Crimped Primers

Bucksnort1 · August 2, 2014, 06:12 PM

U.S. military 223 brass, made by U.S. manufacturers, has crimped primers. Can anyone provide a list of other manufacturers who crimp primers for any reason? Someone said PMC has 223 crimped primers.

Marco Califo · August 2, 2014, 06:34 PM

Military ammo is crimped to hold primers in during full auto firing. Thus military manufacturers (Lake City US Army Ammo plant, and Israeli Military Industries) usually have crimped primers. They may not in certain special circumstances like match ammo for competitions. Commercial makers never crimp ammo. There is a third category, like Federal stamped F C 0 9, which is used for US military training (XM193 spec, which is not NATO spec): it is crimped and I am reaming some right now.
So no, there is not a list. But my RP and Win never had crimps.
NATO spec with the circled cross is almost always crimped.
Yes, it is a PITA, but you fix it once and then you have the best brass available. Here is all you need to fix the crimps (plus a drill). It takes about ONE second of drilling per case.

Bucksnort1 · August 2, 2014, 08:53 PM

Marco Califo, thanks for the quick response. I recycle the military brass I find and keep only RP and Winchester thinking it is not crimped, which you verified. Last year, I found some Federal (I think it was) with a circle but without the cross. Is this military ammo?

Jim243 · August 3, 2014, 01:15 AM

Quote:

I recycle the military brass I find and keep only RP and Winchester thinking it is not crimped

Get a Lee "Universal De-Capping Die", while crimped cases are harder to decap, the UDD will do the job without breaking the pin, and you will have a lot more brass that you can reload. Removing the crimp is not that hard. You could just use the right size screw driver to do it with.

Jim

Gary L. Griffiths · August 3, 2014, 02:40 PM

Wolf Gold ammo is marked .223, but it has crimped primers. PMC X-Tac (5.56mm) ammo has crimped primers, but Bronze (.223) does not.

Jay24bal · August 4, 2014, 09:31 PM

I have seen a lot of federal marked .223 (not marked 5.56) cases with crimps lately.

August 2, 2014, 06:12 PM	#1
Bucksnort1 Senior Member Join Date: July 8, 2013 Location: Littleton, Colorado Posts: 1,121	Crimped Primers U.S. military 223 brass, made by U.S. manufacturers, has crimped primers. Can anyone provide a list of other manufacturers who crimp primers for any reason? Someone said PMC has 223 crimped primers.

August 2, 2014, 08:53 PM	#3
Bucksnort1 Senior Member Join Date: July 8, 2013 Location: Littleton, Colorado Posts: 1,121	Crimped Primers Marco Califo, thanks for the quick response. I recycle the military brass I find and keep only RP and Winchester thinking it is not crimped, which you verified. Last year, I found some Federal (I think it was) with a circle but without the cross. Is this military ammo?

August 3, 2014, 02:40 PM	#5
Gary L. Griffiths Senior Member Join Date: April 7, 2000 Location: AZ, WA Posts: 1,466	Wolf Gold ammo is marked .223, but it has crimped primers. PMC X-Tac (5.56mm) ammo has crimped primers, but Bronze (.223) does not. __________________ Violence is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and valorous feeling which believes that nothing is worth violence is much worse. Those who have nothing for which they are willing to fight; nothing they care about more than their own craven apathy; are miserable creatures who have no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the valor of those better than themselves. Gary L. Griffiths (Paraphrasing John Stuart Mill)

August 4, 2014, 09:31 PM	#6
Jay24bal Senior Member Join Date: December 13, 2011 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 735	I have seen a lot of federal marked .223 (not marked 5.56) cases with crimps lately. __________________ I like guns. Once Fired Brass, Top quality, Fast shipping, Best prices. http://300AacBrass.com/ -10% Coupon use code " Jay24bal "