HXP Brass in Garand

[cabezaverde]

I am going to be making up some Garand food with J words. I have about 3 or 4 gallons of 1x fired HXP brass, various years.

How consistent do you guys find this brass to be year to year? I am considering not bothering to sort for my 100 yard range ammo.

[dk17hmr]

I never sorted mine mainly because I dont shoot matches and dont really use my garand for anything more than shooting steel and rocks out to 800 yards. HXP brass has been good to me for what I use it for. We ran all that we had through the Giruad case trimer and beveled the primer pockets a little bit to help seating. I have used it in my Remington 700 and 1903 Springfield, ussally seperated by year, but it seem consistant enough for shooting cast bullets in those rifles. I used 20 peices to make some brass for my wildcat 243 Super Rock Chucker also it made more sense to use "cheap" brass when I was working out the kinks for my fireforming process. I used those 20 peices for about 6 reloads than had to throw them in the bucket, not bad considering I was only getting 4 with new Winchester brass.

[OBIII]

You will need to swage the primer pockets as they have been "crimped". Otherwise, you will wind up with primers seated upside down, sideways, etc. (don't ask me how I know). Once this is done, if the brass was NOT fired in your Garand, you should full length size it. Once you have done this, you should only have to neck size and trim as needed. Good Luck.

OB

[cabezaverde]

You will need to swage the primer pockets as they have been "crimped". Otherwise, you will wind up with primers seated upside down, sideways, etc. (don't ask me how I know). Once this is done, if the brass was NOT fired in your Garand, you should full length size it. Once you have done this, you should only have to neck size and trim as needed. Good Luck.

OB

Understood.

My question was around sorting by year.

[Jim]

I would sort by weight, not year. That's just me, though.

[cabezaverde]

I would sort by weight, not year. That's just me, though.

Im lazy - tempted not to sort.

[Kraschenbirn]

I've only accumulated a couple hundred rounds of HXP and, after reaming the primer pockets, full-length resizing, and trimming to length, I've never bothered to sort it any further than keeping it separate from my LC and WC brass. Groups from the HXP stuff run about the same as from my other milsurp brass...and both group better than either factory ball ammo or equivalent handloads using JBs and BLC-2.

Bill

[junkbug]

Well, try it unsorted. If your results are not satisfying, then try sorting it. By year, or weight? Your call.

[bob208]

i never sorted by year or weight. but one thing i did do and i think did better then sorting. that was to deburr the flash hole in side the case. you only have to do it once.

[cabezaverde]

I've only accumulated a couple hundred rounds of HXP and, after reaming the primer pockets, full-length resizing, and trimming to length, I've never bothered to sort it any further than keeping it separate from my LC and WC brass. Groups from the HXP stuff run about the same as from my other milsurp brass...and both group better than either factory ball ammo or equivalent handloads using JBs and BLC-2.

Bill

Little unclear... you are using BLC2 with J bullets?

[fatnhappy]

100 yard range ammo.

I wouldn't bother unless you're building match loads and the rifle is discerning enough to demonstrate a difference on target. Sorting also presupposes your eyes are good enough with irons they won't limit your accuracy. I no longer take that for granted.

Just being practical.
HXP is decent brass.

ymmv.

[Kraschenbirn]

Little unclear... you are using BLC2 with J bullets?

Yes...48.5 gr BLC2 with pull-down 147 gr FMJs. Pretty much duplicates M2 Ball for velocity and accuracy in my Garand. For my cast loads I use AA2700 and the RCBS 308-165-SIL.

Bill

[zomby woof]

HXP is GTG

[cabezaverde]

Yes...48.5 gr BLC2 with pull-down 147 gr FMJs. Pretty much duplicates M2 Ball for velocity and accuracy in my Garand. For my cast loads I use AA2700 and the RCBS 308-165-SIL.

Bill

Thanks, I have been looking for a recipe as I have about 4 or 5 lbs around. Magnum or regular primer?

[garandsrus]

You dont need to swage the primer pockets on HXP. Primers will seat just fine after depriming. You do need to swage LC.

You wont see any difference with or without sorting the brass for a Garand, especially at 100 yds.

[Kraschenbirn]

Thanks, I have been looking for a recipe as I have about 4 or 5 lbs around. Magnum or regular primer?

W-W LRPs. As I recall, Lee's 'Modern Reloading' shows 49.0 as a starting load with a 155 gr JB but I found that backing down a half grain gave me the same velocities as I'd been getting with the old standby 50 gr. milsurp IMR4895 and, maybe, just a skosh better accuracy.

Yours is same reason I began using BLC-2 a couple years back...I was getting low on 4895 and had few lbs. of milsurp BLC-2 on hand. Now, I'm about out of the BLC-2 with no more (milsurp) on the horizon. When/if the need should arise to load some more 'ball', guess I'll either have to try WC862 or 'bite the bullet' (so to speak) and pick-up some commercial BLC-2.

Bill

[bkbville]

You will need to swage the primer pockets as they have been "crimped". Otherwise, you will wind up with primers seated upside down, sideways, etc. (don't ask me how I know). Once this is done, if the brass was NOT fired in your Garand, you should full length size it. Once you have done this, you should only have to neck size and trim as needed. Good Luck.

OB

Won't neck size only in a Garand lead to feed problems?

[Hip's Ax]

Won't neck size only in a Garand lead to feed problems?

Worse than that, it can cause slam fires. Always full length resize for semi autos. I always do for my AR, my M1's and my M1A.

I neck size a lot but only for bolt rifles.

[shoe303]

I don't have any experience with HXP .30-06 but I have some HXP .303 British that I have loaded 6+ times. It seems to last twice as long as most commercial .303 British brass.