Looking for Lake City 5.56 brass in Canada

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G.Mitchell

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Hey folks, I'd like to get a semi auto .223/5.56 rifle in the new year and I'm going to reload for it.

I've been reading that Lake City is a great brass to reload after dealing with the primer crimp.

I'm wondering if there is a Canadian source for once fired LC brass?
 
American made military Lake City 5.56 brass is made of harder brass along with commercial contract 5.56 ammunition made for the military than some .223 cases. One of the most important strength features is these cases have a thicker flash hole web that adds radial strength to the base of the case. As you can see below the Federal (FC) .223 case has a thinner flash hole web and why their primer pockets enlarge sooner than other cases.

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Below the military specifications for the 5.56 case that should be the same as Canadian military 5.56 brass. See the hardness gradient chart, the 5.56 case can not be made thicker like 7.62 cases because of loss of case capacity so the brass is made harder. The harder brass came about after the 1968 Congressional hearings on the M16 rifle jamming problems.

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Bottom line, I'm sure if you can't find cheap Lake City cases your Canadian military 5.56 cases should be made the same way. Also because some of our American ammunition companies make large quantities of 5.56 ammunition for the military "all" their .223 cases are made to the same standard. See the Winchester case in the top photo and how thick the flash hole web is.
 
the federal xm855 "green tips" that I shoot is all LC brass. No, you can't have it, I bought it all so I could reload it.
 
IVI is the same specs as LC. Can't buy/sell it on the EE though. X-reload sells it but it's not cheap, and the crimp is still in there.

I have a source but I keep it all to myself though.

If you're in for a milion+, you can contact gd-ots directly and buy direct from them. They can also sell you a milion projectile and primers, plus a couple tons of powder at OEM price. Or you can just order a milion C77 and once you've fired them you got a million pieces of 1F brass. A milion is a lot but you can get your own headstamp if you wish.
 
I will be private messaging you shortly. I have prepped ready to go .223 (I am just sorting up my optical sorter to do the headstamp) I will have prepped Lake City ready to go in a few days. Price remains unchanged at $125 per 1,000 + Tax and Shipping. We just brought home a newborn also, this might slow it down a day or two.

Black Sheep Brass
 
BlackSheepBrass said:
I will be private messaging you shortly. I have prepped ready to go .223 (I am just sorting up my optical sorter to do the headstamp) I will have prepped Lake City ready to go in a few days. Price remains unchanged at $125 per 1,000 + Tax and Shipping. We just brought home a newborn also, this might slow it down a day or two.

Black Sheep Brass
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess a newborn doesn't work as fast as a full grown man :)
 
Yes, when you factor in the exchange rate I am still selling it at the same price or cheaper as most of the commercial providers in the US. I am running the same or better equipment most of the smaller shops as most of them run Dillon 1050's so you don't get crack check or ringer check either vs my Camdex equipment. Funny thing I was doing some math and before .223 leaves my shop it passes through no less the $85,000 in equipment...
 
a local site sponsor got about 40,000 ivi from a close friend,LOL,sold out now,,but i have a feeling he'll have about another 4000 real soon,the stuff is much better than any LC stuff i have ever had,if you want case weight consistancy,ivi is what you want,you should see the ivi match .308,that stuff is as close to Lapua Match for way less money,,IF you know where to find it,or know someone who has a couple thousand stashed away who might hook you up.
 
BlackSheepBrass said:
Yes, when you factor in the exchange rate I am still selling it at the same price or cheaper as most of the commercial providers in the US. I am running the same or better equipment most of the smaller shops as most of them run Dillon 1050's so you don't get crack check or ringer check either vs my Camdex equipment. Funny thing I was doing some math and before .223 leaves my shop it passes through no less the $85,000 in equipment...
Click to expand...


So,what makes 1 time fired brass better? After it runs through $84000 worth of equipment?
 
If you can source new brass then that would most likely be ultimately the best. However, with the setup I am running, we can take in a 45-gallon drum of range .223 / 5.56 brass and at the end of a 12-hour shift we can have a 45-gallon drum of cleaned, inspected, processed and sorted for headstamp brass that is capable of good performance and can be loaded at high speed if you have the tooling on your end. Your cost on this is for about 1/3 the cost of new brass.

The brass is meant to be loaded on Camdex loaders at 3,000 per hour so it has to be of a pretty high quality to run that. It is kind of neat, it is a small industry and you get to meet lots of interesting people in the US and Canada. The one thing that I learned is the Hornady actually loads their ammunition on Camdex. They run the machines 6 days a week 24 hours a day, then the seventh day is used for maintenance and such.

I just had a client send me this photo of the results of using my brass: All he did was deburr and chamfer.
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2200 Series Small Rifle Loader - This machine is the companion to the brass processor I run.
 

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Hye BSB, who's retailing your brass for small quantities (~1000 pieces)? And can we get this 1F brass sorted by headstamp at this/these retailer(s)? Like, if OP wanted 1000 IVI, would it be possible?
 
I handle 1,000's & up of specific HS. If you wanted smaller quantities or just wanted Remington HS I would direct you to a retailer. I try and send them all Remington as it is a pretty consistent brand and I see more of it than anything else.

BSB
 
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