw5865]

I am selective as to "Range Brass" about the same as I did women (married now). I do not know where it has been and if some other handloader had his filthy hands on it and what the results were... I save the Lapua for those special projects, using former factory brass as I buy it shoot it for cheaper than the components, to make leaving the brass as the gain.

[@danphariss133]

LC is great brass. When I could buy it I used nothing else but swaging pockets on range pickup is a pita to me. But as usual I learned things here. And I am closely related to a goblin with a lot of fairly clean range pickup 223 if needed. I shoot service rifle. And other things as well. But F Class is a little too mechanical for me. Thanks for the info.

[@rogerhankins9991]

I have had similar results with LC nato brass. It is more consistent than Remchester-Fed and is good enough to shoot 1/2" groups with low ES & SD.

[@ftn5546]

Lake City is very consistent brass. I stopped even bothering sorting head stamp years. Anything after 2008 seems good enough.

[@scotttaylor3258]

this was awesome I get caught up in the perfection of everything and forget to let it rip

[@dawielubbe9443]

I enjoyed the video, thank you! I am a little side tracked, could you do a video in how you use grt to determine a load? And would quickload work the same as grt? Thank you for your content

[@TheSaintsAdvantage]

Great video! This one speaks to me as I shoot .223 (Groups & Steel at distance). And if I see once fired .223 or .555 brass on the range I will 100% pick it up. What Distance were you test groups? Assuming 100 by the size. Thanks

[@mikeingram3186]

my Aztec setting on 2 different head stamps for lake city brass was 125. stuff must be consistent.

[@EitriBrokkr]

What method do you use to check case capacity?

[@davidunderwood3605]

Bout time somebody said with proof in the pudding so to say. Most brass of the last decade or two is of far better quality than ever been in there past. L.C. brass is really good brass. And you let the genie out of the lamp . I'm sure most people will pick up on it. BRASS PREP! It's a big deal and hi $ brass may be the best but it can be challenged.

[@mobilemechmantim773]

So, does the program tell you where your node is, or do you need to know that from previous outings?

[@Lucysdad66]

I shoot alot of range brass in 223 and in my experience I've noticed LC brass is the weakest.

[@AppleJack76]

With ammo prices ever increasing, only makes sense to recycle it. I like to turn it into 300 BO, making both subs and SS loads. Sure, it isn't for precision, but just as good, if not better, than factory loadings... and its made with love. “Everything has a purpose, Proteus. So the Emperor ordains.” ~WH40K~

[@misterlewgee8874]

I wanna be a brass goblin... (But I'm nowhere near a range and the cartridges i shoot are slightly uncommon)

[@theturkeysopinion]

Good stuff👍👍👍

[@roddecker5481]

If i could shoot good id load lapoa brass. So lm used to working with the vageries of different brands. All indevidual brands work diffent in same tool head. Like LC . USE LOT OF IT.

[@weinerdog137]

All depends on usage and ocd

[@RDCM1008]

LC all day long. HP shooter here.

[@josephhomen]

FYI, we find the term “goblin” to be offensive. The correct pronoun is buzzard. 😂😅

[@AaronBrand]

WTF is a node ?

[@vgl217]

For me, the risk just isn't worth it. New Starline can be had pretty cheap. I have no idea what's happened to that brass before it was left, and if I care about the results I get with that ammo at all I'd rather not deal with mixed unknown brass

[@ironDsteele]

I don't. One case head separation isn't worth 500 pieces of free brass. I have more respect for my firearms than that.

[@rifleshooterchannel208]

If you’re getting case head separations with once fired LC brass, that’s 100% user error.

[@ironDsteele]

@@rifleshooterchannel208 You can't guarantee the history of a piece of brass you picked up off of the ground or otherwise.

[@rifleshooterchannel208]

@@ironDsteele Lake City, you absolutely can.