The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 5.56 plinkin... how good do they have to be?

Jimro · January 8, 2015, 04:19 AM

I process surplus brass this way...

Pay the man to decrimp the primer pocket. Run every case through a FL die, trim every case using a Possum Hollow trimmer.

Even with this you'll get differences in case length because the Possum Hollow trimmer trims referencing the shoulder, where other trim methods trim referencing the case head (Lee for example). When I sort for brand and year, the tolerances go way up, so I am pretty sure that the "spring back" from the brass leaving the FL sizing die is different between different brands, but quite consistent in the same year of LC brass.

After that I don't trim again. 4 reloads and then recycle. The AR may not be as hard on brass as an M1A or Garand, but I've seen AR's lock up from feeding a second round into the chamber occupied by the front have of the previous round. Case head separation is a heck of a malfunction.

For plinking ammo, just keep loading it up until the necks split, as you don't know when the case head will separate. Could be first reload, could be tenth. But generally the necks will split before the case head separates. Generally.

Jimro

January 8, 2015, 04:19 AM	#6
Jimro Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2006 Posts: 7,097	I process surplus brass this way... Pay the man to decrimp the primer pocket. Run every case through a FL die, trim every case using a Possum Hollow trimmer. Even with this you'll get differences in case length because the Possum Hollow trimmer trims referencing the shoulder, where other trim methods trim referencing the case head (Lee for example). When I sort for brand and year, the tolerances go way up, so I am pretty sure that the "spring back" from the brass leaving the FL sizing die is different between different brands, but quite consistent in the same year of LC brass. After that I don't trim again. 4 reloads and then recycle. The AR may not be as hard on brass as an M1A or Garand, but I've seen AR's lock up from feeding a second round into the chamber occupied by the front have of the previous round. Case head separation is a heck of a malfunction. For plinking ammo, just keep loading it up until the necks split, as you don't know when the case head will separate. Could be first reload, could be tenth. But generally the necks will split before the case head separates. Generally. Jimro __________________ Machine guns are awesome until you have to carry one.