223 Headstamps from OFB

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Bob in MO

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It was recommended that after I clean OFB that I sort it.
Well, I've done that on half of a 500 lot and here's what I got.
  • WMA 50 pieces
  • FC 50 pieces
  • Winchester 50 pieces
  • Frontier 5.56 40 pieces
  • Hornady < 10
  • LC < 10
  • PAC
  • RP
  • WCC
I understand that I should keep the 5.56 separate but can I group any of the others together?
 
It depends on what you are using it for. Blasting ammo in an AR, I use it all. Precision from a bolt, I’d see what you have the most of and if it is better than blasting ammo grade go from there. I sort LC for my bolt and the rest for the AR.
 
Same here. I keep the LC-19 together (only because I have the most of that year since I bought a bunch of it in the form of factory ammo a while back). Then I keep the "other" year LC all together. Everything else gets lumped together to get used for blasting ammo.

I save the LC-19 mainly for working up loads to remove a variable. The "other" LC headstamps I save for long range/high accuracy loads (batches loaded in matching year cases).

I have a bunch of Aguilla cases i keep seperate too since I bought some of that a while back, but I don't like them.... primers don't seat smoothly in them despite removing the crimps, and the flash holes are very often pretty far off-center. Just my experience, YMMV.

Oh! I also keep a jug of cases that are too short, in case I ever get into 300BO. I may just load some of the "less offensive offenders" up and shoot them anyway, and recycle the rest. Might be good ammo to use in situations where you're unlikely to be able to recover your brass.
 
I sort all my brass, even the range brass I pick up. If I have enough of the same brass headstamp, I'll put them in a ziploc bag and label it. If it is mine, I will label it as 2nd time firing, 3rd time, etc. Basically, you want to maintain consistency. Each firing, the brass might stretch a bit, so you should keep the brass separated by number of firings.
If I have less than about 20 of the same, I'll just chunk it all together, really just to save it for when I might run out of "good" brass.
 
Bob in MO said:
It was recommended that after I clean OFB that I sort it.
Well, I've done that on half of a 500 lot and here's what I got.
  • WMA 50 pieces
  • FC 50 pieces
  • Winchester 50 pieces
  • Frontier 5.56 40 pieces
  • Hornady < 10
  • LC < 10
  • PAC
  • RP
  • WCC
I understand that I should keep the 5.56 separate but can I group any of the others together?
Click to expand...
The best answer I can give you is to volume test te cases with water and group according to volume. Depending on your sport will change your requirements. You dont need to do them all... 5 of each brand should tell you what you need.
 
For whatever reason, a high percentage of the FC .223/5.56 brass I pick up at the range is too short after re-sizing. Anybody else find this to be the case?
 
As others have said it depends on your what your goals are. The reason you want to keep the military range brass separate is so you know which ones to remove the primer crimps although some commercial brass also crimp their primers. The reason people separate their brass is so they will get more consistent weight thus more consistent internal volumes that will produce more consistent pressures and better accuracy. But this really works better in theory than in practice. If you weight 10 cases from the same manufacturer you will find a range of variation is case weights. Some manufacturers cases vary more than others. There is actually articles on the web about whose brass is most consistent but I am to lazy to look for it right now. If you are really concerned with accuracy buy good quality brass instead of using range brass. If you are just loading plinking ammo you can mix it all together once you remove the crimps. Although some people still choose to keep them separate. That is really personal preference.
 
Sorry, Harriw, I don't reload 223, but I have loaded many 308 FC brass and every one of them had to be trimmed after full length sizing. Maybe you have really short chamber. If it loads, chambers, and cycles good, I wouldn't worry too much. I always worry about trimming so much that eventually, I am losing too much brass.
 
BigAlShooter said:
Sorry, Harriw, I don't reload 223, but I have loaded many 308 FC brass and every one of them had to be trimmed after full length sizing. Maybe you have really short chamber. If it loads, chambers, and cycles good, I wouldn't worry too much. I always worry about trimming so much that eventually, I am losing too much brass.
Click to expand...

