Brass issues, post here

[wildfowler]

I'm pretty sure I've had troubles with the amerc brass too. The biggest offender I've encountered was with the S&B brass. There was one other than gave me troubles, I think it was PPU?

Curiously, the only trouble I've experienced with R/P brass is the primer pockets are loose to the point where seated primers can just fall out. I've not had any thick neck issues like with the S&B brass.

I've decided to stick with what brass I know works.


My process is to form with a dillon power trimmer using a ch tool whisper die. Chamfer, full length size on foster ultra die set to utilize the ball expander. My barrel is a Noveske.

[rjacobs]

In my case, I bought 2,000 300 brass made from range brass. About 40% are problems. In my case, if the head stamp is faint, the case walls at the neck measure about .014 to .017. The cases with clear head stamps measure .0105 to .0115. A variety of brass make up the bad cases, including LC. I assume this means that the faint head stamp brass has been reloaded several times before it was cut for 300 brass.

interesting observation.

I wonder how the case walls of the 5.56 would thicken over time with multiple reloadings. I wouldnt think that would happen.

[20X11]

In my case, I bought 2,000 300 brass made from range brass. About 40% are problems. In my case, if the head stamp is faint, the case walls at the neck measure about .014 to .017. The cases with clear head stamps measure .0105 to .0115. A variety of brass make up the bad cases, including LC. I assume this means that the faint head stamp brass has been reloaded several times before it was cut for 300 brass.

interesting observation.

I wonder how the case walls of the 5.56 would thicken over time with multiple reloadings. I wouldnt think that would happen.

Remember...brass flows...Not an issue for reloading .223/5.56 if a little brass flows from the base toward the neck, but load them a few times before you trim them for .300blk, and you end up with brass that is thicker where the 300 neck forms.

[pomofo]

I've only ever had issue with one case but I've primarily shot factory ammo out of my gun.

Head stamp: S&B 5.56mm
Conversion process: Rough trim with cutting disk on a Dremel, sized with RCBS 300 BLK die, and final trim with RCBS Trim Pro to 1.360"
Projectile was a 145gr M80 clone from Widener's
Barrel was a 9" DCA chromoly barrel.

Round did not completely chamber and I had to mortar the charge handle to get it out. When I examined the round, the neck had excessive scrapes on it and I guessed that the neck was overly thick. Did not measure though.

I've had problems with S&B and Prvi 223 brass when trimmed to 1.550" to load 5.45x39. Necks were too thick, I don't remember how much thicker, but every single piece jammed my AK-74, even with no bullet seated. No problems with Lake City, Winchester, Remington, TAA, or anything else.

[GRUMPA]

I've been a long time lurker here and just got to the point of becoming a member here but here's what I have to say about the brass issue.

I have skimmed thru most of the posts regarding this little issue and I noticed problems when converting brass right from the get-go. With the exception of a few manufacturers most don't incorporate what they call S.P.C. (Statistical Process Control) during manufacturing. Unless they're an I.S.O. member (Industrial Organization Of Standards) there product will be close but not all the same. Before I started converting brass I was reading where people converting brass were at times having chambering problems. I convert a lot of brass and I found out that in order to make them all work it's necessary to ream the necks so that the diameter of the necks when loaded are no more than .332. If you use more than 1 type of head stamp this is something of a must-do or pressures are all over the place.

The only brass I use for conversion are domestic manufacture and get rid of anything else, but even domestic brass has flaws. When the brass is made they allow a tolerance (they always do) in thickness of brass and so on. So the only way to be sure is to make sure by reaming the necks to the same size. There are some makes of brass that have more spring back and require more than 1 sizing operation, this is normal as brass thickness variation changes. The ones with the least amount of headaches are as follows:
LC
FC (all 3 headstamps)
W.C.C.
Winchester
R-P

All the rest I have to take out a lot more out of the necks when I ream them. I have a small bowl next to my reaming station that I dump out the shavings in that has a good size pile after I get done. The ones with the least amount are above, most when I ream (the ones above) barely have any shavings to dump out which is why most people prefer using that brass. If anything that's made in another country is used it's very inconsistent and is prone to issues. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it wont work but they'll have a much higher rate of issues than the others.

