Military Brass Rant!!

[BsChoy]

I just ran into the same problem loading commercial federal brass that I have heard everyone else have. The primer pockets were too lose after 2 loadings to use anymore. So I tried some LC06 from my departmental rifle range. After prepping I got no less than 10 primers stuck half in and half out of the primer pocket, had to scrap one piece of brass cuz the primer got squished, and I cut my hands twice (DON'T ASK!). No more I am a commercial 223 man all the way now!

Anyone need 2500 rounds of LC and FC 05,06 brass?

 

[Adventurer_96]

Send them to me. Seriously!

 

[dcloco]

Have you purchased a primer pocket swager yet? I HIGHLY recommend the Dillon.

 

[musher]

Before you give away your brass, you should know that most military brass has crimps that hold the primer in.

You can usually deprime w/o too much difficulty pushing the old primer past the crimp, but putting in a new one isn't very workable as you've discovered.

Get a primer pocket swaging tool, or a primer pocket reamer. Either of these tools will remove the little ridge on the inside of the primer pocket and turn that LC brass into great reloading stock.

 

[Steve in PA]

Nothing wrong with military brass as long as you know how to prep the cases for reloading.

 

[cmb3366]

If you are serious about getting rid of the brass, I'd be interested in the Lake City.

 

[mc223]

Mil brass does take a bit of effort to prep. Removing the primer pocket crimp only has to be done once. It can be easily accomplished with a regular case chamfer tool or even easier with a chamfer tool that will fit in a hand drill or easier still with any of the various primer pocket swage tools. The primer pocket reamer in a hand drill is likely the most economical, and if done with small quantities in short sessions will be less tedious. Or you could send it to me and we'll work a trade for some that is already prepped.

 

[LexDiamonds]

I'd also be interested in any brass that has fallen out of favor with you... more than willing to pay shipping and some cash for your troubles. Drop me a email--- [email protected]

 

[dmftoy1]

I wish you were closer . .I'd loan you my Dillon SS and you could run through them while watching TV. If they're all of a uniform length you can do about one every 2-3 seconds and you don't even have to look at what you're doing. FWIW.

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[BsChoy]

I appreciate the posts guys but, I have prepped mil brass before and don't remember the pockets being this tough to ream out and I am not paying that much for a dillon that I won/t use that much. None the less I am going commercial again. That much brass isn't going free either I will post it in the for sale section.

 

[Doug b]

Curious here my friend, what primer are you using?

 

[BsChoy]

federal 205's, standard not match.

 

[Doug b]

The reason I asked

is I have noticed after using all brands of primers in many different rounds I have noticed the hard cups of cci primers tend to ware the pockets faster than others.

 

[alsaqr]

" It can be easily accomplished with a regular case chamfer tool or even easier with a chamfer tool"

i use mostly military 5.56mm military cases. Just chuck the chamfering tool in a drill press. It takes about three seconds and the crimp is gone. i like this method better than the primer pocket swage.

 

[nitesite]

Last night and this morning I cut the primer crimps on 400 Lake City once-fired cases. I used a case neck deburring/chamfer tool in a drill press. Like the above post said, a few seconds each and it's done. It's a pain but I don't see a primer pocket swager on my horizon until next year. Besides, this is just as fast and works well even when I prime with CCI#41s.

Almost all of the 250 once fired LC was too long and therefore had to be trimmed after just the first shot. Whew, that was a lot of work but it's now complete and tumbled again, waiting for primers.

The other 150 cases were FC .223 nickel plated cases and they had crimped primers as well. But every single one of them was under the 1.755" measurement I set on my micrometer so at least I didn't have to trim those! I think the premium Federal ammunition is made with the assumption of being fired in bolt guns with .223 chambers, so the OAL case length begins with shorter brass than LC does with 5.56mm cases.

 

[RustyFN]

I use a dull drill bit to remove the primer crimp. It is very fast and won't remove to much. LC brass is great brass, I would rethink this.
Rusty

 

[Lennyjoe]

I use 5.56 brass from our range exclusively and have only on a couple of occasions had CCI primers go half in. Rest of the time I've seated them with no problems. This is using LC 03 brass.