No, this is all range scrap FC I'm picking up that's coming up short... Not stuff I fired myself (though I've gone through a few boxes of Federal Eagle myself and noticed the same thing after sizing them as well). Could just be a batch that made it to one of our local stores or something I guess. Agreed - I'm sure it would work just fine - I just segregate them from the stuff that gets trimmed to length.
 
There's no real reason to separate 5.56 from .223 brass, weights and capacities overlap.

I separate mine by headstamp and year (if stamped) for accuracy and ease of loading, but if I was going to load mixed brass I wouldn't bother with separating military from civilian or 5.56 from .223.

Unlike 7.62x51 and .308 there's no need.

Lots of .223 has crimped primers nowadays, separating them out is just part of the inspection process.
 
Harriw said:
For whatever reason, a high percentage of the FC .223/5.56 brass I pick up at the range is too short after re-sizing. Anybody else find this to be the case?
Click to expand...

Almost all the FC I bought and picked up measures in, after resizing, at around 1.742. Occasionally 1.738. I use 'em all.

Someone here will ask you what is too short?
 
1.750 is what I trim to. I'll keep stuff in as low as 1.745, but anything shorter than that I toss in the "too short" bin. I know I'm probably being overly cautious, but i figured why not keep the lengths uniform if I'm going to the trouble to trim them in the first place.
 
Swampman said:
Unlike 7.62x51 and .308 there's no need.
.
Click to expand...
This confuses me... I separate all brass but segregating 308 but not 223 is a real head scratcher... could you explain.
My main reason for separation of all types involves brass formula and thickness. This effects volume, neck tension and annealing times...
 
AJC1 said:
This confuses me... I separate all brass but segregating 308 but not 223 is a real head scratcher... could you explain.
My main reason for separation of all types involves brass formula and thickness. This effects volume, neck tension and annealing times...
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but I took his statement to mean "unlike the need to segregate 7.62x51 brass FROM .308 brass, there's no need to separate 5.56 brass from .223 brass."
 
Harriw said:
I could be wrong, but I took his statement to mean "unlike the need to segregate 7.62x51 brass FROM .308 brass, there's no need to separate 5.56 brass from .223 brass."
Click to expand...
556 and 223 run at different pressures. 7.62 x51 and 308 run at the same pressure.... still curious.
 
Harriw, you want to measure the brass after resizing if you are not. Another thing is if you can get at least 1 caliber of neck in contact with the side of the bullet and neck tension is good you can use that brass safely. It can be shorter than min bit not over max length. What is critical is the shoulder position as that sets the headspace in 223/5.56.
OP I seperate by military or commercial and use the commercial as blasting ammo. I process the military brass to a much higher degree.
 
FROGO207 said:
Harriw, you want to measure the brass after resizing if you are not. Another thing is if you can get at least 1 caliber of neck in contact with the side of the bullet and neck tension is good you can use that brass safely. It can be shorter than min bit not over max length. What is critical is the shoulder position as that sets the headspace in 223/5.56.
OP I seperate by military or commercial and use the commercial as blasting ammo. I process the military brass to a much higher degree.
Click to expand...

Thanks Frogo207 - I am indeed measuring after sizing. I hadn't seen that one-caliber-neck-length tidbit before though - thanks! I'll pull some of my "short" cases out and see if I can't use some of them up :) Neck tension is excellent on my proper-length cases but I'll test some short cases too before using them.
 
AJC1 said:
556 and 223 run at different pressures. 7.62 x51 and 308 run at the same pressure.... still curious.
Click to expand...

Swampman said:
Even though exterior dimensions are the same, 7.62x51 brass is generally heavier and thicker than .308.
Click to expand...

There can be significant differences between military (7.62mm) and commercial (.308) brass, and between manufacturers within those groups. .225/5.56mm not so much.

Personally, I segregate all mine (5.56mm) by headstamp, but load it all the same... but I also don't pick up range brass, I only shoot MY brass that I've sourced from factory ammos. I do not trust range rifle brass. I'm also quite picky when it comes to headstamps...

As far as the OP's stash... I'd keep the WMA/WCC/Winchester together, the FC/LC together, and junk the rest of it, or bag it and save it for Just In Case.
 
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