How to quickly tell .223 from 5.56 brass..

[tcoz]

Since my brass is all mixed .223 and 5.56, I'm looking for the easiest way to tell them apart so I can separate the ones that I need to remove the military crimp from. My eyes are old and bad so looking for crimped primers doesn't really work, but it looks like all of the .223 brass is head stamped with .223 Rem. The remaining brass appears to have the TINY cross stamped on it which indicate NATO 5.56. Am I right so far? Since I haven't looked at every case that I have, would I be correct to assume that all of the brass would be head stamped in one of these two ways? Is there any .223/5.56 brass that would be stamped with a different designation? I realize thst this is a pretty simple question, but knowing for sure would keep me from running a primer pocket reamer through every case or am I best off just doing that anyway? Thanks in advance.

 

[RainDodger]

To preface this, I use a reamer and not a swager to remove crimps.

Using the reamer, it's easiest to just ream every single case. You know instantly whether there's a crimp that's being removed and it takes less time to just toss it in with the others than it does to sort them all out. Besides, it also cleans out the primer pocket, if you care about that.

That's what I do anyway.

 

[Potatohead]

I just look for the little extra ring of brass around the primer pocket/cup. Still hard to tell sometimes. Are the primers in 223 brass never crimped?

But like Rain said above, i just do every case.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes.
All .223 Rem brass will say on the head stamp.

5.56 can have many different headstamps depending on who made it.
If it's American military, it will have the initials of the company that made it, and the two digit year it was made. (FC 09, LC 69, etc.

It may or may not have the NATO cross on it, depending on if it was military, or commercial.
As well as how old it is.

I have a ton of old GI brass that doesn't have it.

rc

 

[tcoz]

Are the primers in 223 brass never crimped?

My understanding is that brass which is head stamped "223 Rem" is only commercial and not military, therefore it's never crimped. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Potatohead]

Stamped 223 as opposed to what? Having the little Nato symbol? I dont have any brass here, i suppose i could get off my butt and go look at some. I cant really recall what all the stamps say.

 

[kcofohio]

To help your eyes, if you don't already have one. Harbor Freight has a magnifying glass on a base called helping hands. I think they run around $12.

 

[jeeptim]

^^^^what he said^^^^

 

[tcoz]

Stamped 223 as opposed to what? Having the little Nato symbol? I dont have any brass here, i suppose i could get off my butt and go look at some. I cant really recall what all the stamps say.

I just went out and looked at a random sample of my brass. Most is head stamped "223 Rem". The rest is all stamped with two letters followed by two numerals (place & yr of manufacture) and some but not all of those have the NATO cross. None of the "223 Rem" has the cross on it.

 

[tcoz]

To help your eyes, if you don't already have one. Harbor Freight has a magnifying glass on a base called helping hands. I think they run around $12.

I do currently use a magnifying glass, but I still have a hard time always seeing the crimp.

 

[Potatohead]

Sometimes its hard to see the crimp, I agree. Thats why I just do them all.

 

[tcoz]

Based on everybody's comments, it looks like the best policy to just ream all of them. I'm going to be using the Frankford Arsenal Case Prep System so instead of using the included primer pocket cleaner, I'll replace it with the Lyman primer pocket reamer which fits right on. That way I can ream and/or clean the pocket with a single tool. Thanks for the help.

 

[judgedelta]

On a side note. I once bought some once-fired Black Hills Match cases marked ".308 Win.". All were crimped. Brass was made by Winchester for Black Hills. Their .223 match may be the likewise, if they market same...

 

[rondog]

I ream them all too. Probably quicker than eye-inspecting them all first and separating them. Also removes all doubt whether all the crimped pockets were found or not. Commercial .223, the reamer just won't cut anything.

Nicest part is you only have to do them once! Just be sure not to mix any new brass you drag home with your already processed brass until you ream them.

 

[Walkalong]

I run them all through as well. The reamer will either take brass off or not, but either way you are good to go, and no eye strain. I'm with you there on the eyes and reading head stamps.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I haven't found a fast way to tell. My best tool is a magnifier with a lamp built in. Makes it a lot easier. You can't depend on the 223 Rem marking. Some of the FC and Western cases marked 223 have crimps.

Without a visual inspection I use the force of the deprimer to judge. It's not perfect, but usually works.

For a lamp, one of these is about $25. I use a 60W equivalent LED lamp, $10. The light is that much better.

 

[medalguy]

I'm away from home right now but I'm about 99% sure I have some commercial .223 brass that is crimped. Might have a couple of different headstamps but I do remember separating some brass a few months ago. I'll check tomorrow and see but the best way is to just swage all of them. I think you already reached that conclusion.

 

[mstreddy]

The question of whether 223 stamped brass is crimped -- YES, there are a lot of them that are. -- FC from Federal, is marked FC 223 Rem and is mostly all crimped. This comes from Federal's American Eagle brand commercial ammo. There are some PMC that are crimped and some that are not, nearly identical headstamps. I have also ran into some Winchester with crimps. So, if in doubt, assume it's crimped.

 

[Match10]

Lots of .223 brass is crimped, and all military... Just ream it all to remove the crimp.

 

[NWDave]

Another answer to the crimp problem (not exclusive to 5.56) is to get a Dillion 600 swager. It's made life a lot easier especially when you add into the mix, 9mm.

 

[HOWARD J]

I use a magnifying glass from the office supply store
3" in dia.--it has a 1/2 circle near the bottom which is a very powerful maginifer
about $5---I have no trouble seeing a crimp with this.

 

[HexHead]

Another answer to the crimp problem (not exclusive to 5.56) is to get a Dillion 600 swager.

This. I just run all my .223/5.56 through my 600 and not worry about it.

 

[mdm]

Another answer to the crimp problem (not exclusive to 5.56) is to get a Dillion 600 swager.

This. I just run all my .223/5.56 through my 600 and not worry about it.

Any "new" brass I get is run through a Dillon Swager. I've got a magnifier/light similar to the one Jesse Heywood showed but time wise I find it easier to just treat all "new" brass as if it is crimped.

 

[spitballer]

The question of whether 223 stamped brass is crimped -- YES, there are a lot of them that are. -- FC from Federal, is marked FC 223 Rem and is mostly all crimped. This comes from Federal's American Eagle brand commercial ammo. There are some PMC that are crimped and some that are not, nearly identical headstamps. I have also ran into some Winchester with crimps. So, if in doubt, assume it's crimped.

Correct. Federal brass may very well be crimped and may also have oversized flash holes, although the significance of the oversize flash holes remains open to debate.

 

[txwingnut]

so which is better swagging or reaming? Ive done both but started swagging since its faster and just do them all.