.233 Brass

[sailorb]

I am just about done building an AR15. I'm getting ready to put together some ammo for it and this is my first go round with this caliber. A friend who is a firearms instructor for a local police dept. gave me a bit over 500 once fired cases from a training exercise. About 2/3 of them are Hornady, so no problem. Others are either Remington or Fiocchi. The rest are what I'm guessing are military. Some are marked LC with a number, 02-07. I assume this is Lake City brass and the number is the date of manufacture. Others are marked FC, 05. Again I assume Federal and the date.
Here are the questions. How do I tell if it has a crimped primer pocket, assuming it is military. The primers do look a bit different around the edge. How well does the Lyman pocket reamer work? Or is there another inexpensive tool to take out the crimp? I know Dillon makes a real nice one, but frankly, I can't see spending $90+ to save less than 100 cases.
Lastly, are these cases made to .223 or 5.56 dimensions. I know they are a bit different. Can 5.56 be resized in .223 dies and made to work in a .223 chamber?
Does anyone have pet loads for 55 gr bullets and AA2230? These are some bullets and powder I picked up in an estate sale. Other load info will be helpful as I expand.
Thanks.

 

[Divernhunter]

If they are mil brass(the LC and FC with dates are) then they have crimped primers. All mil brass has crimped primers. The lyman tool will work but the dillon is better and does a better job. I have both. The ones done with the lyman tool sometimes are harder to prime and you may ruin a few primers doing so. Also have a lee tool and it does not have a nice handle on it but does the job also. The dillon will make priming simple and is a great tool. To deprime the mil brass you may want to use a seperate deprime die or the little tool made by lee which uses a hammer. I prefer the lee tool as I have broken a few deprime stems the other way. Once they are deprimed and reamed/swaged the first time then they are like commercial brass as far as steps in reloading. Most books and I have found that you need to reduce the powder charge in mil brass as opposed to the commercial brass. I load 27gr of Win748 in mil brass and 28grs of win748 in commercial brass with 55gr bullets.
"I" have never seen a 5.56 reloading die , only 223 dies and you use them on either brass. The difference is more in the way the chamber is cut than the brass between the two. The 223 dies will work fine for any of the brass and for any firearm chamberd for 223 and/or 5.56. You may want small base dies for a semi-auto firearm and they can be used for brass used in any firearm also.
I have not used that powder but have had excellent results with win748 mostly or H355 or Benchmark in the 223/5.56 loading.

 

[mattsbox99]

There is no difference in the brass, its the exact same. The only difference is between brands.

I use the RCBS tool and the Dillon tool, the RCBS is about $20 and works very well, but you must adjust it carefully or you'll bend the rod. RCBS will send you a free one if you do bend it, but be careful or you'll be out for a few days while they get one to you.

 

[contender]

Mil-surp brass does have a crimped in primer.
In my younger, (read poorer) days,, when I got brass that had crimped primers,, I'd knock out the old primers,, and then using a case chamfering tool,, I'd cut the crimp off the brass. Cheap & easy to do,, but a bit time consuming.

 

[sourdough44]

There is also a Hornady hand tool to open up the primer pocket. It has a small & large size cutting head. I have a bunch of crimped 223 brass I have used it on. The good thing is once you do it your done for the life of that case. My usual powder is TAC, or Exterminator in the 223.

 

[Cherokee]

I used the Lyman tool years ago and still have it, but now I use the Dillon swager. Just be care using the Lyman or other cutting tool so you do not enlarge the primer pocket, just remove the crimp. AA2230 works for 223 but I found H335 better in my guns.

 

[gregs45auto]

There is a difference between 223 and 5.56 brass. The 5.56 brass has a longer neck. If used in an AR15 type rifle, no problem. BUT, if used in a 223, the longer neck causes higher pressures. Case is crimped into bullet by the chamber. :shock: You need to size and trim before using in a 223 rifle. I have both types and keep cases seperated hth greg

 

[mattsbox99]

Seriously, that is bad information, 5.56 is the exact same case as .223 Remington. EVERY reloading manual that I have has the same dimensions, honestly if the case was crimped by the chamber, you would never be able to extract it. A little thinking goes a long ways.

You should always size and trim rifle brass, regardless of caliber.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

This might help: http://www.thegunzone.com/556v223.html

-- Sam

 

[mattsbox99]

Nothing there about case differences or actual differences other than a higher established pressure (most is not actually that high, only the tracer round is). The chamber leade is different, I've said that for a long time, as long as you stick to the .223 OAL (coincidentally the same as an AR...) its the same round.