LC 308 LR Brass

[jbusaf]

Good evening,
I recently purchased some LC 308 LR Brass from Grafs.
It still has primers installed, (they are not crimped).
The add says 175 gr SMK's were removed.
I read somewhere, possibly here, that the LR 308 was loaded with a magnum primer.
I'd like to verify that and if it is true is there any loads that are safe to load with those primers or should I decap them and start fresh with a known primer.
Thanks,
JB

 

[westcliffe01]

You might want to try some with those primers. BUT.. The brass I got was filthy, The necks were messed up from the bullet pulling. The necks are full of tar sealant. To get rid of the tar you have to use qtips and a potent solvent. I used naptha.

After all that, you still need to clean and re-size the neck at least.

For me it was not worth the cost of the primer and the uncertainty of not knowing for sure if there would be (or had been before the army rejected it) issues with the primers.

So I deprimed all of the stuff that I bought. Mine was not 100% LR brass, it was mixed with regular LC crimped brass, so I had to sort it. I soaked all my brass in some warm water with a little detergent in it for a day, then tumbled it in the stainless tumbling media, then deprimed it. I had no problem in 500 rounds...

After the brass was clean, I found several split necks, so I decided to anneal my entire batch, then FL size it. The thought was that if anything was going to split it would happen during FL sizing. Re-tumbled after FL sizing to clean off the lube and remove any oxide on the neck.

So it was quite a lot of work. Had I been able to get Lapua brass at the time for $76/100 I would not have touched the LC stuff.. But beggars can't be choosers. Now the load that I worked up shoots 1/4 MOA in my bolt gun with varget and 175 SMK's. So it all worked out good at the end.

 

[jbusaf]

Thanks for the info, the brass is still bagged up, sounds like a good idea to do the clean and full prep.
Not much of a bargain once you have to do a bunch of work to it.
Thanks
JB

 

[MudRunner2005]

Lapua or Hornady Match will be just fine. Chunk, sell, or trade the LC brass.

 

[westcliffe01]

The price was set at a time when you couldn't get new brass. If people stop buying it, the price will drop and then it will be worth the trouble. But one can get new Lapua brass now, so I think it is more work than it is worth.

Thanks for the info, the brass is still bagged up, sounds like a good idea to do the clean and full prep.
Not much of a bargain once you have to do a bunch of work to it.
Thanks
JB