I see there's a lot of people that prefer for one reason or another to make there own, to me that's great, I like to see and hear people doing that sort of thing. But if you can try and ream them all and get that neck diameter to be the same from the first piece to the last piece it sure would help. I have done all the brass I make with the reaming operation and have yet to hear a single issue, yes it takes an added step but it sure does eliminate those dreaded OOPS.

Just my .02

[caliplt]

Took 5 rounds of RP brass that hung up in my upper and ran a 5/16ths drill bit through it. I'm going to see if this fixes the "problem" until my Sinclair arrives.

[Steveo]

Just made 100 cases and had one problem. The headstamp was an FC 223 which jammed the bolt pretty bad. I got it out and the case neck rim was .010 except in one spot where it was .013. This made the outside diameter .338. I shaved the neck down with a Marguat tool and it chambered correctly after that.

[Armson-OEG]

My brass forming routine now is to run newly formed brass twice thru the sizer. I noticed that bullets were loose when loaded to cannalure on Hornady 150 gr. FMJ .. Only noticed it on PPU brass, but may have been with others but i had shot those prior to discovery of the PPU brass.. Running them twice seems to have eliminated the oversized necks.

I do notice a ring on 80% of all my brass LC,WCC, RP, FC on the upper part of neck after being fired. Looks to me that the chamber neck area may be tight. I also sample quite a few in the wilson case gage before loading. Im using Redding 300 BLK dies, Lee FCD. I crimp everything. My 300 BLK build runs great no problems, Feeds 110 thru 208 Gr. bullets fine

Parts build

CMMG 16" pistol Gas Cut to 7.5" Port opened to .120 + Adj. Gas block 1.75 turns out from fully closed
Blem Upper
Aero Precision lower
Noveske Fire Pig Brake

[dead-bird]

The Wilson gauge is not a chamber check gauge. If I remember, it's length and headspace (shoulder) only.

[BachelorJack]

You can keep doubting all you want, and I will keep telling you the exact same thing. LC brass works...RP does not. What's your question?

We sell 4k pieces a month of converted RP brass to a certain manufacturer. Have been for a good while now. It is used for them to load ammo for test firing uppers and rifles which they build. They keep ordering it.

It also works in our Noveske chambers.

Who made your barrel?


As someone who looks at brass all day, every day. More brass than most people will see in a lifetime. You notice some things.

WCC brass has some batches out there that suck. And I don't know if it's because of the chambers those cases are used in or if it's the brass. But so far as rejects they are at the top. And we've lately gotten cases with super hard crimps and super soft primers which stick to our decaping pins unlike anything I've ever seen. 9 months ago we hadn't experienced a single problem with wcc, this has all been recent. And we get our brass from all over the country and most of the wcc is like this lately.

The new LC with the new crimp seems to be the best LC yet. Just doesn't seem to be as much of it out there for us to buy as I'd like. Most LC is the old round crimp vs the new stabby one.

As grumpa mentioned earlier, reaming necks on converted brass will work to ensure they chamber when loaded. I don't know how important reaming them is after you have run the converted brass through a neck die with an expander ball in place. That process seems to take care of the thinning of the neck in our experience. It is also easier and brass is not removed. I do not like removing metal unless I absolutely have to....

Some of the commercial ammunition manufacturers we provide brass to tell us they can seat boat tail bullets straight away and everything gauges and accuracy is where it should be. Others tell us they had to run an expander ball through the neck and then they were gtg. These guys check every single round in a loaded ammo gauge before the box it. None of them ream, nor see the need to.

We sold some mixed head stamp converted brass in the past. The feedback we got was 70 percent had no issues and 30 percent did. Of those that did--the problems were with certain head stamps like wholebunches mentioned above. We got $86/k for them before shipping, which is a little more than half of the going rate. But we don't want anyone to have problems so we pulled them from retail sales and our website. That doesn't keep people from calling and leaving messages on our machine begging to buy them. What's left go to some industry contacts in exchange for some other caliber brass they have access to.

The big question I have, as someone who ships close to 20k converted cases a day is--- are you guys running an expander ball through them or trying to load straightaway?