dbletap_ed Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 About how many load can I expect to get with Lake City 5.56 brass purchased as new brass? Trying to figure if the purchase of a brass trimmer is worth the cost. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfilbey Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 The Brass trimmer is needed if you are trying to maintain consistancy. I have bought brass that varied in length over .020". It is difficult to put a consistant crimp on with that kind of varience. I an currently trying to decide between a Gracey and a Giraud case trimmer. I understand the Army Marksmanship Team uses a Gracey. They are both lifetime purchases. As far as Brass life it will depend on how many chambers your brass is fired in, chamber dimensions, how tight you resize it, How the particular lot was alloyed and anealed. and so fourth. I have heard of people scrapping their brass after three firings and other gerring 10 to 11 firings out of alot. Realistically, I look for 5 and am pleasantly supprised when I get more. I DO NOT load to NATO pressures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 depends on if you annealed the case necks yourself... If they were originally shot through a M249 SAW... If you're full length resizing... If you're on a budget, and you have a drill preferably a corded drill I'd recommend the possum hollow cutter/trimmer/tool holder. And the RCBS X die, trim once to 1.73, and never trim again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbletap_ed Posted July 15, 2012 Author Share Posted July 15, 2012 Thank you for the replies so far. The brass is starting out new and is being shot in a JP15. My load is 24.5 TAC behind Nosler 69gr bullets. Being just a little on the lazy side I was looking at the Giraud trimmer as it looks like it will work fast. After 1 firing the brass is still under length per the case gauge so I think I will get at least 2 loads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 the Dillon 1200 trimmee on a case feeder equipped 650 goes pretty quickly. My hand starts to cramp up with these pencil sharpener style trimmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
220slow Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Get a WFT trimmer (World's Finest Trimmer) I have trimmed up thounds of cases and it is reasonable in price. Just need a hand drill to go with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayou Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Just ordered a Giraud last week, figured I can't take the money with me and every time I see one pop up for sale it's sold in very short order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron M Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 As long as you don't oversize your brass so it stretches at the case head you should get plenty or firings out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goat68 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 That's like asking how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The number of loads will depend mainly on if you can get your own brass back to keep track. Lots of folks use "once fired brass" that can be anything from once fired to who knows how many times fired for practice. They don't grow too much after the 2nd or 3rd firing and I don't have an answer to the tootsie pop question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) Goat beat me to it, Mr. Owl says three. I had a few "test" brass that were once fired factory then trimmed, annealed every 3 firings with my machine, that made it to 15 reloads before it got dark one afternoon. Edited August 9, 2012 by jmorris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FightFireJay Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 "got dark one afternoon"? So if you use brass until it fails, are you looking at split necks or head separations? I'm trying to determine if I should take the effort to track my brass or just shoot it until it goes bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Cool to know about the SAW thing. I have purchased a lot of oncefired Lake City brass and I have a few case head separations and I thought I was doing something else wrong and played with my dies and checked all the settings. Seems it may just have been the brass. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUshooter Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 My experience is with .308 but should still be relevant. I've got LC and FC nato cross cases with 4 loading and counting. Annealing is crucial if you plan on making the brass last. I've not bought an X-die set, but that will be this winters project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redial Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Longevity is a direct result of your load and how you resize. Load gently, bump the shoulder .003 - .004" and brass easily makes a half dozen firings, with most close to double that number before the necks split. My primer pockets don't open up and I don't anneal. Until recently, my main shooting focus was NRA Service Rifle. I have a dedicated bucket of match brass that gets loaded and fired as a single lot, and a bucket of "practice" junk brass of 31 flavors of varying pedigrees. Some of the practice brass has been loaded umpteen times, trimmed a couple times and the pockets are still usable and tight. There's little to gain in another 100 fps, even at the 600 yard line so my loads are pretty sedate. Now, 30 cal fired in an M14 is a whole 'nuther story .. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usmc0326 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 About how many load can I expect to get with Lake City 5.56 brass purchased as new brass? Trying to figure if the purchase of a brass trimmer is worth the cost. Thanks It depends on what your planning on shooting with the lake city brass. If it's for high power the answer would be different than if it's for three gun. My three gun brass is exclusively once fired Lake City. Where if I was doing a big match for say high power or something requiring a bit more precision I would buy silver state armory or new lake city. The gaurde (sp?) is well worth the cost if your trimming a lot of rifle brass. I trim brass with a forster products trimmer and a hand drill and it's annoying when doing over 100 pieces. I am looking forward to fall, I am getting the big dog case trimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbletap_ed Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 (edited) With all of the talk about case trimmers I have to ask - What about the Hornady Lock-N-Load Power Case Prep Center? Price seems good at Natchezss's and you can add a Primer Pocket Reamer to take out the crimp. Seems like with one handling of the case you can get it all done. Never mind I just found this review: http://ingunowners.com/forums/ingo_real_world_reviews/119166-review_hornady_lock_n_load_case_prep_center.html Edited August 31, 2012 by dbletap_ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 "got dark one afternoon"?So if you use brass until it fails, are you looking at split necks or head separations? I'm trying to determine if I should take the effort to track my brass or just shoot it until it goes bad. I just kept reloading and annealing the same cases one day until I couldn't find them one day. Either neck splits or head separations are the end of a cases life. For most of my reloading I don't keep track of how many times a case has been fired, just shoot until it splits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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