7.62x51 LC brass question

[Wayne Smith]

Probably a simple question. I bought a bunch of brass and I have 68 rounds head stamped LC 12 LR. I know this is Lake City brass, probably 2012, but I do not know the LR. I do have a couple of LC 12 brass that is not stamped LR. This is mostly a curious question but I am loading for a heavy barrel Remington 700 that is not apparently as accurate as it should be. I am wondering if this brass might be more consistent than other LC brass?

[Love Life]

LC LR is LC Long Range brass. No primer crimp and used to load the M118LR ammunition for use by our men who look like bushes for a living.

It is good brass, and the biggest benefits of it is no crimp and they don't require the same effort in sizing as standard LC brass due to being shot in the chambers of sniper rifles.

[Outpost75]

In my inspection, the LR brass is better than regular M80 ball brass, but is not as good as M118 Match produced before 1976 or so, when they began to aggregate cases manufactured on different sets of tooling in the same lot. You can do better by uniforming primer pockets and flash holes and indicating neck and body wall thickness and either sorting out those of less than 0.002" total indicated runout, or outside neck turning case necks, trimming and then using a VLD type chamfer tool and weighing the prepped casez, lotting them up into groups of +/- 1 grain with a batch.

[Love Life]

^That applies to any brand of brass made by anybody!

[country gent]

Yes LC is Lake City 12 is manufactured year and LR is long range. If it the new case for M118 special ball with the 173 grn bullet alot of this was linked for machine gun use also. Some of the best brass I have is LC M852 nm cases. The old special ball m118 load was a solid performer out to 1000 yds.

[Love Life]

The M118LR used today is loaded with a 175 gr SMK. It is never linked.

[country gent]

Nope The smk isnt a battle legal bullet being a hollow point.

[country gent]

Nope The smk isnt a battle legal bullet being a hollow point. The M118 special ball we shot at the matches ( issued for rattle battles and some others) was a 173 grn FMJ boattail. You could buy the bullets thru the cmp worked great for 1000 yds.

[Wayne Smith]

Thanks, guys, that answers my question. And yes, standardizing the brass is one thing I intend, especially weighing it.

[Outpost75]

They quit loading the old M72/M118 175-grain FMJBT bullet in the mid-1990s because the tooling to make the bullets was worn out and they were having trouble making the accuracy specs. MANY lots of the M118 "brown box" or Special Ball were accepted on accuracy waivers, they were shipping lots up to 4 inches Mean Radius at 600 yards, whereas the specs required 3.5". Good lots of "white box" M118 made in the 1970s were 2" Mean Radius or less when selected for the military teams, statistically average lots averaged 2.4-2.6" in the mid 1970s when Larry Moore was running the Match ammo program at LC.

The 175 Sierra MK currently loaded in the LR ammo is an improvement accuracy-wise, but does not have as good combat penetration performance as the earlier ammunition. The M118 Special Ball with FMJ bullet fired from the M40, will defeat a 3.5mm thick AISI 1050 mild steel NATO test plate at 800 metres. 5.56mm M855 will do so at 500, as will 7.62mm M80 fired from the M240, whereas WW2 cal. .30 APM2 fired from the Garand will do so at 900 meters.

[Love Life]

Nope The smk isnt a battle legal bullet being a hollow point. The M118 special ball we shot at the matches ( issued for rattle battles and some others) was a 173 grn FMJ boattail. You could buy the bullets thru the cmp worked great for 1000 yds.

I fear, Sir, that you are misinformed. http://sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=1262

[Outpost75]

Nope The smk isnt a battle legal bullet being a hollow point. The M118 special ball we shot at the matches ( issued for rattle battles and some others) was a 173 grn FMJ boattail. You could buy the bullets thru the cmp worked great for 1000 yds.


While the M852 Match cartridge with 168-grain Sierra had its boxed "Not For Combat Use", the M118LR carries no such restriction and JAG approved it for combat use, because the bullet is not designed to fragment. It IS combat ammunition.

[country gent]

I bow down, The information I had was from AMU teams and Marine teams I shot with and against for 20+ years on the High Power line at Camp Perry in Port Clinton Ohio and other ranges.

[WineMan]

As I was once told: one end of the jacketed bullet has to be open in order to get the lead in. One of my favorite pulled bullets was the SMK used in the M118LR. Poly Gun Bag had them and I should have bought more! I used them up in my K31 for silhouette shooting. Very accurate and a bargain.

Dave

[country gent]

Back in the day a trip to the DCM now CMP was very profitable as bullets were just above scrap wieght prices and M14/M1A,and Garand parts were also very very reasonable. I can remember 200.00 or so Garands that were clean and usable. But you could only buy one. New NM cases could be purchased also. Clubs could get ammo for junior programs. I made use of them every year. It was interesting to see what was available. My Kimber 82 target rifle and win 52 came from the dcm/cmp. I missed out on the Rem 40 X 22s. I made it a point to visit every year before hitting commercial row during the nationals.

[Love Life]

We have a member here who sells SMK pulls. His handle is Balkandom.

[phonejack]

SMK's are defined as OPEN TIP

[Outpost75]

SMK's are defined as OPEN TIP

Read the article in the link above. Whileopen-tipped, they are still combat legal. The article has good photos of the sectioned bullets.

[Love Life]

Yep. Open tipped is legal.

[MtGun44]

Open tipped is definitely legal. Look at the SOST 5.56 ammo that USMC is using. It looks just like
a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw with a smaller than normal hollow point end. Heaven forbid it should
harm one of the jihadis as it passes through his body. . . . .

Bill

[Nickle]

Well, both sides are actually right on the legality argument.

For a while it wasn't legal, then JAG signed off onit, and made it legal.

It's always met the requirements of legal, as OTM (Open Tipped Match) bullets don't expand.

[Combat Diver]

OTM bullets have been JAG approved before the First Gulf War. Most just didn't know it. I've been carrying them in theater since then.


CD