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Old May 24, 2014, 11:22 PM   #1
Renegade19sc
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Difference between Military and Commercial 223 Brass

I have a pile of 223 brass and seen some articles about military brass being different to load. My question is how do I tell military brass from commercial. Also what are the differences in loading the two.
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Old May 25, 2014, 12:58 AM   #2
armsmaster270
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Civilian will have 223 Rem stamped on the head and the maker rem, fed, win, speer etc. Military will have Manufacturer WW=winchester, LC=Lake city, FC= Federal and the year of manufacturer Last 2 digits 02, 99 etc. plus the Nato mark which is a circle with a plus sign in it. Also the necks on military brass are annealed which leaves them discolored.
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Old May 25, 2014, 05:53 AM   #3
nemesiss45
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military brass has crimped primer pockets, so you need to ream them before reloading.

I have not measured it, but I've heard the military brass has a smaller case capacity and will thus produce higher pressure than a comparably loaded .223 case. you should be safe working up from a starting load from a manual. you will notice no manuals differentiate between the two (5.56 and .223)
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Old May 25, 2014, 08:20 AM   #4
fretless33
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From what I know about it...smaller because it's a thicker brass
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Old May 25, 2014, 08:47 AM   #5
steve4102
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nemesiss45
I have not measured it, but I've heard the military brass has a smaller case capacity and will thus produce higher pressure than a comparably loaded .223 case. you should be safe working up from a starting load from a manual. you will notice no manuals differentiate between the two (5.56 and .223)
This is another myth that will not die. Military 5.56 brass does not have less internal case capacity then civilian 223 brass. In fact most 5.56 brass has More case capacity the 223 brass.

This is from Sierra.

The conventional wisdom to reduce loads with military brass is familiar to most reloaders and is generally good advice. The rationale here is that the military cases tend to be somewhat thicker and heavier than their civilian counterparts, which in turn reduces capacity and raises pressures. This additional pressure normally requires a one or two grain reduction from the loads shown in most manuals or other data developed with commercial cases. While this is most often the situation with both 308 Winchester and 30-06 cases, it is less true with the 223 brass. We have found that military cases often have significantly more capacity than several brands of commercial brass. Again, take the time to do a side-by-side comparison of the cases you are working with and adjust your load as needed. There may be no need for such a reduction with the 223. Know your components and keep them segregated accordingly.


Link.
http://www.exteriorballistics.com/re...sgunreload.cfm

Here are a couple of charts where internal case capacity was actually tested. You will note that the Military 5.56 brass carried the Highest capacity.





I tested my own brass and this is what I found. Note, the LC 5.56 brass had the highest capacity of the three.

GFL(223) dry weight-102.4gr
With H20-131.4
Case capacity in grains of H20-29gr

Remington(223) Dry weight-95.2gr
With H20-125.1gr
Case capacity in grains of H20-29.9gr

LC(5.56) Dry weight-96.3gr
With H20-126.7gr
Case capacity in grains of H20-30.4gr.


To answer the OP, there is basically no difference as far as case capacity is concerned. Their will be no difference in external dimensions once you run them all through your Full Length sizing die and trim.

The only difference is the crimped primer, once you remove the old primer you must remove the crimp, once.
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Old May 25, 2014, 08:51 AM   #6
thallub
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Quote:
From what I know about it...smaller because it's a thicker brass
That is a popular myth. i've weighed .223/5.56mm cases for 46 years. US military cases are not thicker than commercial cases. He heaviest cases i've weighted were some made by Lapua.

Click Tech, Click Brass Weights Comparison:

http://ar15barrels.com/tech.shtml
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Old May 25, 2014, 09:04 AM   #7
steve4102
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thallub
That is a popular myth. i've weighed .223/5.56mm cases for 46 years. US military cases are not thicker than commercial cases. He heaviest cases i've weighted were some made by Lapua.

Click Tech, Click Brass Weights Comparison:
Note from my personal stash of brass and the chart posted above, there is no direct correlation between case Weight and case capacity. It is not uncommon to see a heavier case with More capacity and verse-visa.
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Old May 25, 2014, 10:05 AM   #8
thallub
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i reload 5,000-10,000 rounds of .223/5.56mm using mostly US military cases every year. Those cases are dated in the 60s and 70s. In addition, i have hundreds of thousands of rounds of 5.56mm ammo. Every US manufacturer from 1964 to the late 1970s is represented. Nearly every year of manufacture is accounted for as well.

Long ago i established a correlation between heavy cases and reduced capacity. Ain't going to change a thing:

BTW: Some S&B cases are very thick. About 15 years ago a few of those cases got into a new batch of reloads. The result was popped primers.
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