Toss .223 Cases That Are Too Short?

[Louca]

I am new to reloading .223/5.56 cases and I came upon a few pieces of once fired brass that measure an average total length of 1.740 inches after full-length resizing. I know the published case length is 1.760 inches, and almost all the cases I have seen have needed various amounts of length trimming.

I had 17 cases (stamped .223 REM) that measured anywhere from 1.738 inches to 1.743 inches in length (standard deviation of 2.029 inches).

My question is should I toss these? They seem very short to me and I am suspicious. These will be fired in an AR chambered for .223 Wylde so I am not looking for benchrest performance. But if precision is affected by the relatively short cases, I will not use them. Opinions? Advice?

Lou

 

[jwrowland77]

Nah you can just send them to me and I'll dispose of them properly. Lol.

Nah, just load them up and shoot'em. You'll be fine.

 

[rcmodel]

If you are not crimping them too the bullets in your seating die?
Choot'm till you lose'm.
Case length variation less then the 1.760 MAX is only critical if you are crimping.

Won't hurt a thing.

Just insure you have proper case-neck tension after sizing & expanding.

rc

 

[Louca]

Will do. Thanks guys!

 

[jeeptim]

I would love to find brass that short. Shoot em heck yeah you can get several reloads befor having to trim.
Trimming can be a pain.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

If you don't want to load the short cases there are several of us who would cut the down to make .300 AAC.

 

[Paddy]

I'm becoming addicted to forming AAC300 cases!

 

[mstreddy]

Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking when I saw the post -- short 223 cases = 300 blackout.

 

[AlliedArmory]

Since I started brass processing for people, I have noticed that FC brass is generally short. Even after a FL resize it will measure in the 1.745 range.

SAAMI minimum is listed as 1.740 so load it up and you will be fine.

 

[GLOOB]

I have picked up IMI brass that was under 1.730". And that wasn't the weird part. They looked OF'd to me, but dropping them into a case gauge, the shoulders were pushed back a good 20-30ish mics too short.

 

[Hondo 60]

If you don't want to load the short cases there are several of us who would cut the down to make .300 AAC

They're great for making 7.62x25 Tokarev cases too.

 

[edfardos]

I trim to 1.743 or so, and never have to cut them ever again.