Military Brass

"You dont mean the three "dots" military crimps do you? Right around the primer?"

No, I don't mean the primer staking. And these cases in the attached photos seem to have ring crimps, not stakes.

I'm talking about the varying sized dots around the head of the case in the same field as the headstamp.
 
I'm pretty sure it's just marketing to make you think you're getting something special. I have 1000 rounds of .223 Federal that say military grade but the fact that they are .223 should tell you the story.
Got it, thanks.

How can "Military Grade" be interpreted then? As it's mentioned on the box.
 
Military grade generally means that it's made to the same specifications and standards as the ammunition that the company produces for the US military.

Realistically, it's pretty much meaningless for the average shooter.
 
223 and 5.56 brass are the same.

IMHO I'd say yes , it's been shown over and over again that commercial 223 brass varies just as much as NATO 5.56 brass in weight and capacity .

Metallurgically, probably very similar, but may be a bit different depending on who's ordering the brass stock and what company is supplying it.

Agreed for both NATO and commercial brass and why you see a cross over in weight and capacity .

If you have a 223 chambered rifle you can use military/NATO brass designed for the 5.56 cartridge . You can load it the same as well , start low and work your way up . I'll make one head stamp exception and that is CBC head stamped cases . I've found at least in one lot of CBC cases that there internal volume was significantly smaller . This caused my established safe load to shoot the bullet on avg 92fps faster when using the CBC cases .

That all said there is and can be a large difference between commercial 308 Winchester and 7.62x51 NATO brass as far as weight and case capacity . As much as 30gr in weight which translates to a few grains difference in internal case capacity . If the cases you are reloading for 308 have a weight difference of 15gr or more . There is almost surely a case capacity difference that needs to be considered when reloading .
 
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