Cheap precision .223 or 5.56

[dsavells]

Going to start loading soon for my 5.56 and I want to keep the cost down on buying brass. I have found good deals on remington 223 and lake city 5.56 unfired, with no primer crimp. I have heard Lake City brass is good but is it good for precision. Let me know your thoughts and what you would prefer.

[Black Majik]

Me, I would park my but next to someone shooting an AR and opening fresh new ammo. Then ask him if he was picking up his brass.

Free once fired commercial brass.

[dsavells]

I have about 100 cases of mixed brass already. Those are good for plinking but I want consisentcy through all the cases..

[ExtremeX]

What type of rifle will you be using?

If you are shooting a bolt action, and want the best for bench rest / accuracy type loads I would consider buying Lapua .223 brass. I would consider using Laupa brass in my AR if I shot matches and things like that, but it’s too nice to beat up in a gas gun…

I like LC brass, it makes an accurate load, but so does many other types of once fired brass.

Where you get accuracy is consistency. It’s going to be heavily influenced by your case prep process, powder, and bullet combination rather than just what brass you use. Spend the time to sort cases by brand… I even sort my LC brass by year…

For my LC brass, I started with 1k of M193, enjoyed it, and saved the brass…

[dsavells]

Its a varmit ar-15. As much as I love Lapua, way too expensive for me plus I dont want to have to fight someone for picking up my brass lol. I have had good luck with Remington in my .270 rifle but others I have tried start to scatter even with good case prep, so thats why I wanted to stick with one brand of brass. So basically they will both work fine? Any other advantages or disadvantages over one another.

[ExtremeX]

I agree… that stuff is really expensive. The only Lapua brass I buy is for my .308 bolt gun, and that’s only because it doesn’t spit brass all over the place.

For my target / match ARs I actually load a variety of cases. LC, FC .223, PMC… I have good results with all of them to be honest. Some of the brass has a different case capacity, but as long as I work up a load using it, I just make a note of it.

How much are you finding unfired LC brass for? Depending on the cost I would really just consider buying 500-1000 rounds of Federal .223 or M193 and just using your own once fired brass.

Most of my brass has been from my own ammo stash. I don’t buy unfired brass for my .223 rifles.

[dsavells]

1000 for $119 at natchezss. Not in stock right now but I am in no hurry.

http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=FA556UPB

[damndave]

Me, I would park my but next to someone shooting an AR and opening fresh new ammo. Then ask him if he was picking up his brass.

Free once fired commercial brass.

Do this. Just from picking up after people and friends giving me theirs I gathered at least 5k pieces for free!

For a Varmint AR, you should be fine with any brass. Just make sure to sort them by headstamp.

[stevec223]

brass

free brass is great....can find once fired at gun shows---can find sorted hd stamps usually...mixed ck for majority...i use lc in ar and comm. in bolt guns....lc fine for vermin acc. loads...i have and use about 5 diff. cases for 223...get your load for one case and try it in a diff case to see how it works..a never ending experiment...lol...cheers...

[Cowboy T]

Since you're firing an AR, you'll want to full-length size the brass, and for that, you'll typically get the longest case life out of Lake City brass due to its thickness. But yes, just about any brass will do fine.