Reloading .223 ammo

[sam77757]

Hey guys I wanted to be the firt one to ask a dumb question this morning!!
I just picked up around 5000 thousand .223 brass all mixed headstamps, what brass am I looking for to be the best to use to reload? And what do I need to look for to see if it has the military crimp that can't be reloaded without being specially prepaired? I know these are rookie questions coming from a rookie reloader so any advice will be greatly appreciated! Just a few of the headstamps are. LC, PPU, bha match,hornady,psd,wcc,ap,fc, ect....

Thanks

 

[contender]

I've said it before,, and I'll say it again; "there is no such thing as a stupid question,, just stupid folks who fail to use an education."
Now,, to help out a bit.
Most commercial ammo will have the name of the company in some form as a headstamp. Fed, WW, Rem, Hornady, FC, Win, PMC, all come to mind as commercial brass off the top of my head. If you use those for reloading,, you'll find it a bit easier.
LC is military, but I'm not sure about the others you listed.
Study the primer pocket area to see if it has a "crimp ring" around the primer, before you attempt to de-prime it. If it has one,, it's most likely military brass.
I stick with commercial brass mostly to avoid issues in reloading.

 

[sam77757]

Thanks contender I can see a few with a different looking primer pocket but all the Lake city looks to have been reloaded allready and looks like the comm federal,Winchester cases . Thanks for the info!

 

[flhr62]

If you have your decapping pin set up correctly, they should deprime fine, its getting a new primer in thats the problem. Its all easy to fix but you may have to buy a few more pieces of equipment. A primer pocket swager will take care of the crimp on the primer pocket. I would also recommend a small base sizing die. Some of these type guns have large chambers and without the small base sizer you may not be able to size them down enough to go into your gun.

 

[Bell Swamp]

It should all reload if it is brass and boxer primed. I separate by headstamps and have found that it is very easy to determine which have crimped primers. I take one deprimed case from each headstamp and try to insert my solid primer pocket cleaner into it. If it fits, there is no crimp. If it does not fit, I assume that all cases with that headstamp are crimped. I have a primer pocket swager but generally just remove the crimp with a deburring tool. I have one I can mount in a cordless drill. A quick hit with that takes care of the crimp. If you have trouble seating primers then you are not taking off enough brass.

I would suggest trimming all cases (I have gone to a Lee trimmer) from all sources.

 

[Rainman]

Either WCC or LC and a year date typically indicate a military cartridge with a primer crimp. WCC 98 or LC 05 for example.

Your dies will easily deprime but you will either have to ream the primer pocket by hand or swage it to allow normal reseating of the new primer. It's no big deal and worth the trouble. Military brass tends to be very good and I prefer it.

The trimming of your cases to a uniform length and using a small base sizing die advice above is worth listening to as well.

Dan

 

[mattsbox99]

Military crimped .223 brass has a 'ring' around the primer pocket, where commercial stuff doesn't. Be aware that commercial Federal ammo may be LC crimped stuff. Federal/ATK owns the Lake City plant, so they use that brass a lot. PMC should be all crimped as well.

Swagers press the crimp out, reamers cut the crimp out. I prefer the swager and own an RCBS unit and a Dillon Super Swage. The DSS is much faster, but more expensive and takes up a lot more room.

Personally I would sort brass by military and commercial, based on whether it has a crimp. All brands of brass will vary in capacity, it is not correct to assume that military brass is thicker without checking it by filling the case with water and weighing it (fired primer intact).

I sort all my .223 brass by headstamp, as I've found its easier to keep track of.

I use the RCBS X Die so I don't have to trim, and the RCBS Comp Seater so I don't have to worry about tilted bullets. The X Die is a standard sizer, with a nitride button to stop case growth.

I highly doubt you will need a small base die, properly camming the press will likely size the brass enough to function perfectly. Brass life will be severely shortened if you use the small base dies.

 

[flhr62]

I highly doubt you will need a small base die, properly camming the press will likely size the brass enough to function perfectly. Brass life will be severely shortened if you use the small base dies.[/quote] My SR556 will function about 1 out of 3 times if I do not use a small base sizer but maybe it just has a very tight chamber.

 

[Quarterbore]

Also note that FC 223 brass has a very bad reputation if you are loading hotter loads. The web of the case is thinner then most other brands and a lot of FC brass may also have crimped pockets.

I have 2-3 5-gal pails of FC Brass with cripped pockets and I have cleaned and polished it all but have never bought the swagger tool yet to fix the crimps. My plan is to use it but with modest loads (IE not pushing heavy match bullets at max pressure in my ARs) and it will be fine.

I picked it up a couple years ago at a PA State asset sale for the price of scrap brass. Came from a PA state police range.

 

[LAH]

Quarterbore if you're careful you can rid the crimp like this: