Federal .223 Brass Confusion

[Patriot]

I have FC headstamped .223 brass that for all the world looks like it is crimped. Is this
possible? I thought the only crimped brass was mil brass and all mil brass was dated. I
know/think Federal makes Lake City brass, but does Federal also make military (crimped)
brass and put the FC headstamp on it?

Reason for asking is that I don't feel like swaging the brass if I don't have to. (That's
because I have all my Federal brass mixed, it's a lot, and I don't feel like sorting it either)

Please don't respond if all you are going to do is trash Federal brass as I am aware of all
the posts regarding the "thin web". etc.

 

[Steve_P]

I believe that I have read reports on ARF.com of people finding federal brass in the 200rd wally-world value packs that were stamped FC with crimped primers.
I also seem to remember that some of those packs had LC brass as well.

Steve

 

[Supermoto]

Its crimped

 

[EddieCoyle]

TBP, if you're not going to load it, I'll take it off your hands. I'll load FC once if I know for a fact that it's once-fired.

 

[Patriot]

TBP, if you're not going to load it, I'll take it off your hands. I'll load FC once if I know for a fact that it's once-fired.

EC,

I'm going to load it regardless. I have a lot of it and I was wondering what was the deal
on the crimping. As Steve P said, FC was/is loading commercial brass with crimped primers
(so it seems) and also using some of the LC brass with crimped primers. It's necessary to
take what you read on the web these days with a grain of salt so I am still skeptical as I
should be.

I have loaded a wide variety of brass headstamps over the last month (mil & non-mil) and
I am keeping them separate so I can evaluate how they fare with respect to the times
reloaded. Some (a few) mil cases were already reloaded (you can tell by the swaging of
the crimp) but I checked them carefully and the few I did load would not alter my results
much (~1%). All the others I believe to be once fired.

After trimming/de-burring/chamfering I take four cases at a time in my hand and rotate them
in my hand under a bench inspection light/magnifier and examine the brass very carefully
to make sure I cannot detect anything that has the slightest deviation from norm. If they
do, into the scrap bin it goes.

After loading the same inspection process takes place with the fully loaded round.

What is particularly frustrating is that, on the web, there are so many conflicting accounts
of the different kinds of brass being "the best", "the worst". and everything else in between.

I've read so much my head is spinning so given the variety of brass I have in my possession
at this point I thought I would make it a point to see if I could sort out some of this stuff
for myself.

EC, have you ever tried to load the federal brass more than once? If so, what were the results?

 

[Patriot]

Its crimped

Thanks SM,

I believe it to be so, but was hoping it wasn't. Time to break out the swager again I guess.

TBP

 

[EddieCoyle]

EC, have you ever tried to load the federal brass more than once? If so, what were the results?

I had separated out all of my FC brass based on other people's recommendations. I kept it rather than scrapping it, and later loaded a bunch of it for an event where I knew I wasn't going to pick up my brass.

Now, I don't know how many times some of this stuff was loaded, but the primers were very loose - a few even fell out. Most of it seemed fine, but I've decided that I'm not going to screw with it more than once after the initial firing.

 

[Patriot]

Its crimped

SM,

Would you know if the crimped stuff is the 'better' FC brass even though it doesn't have the
mil dating on it or if it is just the inferior brass that is crimped as well?

Thanks,

TBP

 

[Supermoto]

SM,

Would you know if the crimped stuff is the 'better' FC brass even though it doesn't have the
mil dating on it or if it is just the inferior brass that is crimped as well?

Thanks,

TBP

I believe it is inferior, I throw it away after the initial firing. Not going to risk a case seperation on cheap brass.

 

[Patriot]

I believe it is inferior, I throw it away after the initial firing. Not going to risk a case separation on cheap brass.

Very interesting! Isn't the knock on the FC brass the thinner web? That doesn't seem like it
would affect outside case strength. I haven't mic'ed the case thickness but maybe I will
on some different manufacturers cases.

 

[Supermoto]

Very interesting! Isn't the knock on the FC brass the thinner web? That doesn't seem like it
would affect outside case strength. I haven't mic'ed the case thickness but maybe I will
on some different manufacturers cases.

Thinner all around, soft brass. Doesn't hold up well to multiple reloads, supposely you can get 2 reloads out of them, before the primer pocket become to loose to hold a primer. I figure it not worth the effort to swage them, only to reload them once, I should keep them for lost brass matches, but I know they would get mixed in with the other brass. So I just chuck them.

I would be interested to see how they mic'ed after 2 reloads with resizing

 

[Fixxah]

Is there anybody who makes reloadable (more than once) in 5.56? I plan on reloading ammo for A3 and don't want to be tossing it out without geting three or four cycles in the press. Is this wishful thinking on my part? Sorry if I am off topic Richard.

John

 

[Supermoto]

Is there anybody who makes reloadable (more than once) in 5.56? I plan on reloading ammo for A3 and don't want to be tossing it out without geting three or four cycles in the press. Is this wishful thinking on my part? Sorry if I am off topic Richard.

John

Lake City
Prvi
Remington
Winchester

they all will get multiple firings

 

[Fixxah]

Lake City
Prvi
Remington
Winchester

they all will get multiple firings

When you say multiple can you put a ballpark number on it? I won't be loading for max. pressure but for accuracy.

 

[Supermoto]

When you say multiple can you put a ballpark number on it? I won't be loading for max. pressure but for accuracy.

Depends on how you and your chamber treat your brass. If you bump the shoulder too much, or have a large chamber, then it will put more stress on the brass. If you are shooting an Auto, the timing will effect the stress the extractor puts on the rim.

you need to keep an eye on the brass, it will let you know when its time to go.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Lake City
Prvi
Remington
Winchester

they all will get multiple firings

S&B is good too.

 

[Jasper]

FWIW, i've found out a large percentage of PMC brass is crimped too.

EC: oddball Q, but what do you use equipment-wise to prep your .223? i've been searching for a rockchucker on craigslist/ebay, but i'm gonna need a few extras (dies, obvously, and a case trimmer, deburring tools, etc).

 

[EddieCoyle]

FWIW, i've found out a large percentage of PMC brass is crimped too.

EC: oddball Q, but what do you use equipment-wise to prep your .223? i've been searching for a rockchucker on craigslist/ebay, but i'm gonna need a few extras (dies, obvously, and a case trimmer, deburring tools, etc).

My progressive press is a Hornady L-N-L, so I use a Hornady single stage because I already have the bushings on all my dies.

 

[BIG GUN]

I make a point of using Federal brass in reloading 223, forming 6.5 & 7mm TCU for my Contender barrels. I have reloaded them more than five times with no issues. No experience w/AR's

 

[BoB13]

I got 2 reloads out of FC AE brass and then the primers were to loose to do a 3rd

Into the scrap bucket......