Good 223 brass?

Lapua and Norma are the best.

Remington/Winchester/LakeCity would be next picks.

Buy a primer pocket swager - Dillon makes a very good tool that handles this job perfectly.

The Dillon primer pocket swager makes short work of primer pocket crimps.

The old RCBS tool was worthless, their copy of the Dillon one looks OK.

Case prep can be an unpleasant chore, but not worth buying new brass over.

If it's that bad just don't reload any military brass.

My big issue with reloading 5.56/.223 is the size... my old eyes looking into small case mouths, arthritic hands fumbleing with tiny bullets, and how cheap I can buy it make reloading it not so fun unless I am using premium bullets.

LC if I had the money lapua

I've had great success with Federal Cartridge (FC) match brass. Easy loading, good accuracy & long life!

Federal (FC), Lake City (LC) and Starline brass has been very good for me.

As for fighting the once fired brass, do you have brass with a primer crimp? You need to remove the crimp but only once and the brass will be good from then on. It's really not all that difficult.

Is it me? Or, if someone brands something "Top...." or "Best..." ...I become suspect...

Like the other folks said Lapua is # 1 choice, Federal #2 (FC or LC) and Starline. I have some Winchester in 308 - no issues with it.

Edit, Add - I bought some General Dynamics brass from Midway back in 2015 - I had no issues with that either. Reloaded several times so far. I did not know/expect that GD made 223 brass. Assuming this GD - is the one who designed the original F16..

If you are relying on your original brass to reload, and don’t want to fight the primer pockets, don’t get NATO crossed brass... like LC or anything with a military nomenclature (M193, XM855, etc.). If you are buying once-fired brass, from Top Brass and others, make sure it is ‘processed’ brass, that means it’s been sized, trimmed, and primer pocket swaged to remove the crimp. I have had serious issues with ‘once-fired, processed’ brass in .308, and I don’t normally recommend it. .223 brass is a little different, and it would probably be ok, but understand you don’t know the source or even the brass head stamp, it won’t all be the same.

I only load MY once-fired brass anymore, and that includes .223, even if it means punching out the primer pockets. I have the C&H Tool, similar to the RCBS I believe, it’s ok, but I would recommend the Dillon if you have any sizeable stash to process.

I use mostly Lapua in my 223 bolt gun. I have a lot of Winchester too but Winchester has gotten to be pretty sorry lately. LC is usually pretty good if you don't mind dealing with the crimp.

LC is my first choice.

I’d ask what your goals are for the ammo you’re making. I load .223 to shoot through 3 AR’s. None of which are high end. They all shoot good, but I’d still say I mostly load “blasting or plinking” ammo. I use every bit of range pick up brass I can find, and there’s usually lots of it at my range. I checked capacity of lots of different brass and it was all close enough that I was able to come up with a safe, reliable load to use in any of it. My take is different than a reloader looking for more precision, but it works for me. YMMV

Brian

Sniper66 said:

I load .223 for two primary purposes. I have a Remington 700 VSF with 26" fluted barrel, which is my favorite prairie dog rifle, mostly shooting 50gr Sierra BKs. So, I load for accuracy up to about 300 yds. The 2nd batch of ammo will be for my new AR style rifle that will be my dedicated coyote rifle. I'll be shooting a heavier bullet...I'm in the process of building test loads using 60, 63, 65, and 68gr bullets. We'll see how it goes. I don'tt even have the scope zeroed yet. My problem this week has been those blasted crimps. Getting them out does require a bit of work with the right tool. The YouTube guys make it look easy, but it's not.

Click to expand...

Sniper, it sounds like you’re definitely looking for quality over quantity. I imagine you’d get good results from any quality name brand brass that you buy new. Like some others have said LC brass is good quality and I’ve used plenty of it with fine results. My only issue with it is that a lot of what I’ve purchased as once fired took extra effort to resize, likely from being fired in generously chambered military rifles or machine guns.

