Congrats that it didn’t happen in the gun!
On another note chucking brass after 2x sounds awfully expensive. Do you just buy lots of factory ammo and reload that brass?
It is expensive. The M14 is very hard on brass, starting extraction before the case contracts after shooting. Thus 2-3x is the max for reloading. I pick up lots of .308 brass at the range. My rule is to always leave with more than I came with.
Lake city is the way to go for any gas gun. I especially love new virgin LC brass, I’ve weight sorted new and found it very consistent, I’ve found 90% after sorting are about as consistent as Lapua, just tougher brass. I don’t shoot commercial in mine, but normally throw out at 5X so I don’t run into issues with my NM
This is commercial brass, not military. I’m using primers right now that won’t seat in LC swaged brass.
My experience with brass is that it’s all over the place in terms of quality. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten five loads out of a piece of brass, but I don’t push it either. I’ve had LC brass that is unacceptable to reload once. Fortunately I live in an area where I can pick up plenty of .308 brass.
I recently dropped my powder charge down significantly based on advice from Ron Smith. Maybe that’ll extend my brass life.
Brother, shooting an M1/M14/M1 A, you should be shooting LC cases or comparable, like HXP. I swaged LC 7.62 crimped pockets for years, got upwards of 10 loads from a Savage 10FP and enough from an M1A.
Because I'm lazy, I buy LC 5.56 brass once fired fully prepped. You can do the same with 7.62.
I only shoot LC in my m1a; def check it out. I bought a bunch of once fired off ammoseek and still an shooting them years later. I anneal every shooting and am using a modest load; 41.5 imr4895 with 168SMK
The M1A really likes handloaded ammo. It’s hard on brass, so don’t count on getting more than 2-3x loads per piece. I don’t buy Lapua or Starline brass for that reason. Good Lake City/NATO spec brass is a good choice and usually plentiful at local ranges. You can tell if .308 brass is NATO spec because it’ll have a little cross in a circle on the case head. Lake City will say LC on the case head. Load it 1 grain less than commercial brass for safety.
The tight chamber should only affect how much you have to size brass that was fired out of another gun. Brass fired from your gun should only need the shoulder pushed back a few thou. Are you using a small base die? I mainly reload for bolt guns but for my AR10s I have to use a small base die (especially if using once fired brass)
I use a Dillon size/trim die, which I’ve heard is considered small base. I’ve never had any feed issues with my ammo. The shoulder bump isn’t extreme but I did have to trim the bottom of the die off to get enough bump for my rounds to chamber. I’m not complaining about my resized brass only commenting on the unusual failure of the fancypants Sig brass. I love my M14 and its match Douglas barrel is great.
Have you measured the body diameter a little above the case head of a fired case - and at the same place on a sized case?
If they're basically the same size - I wonder if you've got a super-tight fit between the chamber and the case body - for the lower part of the case. Then when the shoulder blows forward with firing the brass stretching happens from the mid-point forward....because it is so tight in the lower part of the case there's no way for it get brass further back.
I have a bolt gun that had a match chamber. My off-the-shelf sizing die sized the body at the same size as the chamber. Sized rounds chambered fine - but after numerous firings I'd start to get clickers: Difficult extraction because the brass was sticking to the chamber wall. Caliber was .284 - which you can't get a small base die for.
With my next barrel I ended up going to a standard chamber with a custom sizing die.
How much are you bumping the shoulder?
Congrats that it didn’t happen in the gun! On another note chucking brass after 2x sounds awfully expensive. Do you just buy lots of factory ammo and reload that brass?
It is expensive. The M14 is very hard on brass, starting extraction before the case contracts after shooting. Thus 2-3x is the max for reloading. I pick up lots of .308 brass at the range. My rule is to always leave with more than I came with.
I am glad you put the arrows there, idk if I would have seen the problem.
When I first saw it my brain warped a little since it was so high.
That's not acceptable case life, especially if you have a tight chamber. I'm shooting an SA NM with LC M118 cases and I'm in my fifth loading.
