Reloading for the m14- where to find brass? Other tips?

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GunNewb

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I know there are a few things to doing this properly. Like using close to milspec primers and being careful about seating them.


As far as headspace, bullet depth + accuracy goes how does one headspace their gun to know where to seat the bullets?

Also- can I just use regular old 308 brass?
 
I wouldnt' worry about headspacing affecting COAL until you tweak your M14 at one of Hungry's clinics. Figuring out how deep to seat your bullets is more of a final implementation to maximum precision. That said, I don't even bother when all my .30 Cal projectiles have cannelures. I just crimp into them and say, "this ammo is now safe to shoot". Yeah, 308 brass will work fine in the M14. Besides, it's your reloading dies that'll matter more if you're using once fired .308.
 
Make sure you fullsize the brass, it's needs to go in cleanly. I have not been picky about primers, but make sure that I have seated them properly before loading the rounds.
 
Full length resize. All the time.

CCI Large Rifle primers seem to work fine for all. I once had a slamfire with Federal primers, nuff said. (Yes it was properly seated, just a smidge below the case...)

Cartridge OAL seems to be 2.800 inches, generally. There are ways to set the bullet back so it is *just* off the lands (an accuracy trick from benchresters, for later). I've found that using the cannellure on Hornady's 150 FMJ makes for a quite shorter than 7.62 NATO OAL, so I stick to 2.8".

Buy good ammo, and keep the brass. I use/scrounge/buy everything I can get my hands on, personally. Sometimes I buy cheap noncorrosive ammo (MFS) if I'm just going out to blam, as I put a lot of effort into my handloads.
 
Keep an eye in the EE reloading section. You can often buy once fired brass for about half the price of new brass but with shipping included and no taxes. That's good enough for me. It's an M14 not a precision rifle, so I don't worry too much about mixing headstamps. Just size and length them all the same and start loading.
 
The m14 action loves to chew up brass. So don't bother buying really expensive brass. Just pick up what ever .308 once fired cases you can find on the EE.

Almost all my cases come out with a slightly dinged neck after firing.
 
SoBored said:
Keep an eye in the EE reloading section. You can often buy once fired brass for about half the price of new brass but with shipping included and no taxes. That's good enough for me. It's an M14 not a precision rifle, so I don't worry too much about mixing headstamps. Just size and length them all the same and start loading.
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NO! do not mix head stamps... ever... especialy civilain and military (lake city) you will eventualy get an over presure blow out as some cases have up to 10% less internal volume and if loaded the same as another case with larger volume are much higher presure. The tangible difrence is as much as a 300+ f/s velocity spike and the feeling that someone kicked you in the shoulder. i made this mistake when i started reloading, thank god tikkas actions are built like tanks, much more then a norc, that was just with a "starting" load to boot!

buy lake city brass from henry at budget shooter supply, $.19 a piece, it takes the abuse much better and requires less powder to get the velocity as it is much thicker brass.

AS for resizing and seating,
Resize to spec, get a case mic to adjust your full leangth sizing die (yes you have to adjust every FL die, depending on how far you screw the die into the press determines the shoulder bump on the case. if its out to far it actualy possible to leanthen the shoulder when resizing, I've done it, and with a tikka it won't chamber, with an m14 it can cause a slam fire).

bullet seating deapth, if its a norc the lands are stupid far, like 40 thousands of an inch past factory OAL, you can't physicaly seat a bullet that far out as the mag will not accomidate it. if you seat the bullet to fit in the mag you should be alright.
you can test to make sure very inxpensivly, simply cut a case neck with a pair of side cutter plyers, then resize the case to smooth it out. seat a bullet your reloading in this case (dummy round) far beyond factory spec, chamber the round gentaly, pull it out and mesure OAL, do this a few times to make sure its getting a consitent result. this will give you a max seating deapth for OAL to put the bullet on the lands, bump the number back a few thousands of an inch to accomidate for inconsitantacy in bullet manufacture and walla you got a land seating round.
 
thanks lord. Yeah hear interesting things about brass life. I'll give it a serious look at 3 firings and probably not go over five- I use all same lots.

