how to tell if factory ammunition?

[mohunter55]

i randomly received a bunch of .223 ammunition in loaded ar-15 magazines today(I know this never happens, it was like an undercover Santa at the shooting range). My question is how would i tell if this is new factory ammunition or reloaded ammunition. Is there any kind of test i can do? I'd hate to have to pull all of these, there is somewhere around 150 rounds. The cases are all remington with what look like fmj-hollow point bullets, except for 8 rounds that are winchester with silver cases and black bullets with gray tips, that look like the ballistic tip rounds they sell. If need be I will post pictures tomorrow.

 

[Roccobro]

I can tell by the sheen on the brass if it is "fresh" made from factory. Annealing marks are a good clue too.

Check the extractor groove to see if there are any dings. Most .223 rifles will leave some tell-tale marks there from extraction.

Justin

 

[Brillo]

Yes, check the rim for extractor claw marks, check the body for axial scratching that would normally occur during case resizing or from being pushed out of a magazine (if it was shot through an AR), and check the body for chamber loading and extraction marks. Some of these things can be partially removed in a case tumbling process except for the extractor marks. Also check the mouth to see if the case has been trimmed. Lastly, pull a bullet from one, dump the powder and check the inside of the case for burned powder stains.

 

[Sport45]

i randomly received a bunch of .223 ammunition in loaded ar-15 magazines today(I know this never happens, it was like an undercover Santa at the shooting range).

Does this mean you found five loaded 30-rnd magazines? Were they given to you by folks you know and trust? If so, I'd shoot it whether it was new or not.

BTW, I don't believe there's any such thing as a FMJ-Hollow point. Should be one or the other. The jacket's base is open on a FMJ and the tip is open on a HP. (Got to get the lead in there through one end or the other.) New ammo with HP tips are probably BTHP and could be match ammo. This is not the cheap plinking stuff.

 

[mohunter55]

sorry about the fmj-hollowpoint, they are a jacketed hollow point bullet. As for how i got the rounds, I was talking to a guy at the range about my ar and he had said he had just traded his in on a remington 700 in .308 b/c his wouldnt group well and he no longer had a use for the 5 magazines loaded with ammo...i know, it was completely random.

The cases do appear to be annealed, they are a different color around the mouths, and look like my pmc and seller & bellot ammo, but the cases are stamped remington. The 8 with silver cases look exactly like my .243 winchester ballistic tip ammo. Primers are the same color, bullets are the same color and the cases and everything look brand new, so i think these are good. I will for sure pull one of both and look for powder residue, I'm pretty sure that from looking at my other fired cases, its impossible to have a case taht is completely clean on the inside in .223 after its been fired and ran through a tumbler.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Beelzy]

Yep, pull a bullet and look for a shiny case interior.

 

[mohunter55]

okay, i finally got around to pulling 2 bullets and the insides are shiny, but i have 2 questions still

1. Can i fire a case with a primer, but not powder or bullet...basically i now have 2 cases that i pulled the bullets and want to dispose of the primers and this is probably a dumb question, but i just want to make sure they wont hurt my ar15

2. Is it possible to clean the inside of a case after firing to where it looks new again?

I think i found the round, its a Remington, UMC 50 grain JHP. the powder charges in the 2 rounds i pulled were around 28.2 grains. So i am going to stop by cabelas and pick a box of 20 up and pull 1. I figure if the powder looks the same and ways the same, then i can finally feel safe to fire these.

 

[dakotasin]

yes, you can safely chamber and fire a primer-only case in an ar-15.

 

[Lee Roder]

2. Yes, the carbon is easily removed. I find tumbling wet (rock tumbler) yields better results than does dry media. A little Bar Keeper's Friend doesn't hurt.

 

[mohunter55]

Well, I went and purchased a pack of Remington 50 grain jacketed hollowpoint .223 ammo. On the outside, this ammo looks identical to my cases. I pulled one round and found that the bullet in the newly purhased ammo is slightly longer than the other two i had pulled, but othewise look identical. The powder in the purchased ammo is also around 2 grains less than the free ammo. Also, the case is slightly longer on the puchased ammo that on the free ammo. The inside of both cases look identical (shinny) and the primers are identical. I would have thought that since the free ammos cases were shinny that it meant they were all new, but after what Lee Roder said, it appears i can not go off of that. When comparing the powder of the purchased cases to the free cases, it appears to look like the exact same powder. The thing that really has me thrown off is, is it normal for different lots of the same type ammo do use different length projectiles. The OAL for the purchased and free ammo are all similar, but the fact that the purchased bullet lengths are longer than the free really has me thrown off. I would assume that the free ammo could have been purhased a year or longer ago, but is it normal for companies to switch projectiles??sorry for all the questions...i'd just hate to have to pull 120 rounds especially if they are indeed all new factory rounds, which they appear to be at this point, other than the difference in projetile length. Also, something else i forgot to mention, there appear to be no chamfer & deburring marks...or any indication that they were ever trimmed.

 

[rcmodel]

The cases do appear to be annealed, they are a different color around the mouths,

Stop worrying about it.

If the annealing color is still visible and intact with no sizing die marks, they are factory loads.

Remington / UMC has or does load several different loads with FMJ bullets with different powder charges.
Don't worry about that either.

If the annealing color is intact, and you can find no scratch marks from re-sizing or extraction / ejection marks, they are factory loads.

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

rc

 

[Walkalong]

Getting the inside of the case shiny again is not necassary, unless you just want it to shine. Regular tumbling in corn cob won't do it.

 

[mohunter55]

thanks rc, im just going to go and shoot the darn things this weekend. I'm just a bit paranoid being a new reloader and i tend to treat my ar15 like my baby. Guess thats what happens when you spend 1000 bucks on a gun. I'd hate to imagine what it will be like when i can afford to spend more than that on a gun.