Has anyone had any issues when switching between brands of brass? All of my old Hornady brass is starting to drop off quickly (loose primer pockets after 10-12 reloads), so I recently ordered a couple hundred Lapua since it's supposed to be a lot longer lasting. My old pet load with my Hornady brass is 30gr of BL-C(2) pushing 123gr Amax's at 2490fps.
Yesterday I went out to test the Lapua against the Hornady side by side, and was quite surprised at the results. I shot two 5 shot groups with each brand of brass, and the old Hornady grouped noticeably better than the Lapua. Hornady was 1.25" and 1.5" at 225 yards, while the Lapua brass shot 2.5" and 3". Everything was the exact same except for the brass. Same case length, same primers, powder, and pills.
Ok, I decided maybe it was something with shooting virgin brass. I had heard that your best accuracy will come after it's been fired and reloaded, even though I full length sized them before the initial loading. Today I loaded up 15 rounds with each respective brand of brass and went out to another location to try my hand at 1000 yards.
I set up my 16" gong and fired the Hornady brass first. I finally made contact on shot 5 (top left), missed 6-7, hit 8 9 and 10 in the nice little group on the lower right, then the last hit was 13 on the top right. All of my misses after my first two sighters looked to be within a couple inches of a hit.
I drove down and painted the target, then set up with the once-fired Lapua brass. I hadn't dialed the scope at all since shooting the Hornady, but I figured I should still be pretty close. My first shot was about 10' to the right and 5' low. Ok, there was a variable 8-12mph wind, so I thought that could have caused it. I dialed in, and the next shot was a foot to the left and elevation looked good. I was only able to hit the dang thing on shots 9 and 13, with several flyers throwing me way off.
I'm completely at a loss as to what is going on. I didn't think that the brass would have that big of an impact, but that is the only thing I can figure. They were all loaded in the same session, powder weighed to within .02gr...I'm just not sure what it is.
I'm signed up for a 1000yd Milk Jug Challenge hosted by the Long Range Shooters of Utah on the 11th, so I'm trying to get as much practice in as I can before then. I'll have 10 shots to hit a milk jug at 1000 yards. Nobody in that group has done it with an AR-15 to date, and I'm hoping to be the first. They've had one do it with an AR-10 in 260Rem, but that's the only non bolt-action to do it. I've hit several at 1000-1200, just not at one of their "sponsored" shoots.
Any and all help is appreciated!
Yesterday I went out to test the Lapua against the Hornady side by side, and was quite surprised at the results. I shot two 5 shot groups with each brand of brass, and the old Hornady grouped noticeably better than the Lapua. Hornady was 1.25" and 1.5" at 225 yards, while the Lapua brass shot 2.5" and 3". Everything was the exact same except for the brass. Same case length, same primers, powder, and pills.
Ok, I decided maybe it was something with shooting virgin brass. I had heard that your best accuracy will come after it's been fired and reloaded, even though I full length sized them before the initial loading. Today I loaded up 15 rounds with each respective brand of brass and went out to another location to try my hand at 1000 yards.
I set up my 16" gong and fired the Hornady brass first. I finally made contact on shot 5 (top left), missed 6-7, hit 8 9 and 10 in the nice little group on the lower right, then the last hit was 13 on the top right. All of my misses after my first two sighters looked to be within a couple inches of a hit.
I drove down and painted the target, then set up with the once-fired Lapua brass. I hadn't dialed the scope at all since shooting the Hornady, but I figured I should still be pretty close. My first shot was about 10' to the right and 5' low. Ok, there was a variable 8-12mph wind, so I thought that could have caused it. I dialed in, and the next shot was a foot to the left and elevation looked good. I was only able to hit the dang thing on shots 9 and 13, with several flyers throwing me way off.
I'm completely at a loss as to what is going on. I didn't think that the brass would have that big of an impact, but that is the only thing I can figure. They were all loaded in the same session, powder weighed to within .02gr...I'm just not sure what it is.
I'm signed up for a 1000yd Milk Jug Challenge hosted by the Long Range Shooters of Utah on the 11th, so I'm trying to get as much practice in as I can before then. I'll have 10 shots to hit a milk jug at 1000 yards. Nobody in that group has done it with an AR-15 to date, and I'm hoping to be the first. They've had one do it with an AR-10 in 260Rem, but that's the only non bolt-action to do it. I've hit several at 1000-1200, just not at one of their "sponsored" shoots.
Any and all help is appreciated!
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