Critique my 223 mixed headstamp process...

Status
Not open for further replies.
O

OpIvy

Member
Joined
May 7, 2020
Messages
10
I am currently working on brass prep on 5000 pcs of 223/5.56 mixed headstamp once fired brass. I'm done with 3500 pcs, so the end is in sight.

Here's what I have done so far:
-De-cap
-Wet stainless media tumble
-Full length resize
-Ream primer pockets
-Trim to 1.740 +/-. 002
-Deburr inside and outside of case necks
-Wash again in wet tumbler to remove both case lube and brass chips from trimming, no pins this time, still using lemishine and dawn soap.

Here's my plan for what's next:

-Sort all cases by headstamp
-Pick the biggest group and sort only that group by weight, in 1 grain increments.
-Pick the biggest group from that sorting, seat primers, and use only it to work up loads with Win748 and CFE223, with 4 different bullet types. Those are Hornady 55gr FMJBT, Everglades 55gr FMJBT, Everglades 62gr SS109, and Hornady 55gr soft point varmint nightmare extreme.

I'm thinking I don't necessarily have to separate out all 3 of the 55gr bullets onto separate groups for load development?

Hopefully that group of 1 weight in the most numerous headstamp will be large enough for all that load development. If it isn't, I'll move to the next closest weight groups in that same headstamp.

Once I've found a charge weight I'm happy with for each of the above combinations, I'll load a few pieces in each of the other headstamps and look for signs of overpressure.

That will tell me whether I'm good to go to use all the remaining headstamps as is, or if any of those headstamp groups warrant their own process of load development.

I don't own a chronograph.

I'm not looking for sub moa accuracy. Rack grade service rifle standards of 3 moa are good enough for me.

I'm loading for a 16" Palmetto State 5.56, a Del-Ton 20" 5.56, and a Faxon barelled 10.5" 5.56.

The goal is to have an ongoing ammo reserve across multiple re-uses of this brass, and occasionally punching holes in paper. Load development happens on sandbags at 25 and 100 yards.

So, in your opinion, what if anything might be better done differently? I got through 1000 pcs of 223/5.56 reloading earlier in the spring, without sorting anything, loading 24.8 gr (+/- 0.1gr) of Win748 with 55gr FMJBT, so I do have a control group from a much less precise process to compare with this new set and see what all this sorting and weighing really does.

I'm still pretty new at this, but as a machinist, making and tracking precise measurements and variables are not new to me. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

~OpIvy
 
Your case prep routine looks fine. Your accuracy requirements don't really call for sorting cases by weight. I would sort by headstamp, save the commercial cases and load the military cases or the cases with crimped primers. When you start working up a load I would stay with the same weight and brand of bullet.

I doubt that you will see a significant improvement between the loads from last spring and the sorted/weighed cases but you might sort a few to compare.

One of my 223's is a bolt action rifle. It shoots consistent 5/8th inch groups with mis matched military cases loaded on my Dillon. Carefully prepped Lapua brass with weighed charges and match bullets only shave about 1/8th inch to 3/16 off of my groups. From 5/8 down to 1/2 in for the most part.
 
If your only looking for 3 MOA and your not going to sort all your brass by headstamp just load up your workup load in mixed head stamp brass and call it a day. I have worked up loads in the same head stamp brass then switched head stamps and have seen no differences with pressure or POI. For a brass scrounger like me that loads for over 20 calibers I think all this worry about head stamp and case weight is for naught unless your looking to shoot 1000 yards for money, for an average reloader your not going to tell the difference between one head stamp or the other.

In a standard off the shelf AR platform mixed head stamp means even less and without a chrony just looking for pressure signs in the primer and brass you are wasting even more of your time.

Load development at 25 yards is a waste of ammo and time, a crappy load will shoot a one hole group and 25 yards, be ok at 50 and fall apart at 100 yards. At 200 yards your shots might not even be on paper.
 
Your brass prep is nearly the same as mine except I then sort by headstamp and then call it a day. I haven't felt the need to sort by weight as well.
 
I sorted them by weight and headstamp initially, back in the long ago, but I didn’t notice enough of a difference to really make it worth my while.
I still sort the headstamps, but it’s just an OCD thing
 
Your system sounds like what I used to do.
1KPerDay said:
If 3moa is good with you I'd not bother sorting by weight, personally. I probably woudn't even sort by headstamp.
Click to expand...

Then I realized my rifle wasn't capable of sub moa accuracy and 2 moa was a good day. Now I segregate brass that's been reloaded at least once from factory loads so I know which ones need the primer pockets swaged.
 
Only thing you may want to consider with the cleaning and prep process is to trim and chamfer/deburr after the second wet tumbling to remove lube. Even though not using pins, the tumbling process can ding the case mouth and lead to rougher bullet seating.
 
My grandson shoots 223. No searching for head stamps or weighing cases. Load them up, he shoots them and they get reloaded again.
For plinking i don't worry about it.
 
Sons_hammer_sight_in_2_jpg-1503066.jpg
Wildly mixed brass was tumbled, inspected, decapped, decrimped if necessary, and checked for internal stretching. Small base dies. Not trimmed or chamfered, but I did slightly flare the case mouths with the Lee tool, then used the Lee FCD, (boo, hiss, I know), to remove the flare. Load was the Hornaday 55gr SP over 21.5 gr of Reloder 7, for those who want to know, and fired front rested at 50 yards, no magnification. I think that works out to about 3MOA. I don't know of going through it your way would tighten that up a bit, but I might try it next time I find some of those bullets again.

