Doesn't matter if its picked up by you at the range or purchased from vendors. You never know how many times "once fired brass " has been fired.
Check for cracks, serviceability, sort it, everything you've been doing, etc .
Anneal it!
Good read, thank you for posting. I do have quite a bit of LC brass and I think I even have a bunch of it already fully prepped so I'll give that a try next ... I've been using PMC lately. I do run all my brass through a Lee FL resizer die and pop each case into a JP case gauge to verify it's resized correctly.For my AR15s and bolt action .223 I just buy bulk once fired Lake City brass. And I also pickup any Lake City 5.56 brass I find at the range. And Lake City brass is above average in quality, uniformity and case weight variations and you won't cry if you loose a few cases like you would if it was Lapua brass. I full length resize using a non-bushing Forster die. A full length resized case does not have the case body or neck contacting the chamber walls. The bolt face supports the rear of the case and front of the case is supported by the bullet in the throat. The only part of the case that contacts the chamber is the case shoulder.
The resized case body should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter. This allows the case body to spring back from the chamber walls when fired and extract reliably.
View attachment 191364
RULE ONE: Service Rifles Are Not Benchrest Rifles
Gas-guns require a relatively loose fit between ammunition and chamber (vs. bolt actions) for safe, smooth operation. Many techniques, such as neck sizing and keeping cartridge headspace quite tight, are popular in the extreme bolt gun accuracy realm. However, they are of little value with Service Rifles, and some could even be hazardous. Before adopting a specialized technique, seriously consider whether it is appropriate and beneficial in a gas-gun.
Save $$ By Using Lake City 5.56x45mm Once-Fired GI Brass
https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/10/save-by-using-lake-city-5-56x45mm-once-fired-gi-brass/
Accuracy Potential of Mil-Surp 5.56×45 Brass
So, how accurate can previously-fired GI surplus brass be in a good National Match AR-15? Well, here's a data point from many years ago that might be of interest. A High Power shooter who wrote for the late Precision Shooting magazine took a Bill Wylde-built AR match rifle to a registered Benchrest match. His first 5-round group ever fired in a BR match was officially measured at 0.231″ at 200 hundred yards. This was fired in front of witnesses, while using a moving target backer that confirmed all five rounds were fired.
He recounted that his ammo was loaded progressively with factory 52gr match bullets and a spherical powder using mixed years of LC brass with no special preparation whatsoever. Obviously, this was "exceptional". However, he had no difficulty obtaining consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards using LC brass and a generic "practice" load that was not tuned to his rifle.
Below you can see the extreme spread in case weight variations with Lake City brass being above average.
How Hard is Your Brass? 5.56 and .223 Rem Base Hardness Tests
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...r-brass-5-56-and-223-rem-base-hardness-tests/
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Brass catchers solve this problem pretty well, but I'm still not spending Lapua money on brass!A AR15 rifle has a bad habit of throwing perfectly good brass away and makes you go look for it.
I would never think of shooting Lapua or any high quality brass in any AR15 type rifle.
Especially after my above post where mixed Lake City brass was used and got 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards.
Yes ,I agree, On some occasions you do benefit .Actually once fired Lake City 5.56 brass has crimped primers so you know if its once fired.
And the last time I had my son to the range the shooters a few benches down from us gave me two boxes of once fired 30-30 brass in their factory boxes.
So there are times when you can pickup once fired cases at the range and know it was fired only once.
I use range brass in my 223 AR. I have to load lighter because of the case variations, and I don't expect great SD's and ESs.