When you decide you want to start reloading .308 or 7.62x51, here are some thoughts regarding purchasing brass:
- Look at your rifle's manual. Confirm if you can shoot both .308 and 7.62. Know your rifle's details by memory before you buy any ammo/reload any ammo/shoot any ammo.
- By all means, buy some Peterson Cartridge Brass, some Lapua Brass, some Starline Brass, some Hornady brass --- but don't use it yet.
- Go to www.sgammo.com or some other awesome site, like www.sportsmansguide.com and buy 5 boxes (not cases) of the PMC Bronze or Sellier & Bellot .308 rounds.
- Take a permanent marker and label each box A,B,C,D, etc. For each box, label each round 1 through 20. Create a Google sheet, Libre Office, Excel spreadsheet with the same information. If you have to or feel that your 87+ IQ needs help, use the Apple program "Numbers." It be pretty. Soft kitty. Warm kitty. (Example below).
- Use your headspace gauge - I like this one - but also have the Hornady version. Now measure and record each round's data.
- Go to the range or somewhere you have a) legal permission to do so, b) safe to do so and enjoy some target practice. Don't be these guys --absolutely no trigger discipline and failure to maintain muzzle safety... After you fire each round, put it back in its respective case. Go home, measure each round again with your head space gauge. Record the data. This is your rifle's head space. You will want to keep this information.
- Now that you have some used cases:
- Practice your depriming on your once fired cases.
- Practice your cleaning on your once fired cases.
- Practice your annealing on your once fired cases.
- Practice your resizing and trimming on your once fired cases.
- Check to see if the prepped case will load from your rifle's magazine into the chamber. Don't force it. It's not love if you force it. But you knew that. At least, that's what you told your parole officer you learned while "inside."
- Now, after careful study of your reloading manual, watching many hours of relaoding "how to videos," and studying some more, you can practice making some rounds for your rifle.
- After you make your first complete round, measure its C.O.A.L. Log this.
- Now try to load the round from your rifle's magazine into the chamber.
- We cannot stress enough: take your finger off the trigger. Point the weapon in a safe direction. Load the magazine. Insert the magazine into the weapon. Take your finger off the trigger. Are you able to chamber a round without forcing it?
Why PMC: my experience has been that brass from PMC has weighed more than FC, Remington, Hornady, and Lake City brass. Greater weight = more brass. Yes, this was after depriming and cleaning.
Is PMC bronze match grade? No. Then why not recommend match grade? Because if you are reading this, you are most likely starting out in your reloading adventure. Using quality brass to get some practice with will permit you to get the most value out of your match grade brass later on.
Life Lesson: If you find a good deal on once fired brass and the seller is going to mail it to you, ask for the following:
- A couple of pictures of the brass as a whole and then a couple of close ups of some of the brass.
- If it looks like it has been sitting outside at the range, caked with mud, etc, be cautious.
- Many reputable ranges will have 55 gallon drums of once fired brass that looks appropriately dirty from a spent-powder rich environment. They are typically great sources.
- Some AR and many AK platforms dent the brass upon ejection. Picutres will help you know if you are buying a bag of brass that cannot be reloaded.
- Ask for the break down of the head stamps. Reputable people will tell you.
- Most NATO brass, which 7.62x51, has a ⊕ symbol on the head stamp.
- Ask them to confirm it is brass that was boxer primed not brass that was berdan primed.
- Ask them if there is any steel case included. To my knowledge, steel case cannot be safely reloaded.
- And then check the price. Often you can purchase new brass for the price that some folks want for their once fired brass-- aka they think they have found a noob.
- What platform, bolt action? AR? Belt-fed? Often brass fired from full auto (think NATO rounds) and many AR platforms has measured at +11 on my RCBS device. To return the brass to 0 or -1 may require additional working of the brass.
Example: PMC Bronze Brass, in my measurements, averaged 178.246 grains each. (Actual numbers below). Thats 0.41 ounces (actually 0.4074194286 ounces). So, if you find 1000 count, once fired brass, for sale, ask them the weight. 1000 cases of PMC would be 407 ounces give or take. That's 25 pounds. If the numbers don't add up, walk away.
