I was away from reloading because of medical problems between approximately 1993 and 2015.
I have been gradually picking back up the cartridges and I used to load (as well as learning 9mm Parabellum from scratch). I just bought a 250 round batch of "once-fired" .223 brass and I dug out another 200 rounds that I had been working on back in 1993.
I assume any brass advertised as "once fired" is really "fired at least once, maybe much more" and closely inspect it. Between visual checks, the bent paperclip check and micrometer measurements, I typically discard 15% of an order of "once fired" brass.
The newer once-fired brass was mostly FC .223 REM headstamp while the older brass was a mixture of LC74, LC78 and LC80 (roughly 50 of each) with a few others (including four LC69s that belong in a museum). I keep a checklist with each batch of cases so I knew the next step for the brass was to be trimmed. I set up my Forster case trimmer to 1.750 (per Hornady manual, 4th Edition) and trimmed all the brass.
I noticed the FC brass was barely touched by the cutter. I take it that means it really was a first firing or had recently been trimmed before the last time it was loaded.
The older LC brass generated a considerable pile of brass shavings. When I saw how much brass was being trimmed, I thought a set screw on the trimmer had come loose, but the trimmed cases were all coming out 1.750, so I spot checked the length of the remaining un-trimmed cases and found them to all be 1.760 or greater. One was 1.771! I checked them with a bent paperclip a second time and found no perceptible case wall thinning.
Since there are a lot of variables (i.e. light vs. maximum loading, chamber dimensions, carbide vs. steel expander, etc.), I never thought to try and work out how much a case lengthens with each firing.
Has anyone tracked this?
If so, does anyone have an idea of a "typical" or "average" amount by which a .223 case lengthens on each firing?
Thanks.
I have been gradually picking back up the cartridges and I used to load (as well as learning 9mm Parabellum from scratch). I just bought a 250 round batch of "once-fired" .223 brass and I dug out another 200 rounds that I had been working on back in 1993.
I assume any brass advertised as "once fired" is really "fired at least once, maybe much more" and closely inspect it. Between visual checks, the bent paperclip check and micrometer measurements, I typically discard 15% of an order of "once fired" brass.
The newer once-fired brass was mostly FC .223 REM headstamp while the older brass was a mixture of LC74, LC78 and LC80 (roughly 50 of each) with a few others (including four LC69s that belong in a museum). I keep a checklist with each batch of cases so I knew the next step for the brass was to be trimmed. I set up my Forster case trimmer to 1.750 (per Hornady manual, 4th Edition) and trimmed all the brass.
I noticed the FC brass was barely touched by the cutter. I take it that means it really was a first firing or had recently been trimmed before the last time it was loaded.
The older LC brass generated a considerable pile of brass shavings. When I saw how much brass was being trimmed, I thought a set screw on the trimmer had come loose, but the trimmed cases were all coming out 1.750, so I spot checked the length of the remaining un-trimmed cases and found them to all be 1.760 or greater. One was 1.771! I checked them with a bent paperclip a second time and found no perceptible case wall thinning.
Since there are a lot of variables (i.e. light vs. maximum loading, chamber dimensions, carbide vs. steel expander, etc.), I never thought to try and work out how much a case lengthens with each firing.
Has anyone tracked this?
If so, does anyone have an idea of a "typical" or "average" amount by which a .223 case lengthens on each firing?
Thanks.
