.223 Case Length

[Uncle Chan]

Good evening colleagues!

I've several thousand once-fired .223 cases which I'm working on loading. The manuals say that I should trim the cases to 1.75. I diligently went through and measure every single one of them and although some of them are 1.75, most are 1.74 and some are 1.765. My question is simply this, if the "trim to" length is considerably more than the actual case length, will that be a problem?

I'm loading them with H335 and Hornady 55gr JSP for my Mini-14.

Any advice will be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks Kindly,
Uncle Chan

 

[WNTFW]

Max Length is the concern as far as safety. Too long is the danger zone. You "should" be able to use 1.740" but my reloading books aren't with me & I don't 100% trust my memory.

 

[Uncle Chan]

Thanks WNTFW, that was my assumption as well.

U.C.

 

[jeepmor]

I am in a similar boat, but it's not quite as full. I just went through 1000 or so mixed 223 brass and found the same; some short, some in spec, some a little long. I sorted all the long ones out, 1.76 or greater, and trimmed them to 1.750.

An attempt at an Answer to your question-
I don't know exactly what the chamber spec is, but if the case is too long in the neck, it could cause the case to headspace off the bullet neck instead of the bottleneck portion of the case.

My RCBS trimming datasheet says trim if it's over 1.760 down to 1.750. I only trimmed those over the 1.760 spec even though I could trim nearly all of them, I simply don't want to since brass trimming is so much fun.

I set a quart tin aside of same stamp cases for formulating my uber-accurate loads to reduce cross lot variations with different head stamped brass. These are all trimmed to spec and will get the flash holes chamfered before they get employed at their pill hurling duties.

 

[WNTFW]

I'm reloading .223 to fit in any AR or Mini-14 with a good chamber.
If you are loading for a specific rifle & determine the chamber dimensions of it you can adjust accordingly. I got a case guage - the round type that you put the case into. It is good for a newbie like myself. I caught a couple of rounds that had bad rims.
1 piece of advice I took was to buy some new brass to start with. Even though I had range pickup. I still had to size & trim, but it is a good way to start. It reduces some variables.
Someone that reloads .45acp couldn't understand why I was making reloading so complex, they got a set of .223 dies & now they get that it is not so simple.
Later,
WNTFW

 

[Uncle Chan]

Thanks all for your replies.

I did the same. Anything over 1.75 got trimmed down. Everything under 1.75, well, was just under.

I have several thousand cases, all federal, all once-fired. I can't put them aside and buy new. Right now, it costs me .20/rnd. Buying new would jump that up to about .45/rnd. That's a bit costly for me. I'll just take the time and make these work.

They are going into my daily plinker, so I'm not worried about accuracy as much as pure fun. Might take out a 'yote or two with it as well.

Thanks again,
U.C.

 

[Roadkill]

I have several thousand cases, all federal, all once-fired.

Watch them after the second load. The primer pockets will stretch and the primers can fall out after firing, get into the fire control assembly and cause your AR to go full auto. I finally tossed all my federal brass. Its good for one, two at most loadings.

 

[amlevin]

Don't worry about those cases that are a little under 1.750", after a firing or two they will "grow up".

I have several thousand .223 cases I load for my CAR-15. I have a caliper that I locked at 1.755" and use it as a quick check gauge when inspecting cases. Those that fit go into the "Ready Bin", those that don't go into the "Trim Bin". I then trim a large batch at one sitting. I found that anything over 1.760 is a real pain in the a$$. On my carbine it keeps the bolt from going fully to battery and causes a stoppage. By using the 1.755" as a go, no-go point I am insuring that no long cases get passed the inspection process.

Mileage may vary from gun to gun.

 

[kelbro]

My experiences with Federal .223 mirror those of Roadkill. Loose primer pockets after one or two loads due to the softness of the brass. Too much work prepping brass for it not to last at least 5 loads. Especially if it's the Fed American Eagle that requires primer pocket swaging. I have gone 10-12 loads on Win/Rem/LC brass without a problem. Now, I just scrap it if it say FC.

 

[taliv]

i trim my 223 brass to 1.738" for use in AR15s.

 

[P-32]

I'm going to mirror what the others have said about Federal 223 brass. It's worth more as scrape. I will never use Federal 223 brass for anything important again. I learned this at Perry last year.