Edit to add, I know three ain't much of a group, but I was actually zeroing a red dot, and we were happy to see the Freedom mid-length PSA really seems to like this load.
 
peels said:
Only thing you may want to consider with the cleaning and prep process is to trim and chamfer/deburr after the second wet tumbling to remove lube. Even though not using pins, the tumbling process can ding the case mouth and lead to rougher bullet seating.
Click to expand...
I also agree with the order you give, but mainly because it is easier to do the trimming and deburring without the lube on the cases.
 
Your process looks good to me.

My fully prepped military cases from the same ammunition lot often give 1 inch five shot groups at 125 yards when fired from the 26" inch barrel of my Remington 700 rifle. The minimally prepped mixed military and commercial head stamp loads usually give <2.5" five shot groups at 125 yards.
 
Looking over some cases I have that are trimmed, but not yet through the 2nd tumblr, vs some trimmed cases that are through the second tumble, I can definitely see the surface roughness that the second tumble creates on the trimmed edge.

And yeah, it definitely takes more grip strength to hold onto lubed cases during trimming. I'm going to switch to that new order of operations: second tumble after resizing but before trimming.

Because I won't be washing off the brass chips I guess I will have to add the step of cleaning inside case necks with a 22 caliber brush after trimming...
 
I like your prep, I like to have a wax or polish on my brass, for both shine and as a protective coating, on the last cleaning use a car wash and wax. I don't seperate by headstamps or weights and dump powder with a Lee disc powder drop and can hold about an inch at 100yrds so with your 3moa standards I feel you are doing extra work.
 
As the others said, if your accuracy goal is 3MOA I wouldn't bother sorting either.

My 3gun match ammo is built similar to the OPs and I've gotten the Hornady 62FMJ down to just under 1.5MOA for 5 rounds. Easily holds on an 8" plate at 300 yards, which is about our highest accuracy requirement at my club. 98% of my match brass is range pick-up stuff at matches and classes. My brass prep is similar:

De-prime
Clean using tumbler SS pins
Check primer pockets, two fold; ID those with crimps to be swaged and remove those with loose pockets before I waste time on them. It's also a chance to inspect for other flaws.
Run through an annealing machine Just because I have no idea of the history of the brass
FL size on Dillon 550
Clean lube off using vibrating tumbler
Run through a Giraud Tri-Way trimmer on a drill press (faster than bothering to measure)
Load on Dillon.

Those with crimps, get culled until I get a chance to swage them.
 
I have to admit, I didn’t expect part of a “mixed headstamp process” being “sort all cases by headstamp.” :)


I'm not looking for sub moa accuracy. Rack grade service rifle standards of 3 moa are good enough for me.
Click to expand...

I concur with #2. My 3 gun ammunition for any stages except a very few is just mixed brass 55gn FMJ loads. I use a Dillon trimmer so I don’t even chamfer or debur and the 1050 keeps from having to cut the pockets or sort out the crimped brass.

That said, your not going to hurt anything continuing as planned, just going to take you longer.
 
As 1K and others have said, a bit OCD, but if it makes you feel better, nothing wrong with it, if you have the time. For 3 MOA , you could probably skip several of those steps.
 
I've been using a couple of batches of mixed LC brass as my 200 yd. across the course load. I shot a very satisfying 196 6X at the reduced 200 yd. target last weekend. 20 rounds prone with a sling, 4x scope, 68 Hornady BTHP and varget.. Most of my group was in a 1 MOA cluster and the 2 9's and 8 were my fault not the rifle or ammo. The brass is sized, trimmed, then loaded as a unit. No sorting or much other prep other than swaging the primer pockets initially.

I'm just saying some of the prep, especially weighing to 1 gr. might not be necessary. It sure can't hurt though.
 
The general theme I'm getting is that the weighing is not necessary, and the headstamp sorting might not be, either.

I'm thinking I'm still going to do the headstamp sorting, maybe not separate groups for every manufacturer. More like sort for the three most common, and everything else gets bunched together.

Partially I'm just curious to see the breakdown of how many of each kind I happen to have. During decapping, just the feel of pressing out a crimped primer vs non crimped tells me 90%ish of what I've got has crimped primers.

I'll freely admit that I may have added some unnecessary steps, but I'm having fun and keeping myself occupied. I've been home full time for 5 months, and am looking at continuing to be home full time for another 8 months.

So, I'm not in a big rush just to get it done for the sake of getting it done. At the very least I can learn what steps may or may not be necessary when it's time to start reloading twice fired brass.
 
I normally sort by headstamp if possible, but shooting the mixed brass has convinced me that you can build some reasonably accurate ammo from mixed brass too.
 
Last edited:
I just sort out the Lake City from the rest and save the LC09, LC13, and LC14 for the hunting loads for my son and I , the rest is mixed together and topped with with 55 FMJ or SP for range/contingency fodder.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

74shooter
  • Locked
5.56 Data
Replies
8
Views
638
irishlad
irishlad
PCCUSNRET
  • Locked
Mixing 223 Headstamps
2
Replies
26
Views
5K
TexasShooter59
T
F
  • Locked
Mixed .223 and 5.56 brass - tips
Replies
22
Views
1K
Highland Lofts
Highland Lofts
AJC1
  • Locked
Mixed headstamp vs single.
Replies
11
Views
537
AJC1
AJC1
J
  • Locked
Loading mixed 223 and 5.56 brass together
Replies
8
Views
8K
homatok
H
Back
Top