Thats my answer to bullet seating depth as well- wasnt sure if that applied good to know.
 
enough for me. It's an M14 not a precision rifle, so I don't worry too much about mixing headstamps. Just size and length them all the same and start loading.
NO! do not mix head stamps... ever... especialy civilain and military (lake city) you will eventualy get an over presure blow out as some cases have up to 10% less internal volume and if loaded the same as another case with larger volume are much higher presure. The tangible difrence is as much as a 300+ f/s velocity spike and the feeling that someone kicked you in the shoulder. i made this mistake when i started reloading, thank god tikkas actions are built like tanks, much more then a norc, that was just with a "starting" load to boot!

buy lake city brass from henry at budget shooter supply, $.19 a piece, it takes the abuse much better and requires less powder to get the velocity as it is much thicker brass.

AS for resizing and seating,
Resize to spec, get a case mic to adjust your full leangth sizing die (yes you have to adjust every FL die, depending on how far you screw the die into the press determines the shoulder bump on the case. if its out to far it actualy possible to leanthen the shoulder when resizing, I've done it, and with a tikka it won't chamber, with an m14 it can cause a slam fire).

bullet seating deapth, if its a norc the lands are stupid far, like 40 thousands of an inch past factory OAL, you can't physicaly seat a bullet that far out as the mag will not accomidate it. if you seat the bullet to fit in the mag you should be alright.
you can test to make sure very inxpensivly, simply cut a case neck with a pair of side cutter plyers, then resize the case to smooth it out. seat a bullet your reloading in this case (dummy round) far beyond factory spec, chamber the round gentaly, pull it out and mesure OAL, do this a few times to make sure its getting a consitent result. this will give you a max seating deapth for OAL to put the bullet on the lands, bump the number back a few thousands of an inch to accomidate for inconsitantacy in bullet manufacture and walla you got a land seating round.


Great trick...........I was pondering this very issue last night at the bench.
Thanks for sharing
Keep it safe :)

The bullet seating tip is what Im refering to .....I pushed the wrong button when I replied !
 
you can get way more then 3 firings out of brass, even brass beat up by an m14. I've got some on load number 8 still GTG, if sized correctly to be consitent with the chamber its firing from, the brass gets "worked" much less and lasts longer. Just keep an eye out for presure/wear signs (split necks, discouloring or cracking of the case head seem, body cracks, primers popping out parcialy or completly [primer pocket getting lose or exseive presure, either one is bad]) and exsesive damage (small dings are fine, big dents that have creased the case not so good) if you start seeing lots of these unaccebtable cases in a batch after firing it might be time to send them to the recycle bin.
 
I would recommend Partizan brass, and CCI large rifle primers. Both are fairly inexpensive (about $3 for primers at Wholesale Sports and $19 for the ammo at Canadian Tire), reliable and easy to get your hands on. Just buy a bunch of ammo to start, use it all up and recycle the brass. I'm pretty new to reloading (a year or so) and all i use is Partizan brass now in my m14, i've probably put 200 reloads through my rifle with 0 issues, but remember to always check your brass before you reload. I've recycled my casings about three times or so and they haven't shown any damage yet.
 
So if one was to have 308 winchester partizan brass, winchester brass and hornady brass you cannot reload them all the same? Sorry for the newbie question or to hijack just wondering... Would much rather feel dumb then have something go boom lol...
 
the case wall thickness/internal volume between brass brands if differnet. between civilian ammo it tend not to very to much, but in military brass you should load 10% less powder then civilian brass as a rule of thumb.
By mixing head stamps (brands) you through accuracy out the window. the differance in in internal volume and how each brand "works" in your gun is going to through rounds all over the place. its like mixing 150, 155 and 168 grain bullets and then wondering why you can't group for :bigHug::bigHug::bigHug::bigHug:.
besides accuracy, it is dangerous, especialy if you start loading closer to max loads. What is fine in one brand of casing can cause a failure in another.
its fine to collect lots of brass, but sort it out and load in batches by head stamp.
 
Once you've full length resized your brass, don't forget to check the length of the brass, it may need trimming. I reload for my M305, and I check (and usually trim) every time I FL resize.

I don't worry about headstamps, because I don't load anywhere near max velocity/pressure, so whatever brass I'm using can take the pressures.
 
You're right, mixing headstamps is terrible internet advice. Never do it kids.

BTW, while I never mentioned it, you should always sort your cases and run them in batches, (this should be a given). That's what I get for posting while under the weather.
 
shredder said:
Once you've full length resized your brass, don't forget to check the length of the brass, it may need trimming. I reload for my M305, and I check (and usually trim) every time I FL resize.
Click to expand...

Xbazillion

I bought some so-called "once fired" 7.62X51 brass from a major web-based reloading supplier, and some of the case lengths were unbelievable.
 
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