The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Brass in .223 Remington

pathdoc · June 9, 2014, 06:19 PM

Thanks all for your insights.

Am not in the US, so election year issues aren't as pertinent here (no fixed cycle in a Commonwealth Parliament; if the Prime Minister screws up and loses the confidence of the House, he could potentially find himself out of a job tomorrow with an election being called not long after).

Brands I found included Hornady, Nosler and even a handful of Barnes. Military headstamps really were grossly in the minority, but oddly enough I found the Hornady and Nosler primers really hard to knock out with a Lee Loader (the dies for my press are on backorder, and until they arrive I'll only be loading factory fodder that's shot in my rifle). That implied that there was some sort of crimping applied, and indeed some of the primers were rather oddly shaped when they came out (unlike the Large Rifle primers I load into - or find in - my .303 British cases).

I'm aware of the whole 5.56/.223 difference thing, but given that I'd be batching my cases anyway and working up loads for each from minimum, I can't see myself getting into too much trouble regarding pressure. And everything I pick up at the range is going through the full-length resize and trim cycle, so any external differences should get sorted out at that point.

June 9, 2014, 06:19 PM	#9
pathdoc Senior Member Join Date: February 12, 2013 Posts: 669	Thanks all for your insights. Am not in the US, so election year issues aren't as pertinent here (no fixed cycle in a Commonwealth Parliament; if the Prime Minister screws up and loses the confidence of the House, he could potentially find himself out of a job tomorrow with an election being called not long after). Brands I found included Hornady, Nosler and even a handful of Barnes. Military headstamps really were grossly in the minority, but oddly enough I found the Hornady and Nosler primers really hard to knock out with a Lee Loader (the dies for my press are on backorder, and until they arrive I'll only be loading factory fodder that's shot in my rifle). That implied that there was some sort of crimping applied, and indeed some of the primers were rather oddly shaped when they came out (unlike the Large Rifle primers I load into - or find in - my .303 British cases). I'm aware of the whole 5.56/.223 difference thing, but given that I'd be batching my cases anyway and working up loads for each from minimum, I can't see myself getting into too much trouble regarding pressure. And everything I pick up at the range is going through the full-length resize and trim cycle, so any external differences should get sorted out at that point.