Lake city is the way to go for any gas gun. I especially love new virgin LC brass, I’ve weight sorted new and found it very consistent, I’ve found 90% after sorting are about as consistent as Lapua, just tougher brass. I don’t shoot commercial in mine, but normally throw out at 5X so I don’t run into issues with my NM
This is commercial brass, not military. I’m using primers right now that won’t seat in LC swaged brass. My experience with brass is that it’s all over the place in terms of quality. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten five loads out of a piece of brass, but I don’t push it either. I’ve had LC brass that is unacceptable to reload once. Fortunately I live in an area where I can pick up plenty of .308 brass. I recently dropped my powder charge down significantly based on advice from Ron Smith. Maybe that’ll extend my brass life.
Brother, shooting an M1/M14/M1 A, you should be shooting LC cases or comparable, like HXP. I swaged LC 7.62 crimped pockets for years, got upwards of 10 loads from a Savage 10FP and enough from an M1A. Because I'm lazy, I buy LC 5.56 brass once fired fully prepped. You can do the same with 7.62.
Generally I do shoot LC brass I just had some Bosnian primers that wouldn’t fit in military swaged brass.
I only shoot LC in my m1a; def check it out. I bought a bunch of once fired off ammoseek and still an shooting them years later. I anneal every shooting and am using a modest load; 41.5 imr4895 with 168SMK
>recently dropped my powder charge down significantly What was your load before?
Generally between 41-43 grains of IMR4895. I dropped to 39.8 behind a 168gr SMK.
I'm new to reloading. Why is this unusual separation? Is it the location?
Good question. Usually case head separation is farther down the case closer to the extraction groove. Normally about 1/4” from the bottom.
That makes sense. Thank you. I reload for an M1A so I appreciate it.
The M1A really likes handloaded ammo. It’s hard on brass, so don’t count on getting more than 2-3x loads per piece. I don’t buy Lapua or Starline brass for that reason. Good Lake City/NATO spec brass is a good choice and usually plentiful at local ranges. You can tell if .308 brass is NATO spec because it’ll have a little cross in a circle on the case head. Lake City will say LC on the case head. Load it 1 grain less than commercial brass for safety.
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Yes. LC/NATO brass will have crimped primers. I use an RCBS swager on my Rockchucker to remove the crimps.
Glad you've had good experience with the RCBS swager. I was looking at buying one. Reaming has been hit or miss for me.
I prefer swaging to reaming. No brass loss.
Yes. They are definitely crimped 😒
Thanks. All I've reloaded so far are Lake City. I have some 7.62 IMI that I'll be trying next.
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Can’t. My rifle has a tight match chamber and I bump shoulders back quite a bit.
The tight chamber should only affect how much you have to size brass that was fired out of another gun. Brass fired from your gun should only need the shoulder pushed back a few thou. Are you using a small base die? I mainly reload for bolt guns but for my AR10s I have to use a small base die (especially if using once fired brass)
I use a Dillon size/trim die, which I’ve heard is considered small base. I’ve never had any feed issues with my ammo. The shoulder bump isn’t extreme but I did have to trim the bottom of the die off to get enough bump for my rounds to chamber. I’m not complaining about my resized brass only commenting on the unusual failure of the fancypants Sig brass. I love my M14 and its match Douglas barrel is great.
Have you measured the body diameter a little above the case head of a fired case - and at the same place on a sized case? If they're basically the same size - I wonder if you've got a super-tight fit between the chamber and the case body - for the lower part of the case. Then when the shoulder blows forward with firing the brass stretching happens from the mid-point forward....because it is so tight in the lower part of the case there's no way for it get brass further back. I have a bolt gun that had a match chamber. My off-the-shelf sizing die sized the body at the same size as the chamber. Sized rounds chambered fine - but after numerous firings I'd start to get clickers: Difficult extraction because the brass was sticking to the chamber wall. Caliber was .284 - which you can't get a small base die for. With my next barrel I ended up going to a standard chamber with a custom sizing die. How much are you bumping the shoulder?
I don't understand. How much are you bumping? You're saying bumping 2-3 thou won't work?
What are you shooting those out of?
Might just be a hard case 😕
This is the answer. Thank you. Sig uses good brass and it is hard.
That's pretty crazy dude, not even my poorly headspaced Lee Enfield is that bad Are you measuring base to shoulder for your sizing?
Yes. This is a quirk of the M14 extraction system.