As far as crimps, I remove them with a crimp removal tool that used to be hand held like a screw driver. I dug the metal tool portion out of the handle and use it chucked in an electric drill. Once I’ve done that I color the case head with a red sharpie. The color will stay on for a couple of firings. That lets me know the case is mine and that it’s been prepped. A quick glance saves me the guess work of whether or not this has a crimp that needs to be removed. May sound like extra work but I do everything a step at a time in batches of a hundred. A step here or there when I have extra time.

P.S. Happy prairie dog and yote hunting. I’m jealous, wish I had a place to hunt them myself.

Sniper66 asked"
In terns of new brass for .223, which brand do you like?

Click to expand...

Pretty much all of it.

I see "Top Brass" is cheaper than other brands. Is it any good?

Click to expand...

What do you mean when you ask "Is it any good?"

I'm not trying to be flippant, here, but when you ask whether something is "any good" you leave yourself open to a range of opinion that may not be responsive to your question. In other words, does the person responding to you use the same criteria as you do in determining whether the brass is "any good"?

• Is it any good (in that it doesn't explode when you load it for the first time and fire it)? Yes, pretty much all new commercial brass can be counted on to hold together and survive its first firing. So, a "Yes" here tells you nothing.
• Is it any good (in that it has consistent dimensions - and in terms of how it subjectively "feels" when being loaded)? Maybe. Various brands experience greater dimensional variance and greater inconsistency in terms of the metallurgical consistency of the case.
• Is it any good (in that it consistently delivers the optimal performance vis-a-vis a recognized benchmark like Lake City military brass). No. My experience with Top Brass is that it is more variable in terms of consistency than other headstamps.

And if your concern has to do principally with crimped primers, then all new brass should not have crimped primers regardless of how subjectively "good" it might be.

I'm searching after fighting all afternoon trying to prime once fired brass. Have to work a lot on some of the primer pockets to get them to accept a primer. It's just not worth it for me and makes case prep an unpleasant chore.

Click to expand...

Essentially all of my 223 brass is once-fired military brass with crimped primer pockets.

It does add an extra step when processing cases, but over the last 40+ years as a handloader, I have never regarded that extra step as being worth the additional cost to invest in "new" versus "previously-fired" brass.

Try a primer pocket swager. Try a primer pocket reamer. Try a 45 degree countersink and a Harbor Freight drill press.

It's simply not that onerous a task once you get the proper equipment.

I believe you want Lapua, Norma, Federal, or Starline brass if you're buying new. Lapua brass with Scenar or SMK projectiles is darn good shooting.

I just pickup range brass. There is a ton where I shoot. I weighed a bunch a while back. Other than Hornady, which is all over the map (+/-18grn) everything else was fairly consistent. I've had good results with Winchester. Remington has the nicest bevel to the primer pocket, and life is too short to screw with crimped primer pockets, so federal and military brass gets left on the ground. Hornady does now as well. If I was going to buy brass, I'd buy starline. Lapua is nice, as is Norma, but it's not worth the cost to me. Heck, I get sub .5 moa with winchester with the right hand lold.

dcloco said:

Lapua and Norma are the best.

Remington/Winchester/LakeCity would be next picks.

Buy a primer pocket swager - Dillon makes a very good tool that handles this job perfectly.

Click to expand...

I couldn't say it better. Unless you are shooting matches, the additional cost of Lapua and Norma may not be worth the additional performance.

My most accurate .223 load happened to be worked up in Winchester military brass, so that's what I prefer. (Plus, I was given a good quantity of it for free.) I use an old RCBS 9481 primer pocket swaging tool that works well for me. I have read poor reports on the latest production, though.

For a bolt gun? Id have no issues buying some Lapua or something like that.
For a semi? Ill continue to shoot Lake City.

I have a bolt target rifle in .223. I found that Lapua lasts a lot longer than the others. Norma comes in a close second.

My experience with once fired Federal brass in 223 has been that the primer pockets become loose prematurely after only a few uses. I have seen others report this on the forum as well. Not sure if there is more to the story or not. I still reload them, but they don't seem to last as long my other brass with the same loads.