good and bad 223 brass

The reason I ask is because I just was given a bunch of TZZ, MIL and HOT SHOT 5.56 brass. Also was given a bunch of PAC, Fiocchi and RP in 223. None of the 223 is crimped and it is mostly all very close to 1.750 in length.
 
If somebody gives you brass, be happy. But if buying brass, I have gone to buying Lapua and Norma. And that allowed me to quit doing all the case weighing and overall case prep that I once did. Does that make me less OCD?

Mixed mongrel brass works fine for plinking. Shoot some 10 shot groups with your 'good' brass and with the assorted free brass and compare.
 
Well here's a penny worth of free advice....

Surplus brass that I know is good; LC, WCC, and FC headstamp. That's Lake City, Winchester, and Federal respectively. Remove crimp, full length resize, trim, then load up as normal.

IMI, lots of folks like it.

Hirtenberger, lots of folks like it.

PPU, some folks don't like it but that is due to primer pocket size (slightly on the small side which makes it harder to prime). A primer pocket uniforming tool can fix that issue, but it's another step in the prep process.

Lapua and Norma, never heard a single complaint about either except for the price.

PMC, few complaints, mostly about "hard" brass.

Radway Green, berdan primed. Generally quite accurate as surplus ammo, but not worth reloading.

Hope this is helpful or useful.

Jimro
 
The ONLY brass I have had issues with is the Hot Shot. It was so over expanded I actually couldn't FL size it. The sizing die would roll up a little Ridge of brass before finally stopping short of fully resized. However there were only a few of them who knows what they were fired in.
 
I like FC, winchester and any commercial brass.

Military brass is second choice only because it requires primer crimp removal. LC is good, and it might even last longer than commercial brass before necks split.

Headstamps I don't recognize are third.

Lastly, if it sticks to a magnet it goes in the trash.
 
I reloaded 20 more rounds of the HOT SHOT and it loaded fine, just had to chamfer the neck a little to seat the bullets.
 
Read the page on 223 at 6mmBR.com. When you've scrolled about 1/4 of the way down, there is a table of 223 brass weights and water overflow capacities for a number of types, including both military 5.56 and commercial 223 brass. You find that with the single exception of the heavy old style (now obsolete) Lapua case, all the others have a water overflow capacity spread of just 1.7 grain average values. That means that if all else were equal, the average powder charge adjustment to maintain constant pressure would differ about 1 grain, with more in the highest capacity case (one lot of Lake City) to the lowest capacity case (FNM 93-1, ignoring the obsolete Lapua).

There are differences in alloys and brass hardness and neck wall thickness that can affect start pressure, so the powder charge isn't the only consideration.
 
This spring & summer has been the seasons of military once fired brass. As to commercial brass for 223 and 308 I have been loading PMC, Winchester and Remington which all have always served me well. However, a few good deals came along on the once fired military brass and the LC and WCC have really worked out well. I also have a few hundred of each in Lapua but let's face it the Lapua is my special occasion stuff. :)

I have been buying the once fired GI stuff from Brass Bombers and been really pleased with the quality. They also offer basic brass to cleaned, deprimed and headstamp, my last 800 .308 were excellent and all WCC 10 with likely at least 850 in the box. Been trying to stock up and get well ahead of the curve and the military surplus stuff just plain works well.

Ron
 
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Stay away from Sellier & Bellot brass they have a heavy crimp primer and I have broke my deprimer pen different times If I come across them I junk them!!
 
If you are using one of the die brands with the small thin decapper pins in a chuck at the end of the expander rod, it doesn't seem to take much to snap those off. Either a Lee Universal decapping die or just their 223 Lee Loader decapper and a shell holder sitting on a flat surface and tapped with a hammer will handle it. Their pins are heavier and much tougher than the little replaceable pins.
 
re: The original post 223, 556 brass.
This might be a good time to add to the mix about thoughts using 223 cases for 556 hot loads or +p hot loads for non+P pistol cases.
For me, I prefer not to do that, but that's just my preference.
 
This might be a good time to add to the mix about thoughts using 223 cases for 556 hot loads or +p hot loads for non+P pistol cases.
For me, I prefer not to do that, but that's just my preference.
Click to expand...

Some powder manufacturers don't separate 223 from 5.56, some others do.

What is safe in your firearm, is safe in your firearm, and not guaranteed to be safe in any other firearm.

Jimro
 
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