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Old May 24, 2007, 07:59 PM   #1
oldcars
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What kind of 223 brass is best?

I have a few thousand rounds of empty .223 & 5.56 brass, and I am going to start loading for a Stevens model 200 , Mini 14's and an AR15 Bushmaster. My plan was to sort threw the brass and pick one kind to use for the Stevens for varmint accuracy with 53g hollowpoints, and use all of the rest with 55g fmj as plinker rounds for the auto's. I have all sorts of brass, mostly range found stuff. What is a good brand to use that is a commercially produced ammo ( I don't want to buy any more brass). Remington? Winchester? Does it matter?
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Old May 24, 2007, 08:35 PM   #2
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I have had no problems with Winchester and have heard that thier brass is pretty good too.
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Old May 24, 2007, 10:04 PM   #3
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To sort for accuracy, I would take the brand I had the most of and sort it by weight, Once you have it sorted you will know what weight you have the most of and then just decide how much variance you canhave and still have enough brass for your use. Use all the rest for plinker stuff
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Old May 24, 2007, 11:42 PM   #4
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My only .223 is a mini-14, so whatever range pick-up stuff I can find is good enough.
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Old May 25, 2007, 03:31 AM   #5
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I too likd Winchester brass. It is a little easier to come by but the guys here that really, Really, REALLY split hairs over accuracy say Lake City.
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Old May 25, 2007, 07:33 AM   #6
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I use Winchester and Remington brass almost exclusively, and both are so good that I doubt there is any one I would have a preference over. I don’t shoot anything from an autoloader though, so there may be something a little better or more durable for that.
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Old May 25, 2007, 04:32 PM   #7
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What kind is best? FREE

Winchester brass tends to be very uniform in case weight within a given lot. Range pickups give no assurance of same lot. This uniformity in case weight will likely not be noticed by the average plinker or even in shorter range target shooting. The differences show up in verticle dispersion at longer ranges like 300yds and more and maybe a bit shorter in some cases.
Lake City brass is very uniform within years of production. Some lots will weigh very heavy and some not. I use Lake City 04 brass for longer range shooting because that is what I have the most of.
Federal brass is produced at Lake City, but is softer in the head area, and will not tolerate very many loadings as the primer pockets will give out early.
Radway is Ok, just not very uniform in weight even within a lot, and in my experiences will split at the case mouth early.
Remington is good brass. Lasts well and is uniform enough in most uses, regardless of lot.
IMI is very good. I have some IMI that has 14 loadings and still plinking along.
Annealing the case mouths is very benificial in longevity and uniform case mouth tension.
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Old May 25, 2007, 06:23 PM   #8
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"What kind of 223 brass is best?"

The free stuff.
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Old May 25, 2007, 08:38 PM   #9
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Unless you are shooting for points in a comp, sort it by manufacturer and load it all up. I only shoot 200yds max and I will hit a soda can with every shot. When I first started loading, I was obsessed with the perfect round, as I learned my need was not for a perfect score, it was for fun at the range and economy. I by no means just slap rounds together, I load for accuracy, I just do not try to get an extra 1/16 of an inch out of them. Been there and it made me nuts. Just my 2 cents.
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Old May 26, 2007, 09:30 AM   #10
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When I load for accuracy, rather than plinking, I use WW. I trim for length, remove the brass from the inside of the flash hole,and load using Lee collet dies. Glen Zediker has an excellent section on reloading the 223 in his book "The Mouse that Roared" He also uses WW.
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Old May 27, 2007, 09:24 PM   #11
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When I load for the AR, I use sorted military brass. Works great.

When I load for super accuracy with the Tikka Tactical, I use Lapau. Even with a dealer discount, it runs nearly fifty cents a piece. That would be a lot if you were slinging it all over the countryside but a bolt action lets you catch each piece when you reload. Just amazingly exact brass. Not worth it for blasting ammo!

Gregg

Oh, and my prices were from midwayusa.com.
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Old May 28, 2007, 12:55 AM   #12
oldcars
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Well, I spent a good part of my evening sorting brass, and I have a few more questions; Does R-P mean Remington? what brand is FC ? I have a ton (1000+/-?) of military brass, 183 marked R-P, 114 marked FC and small amounts of others. "lake city" is military, correct? I am thinking about using the R-P for my bolt action, and all the rest for plinking in the Mini's and AR.
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Old May 28, 2007, 06:29 AM   #13
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You got it. R-P is Remington, FC is Federal and LC or Lake City is US Military.
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Old May 28, 2007, 07:16 AM   #14
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If it was me I would sort the LC brass and use that for accuracy. use the 200 or so that are the closest in weight and use everything else for plinking. LC is really good stuff. If any of the LC brass is marked match then that is the real good stuff.
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Old May 28, 2007, 11:14 AM   #15
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At least out to 300 yards, I don't think that brass type is all that critical for accuracy. I think good barrels, good bedding, and good bullets are far more critical.

Saturday I shot in a Across the course match. I used once fired mix-master match brass out to three hundred yards. I shot a 198-9x at 200 yards, rapid fire, and then shot a clean first string at 300 yards. Second string I saved a round, but it would have been a 99 if I had got all rounds on target. The brass was LC, Fed, Win, and maybe a few foreign cases tossed in. At least out to three hundred yards, it is more important to work on your position, sight alignment, and trigger pull.

At 600 yards I used Winchester brass. I am not going to drive two hours, spend all day on the range, and blow a LR string experimenting with brass. But I would not be surprised if brass type is not that critical at LR.

Accuracy is a skill learned through practice.
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Old May 28, 2007, 11:22 AM   #16
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FC is Federal and I've heard a lot of reloaders say reload it once and throw it away.

This seems to be the general opinion on brass with out getting into the expensive stuff like Norma,

1. LC
2. Winchester (WW)
3. Remington (RP)
.
.
.
4. S & B
.
.
.
.
.
5. Federal (FC)
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Old May 28, 2007, 11:41 AM   #17
Lifttech
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Quote:
FC is Federal and I've heard a lot of reloaders say reload it once and throw it away.

I'm guessing that pertains more to use in gas guns versus bolt guns.
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Old May 29, 2007, 01:37 PM   #18
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Which 223 brass is best

I buy once-fired brass, resize the brass with a Lee 4-die set, tumble it, uniform & deburr the primer pocket, trim the case to length & deburr, deburr the flash hole and cap with CCI. Then I fill with 25 grains of Varget and top with a 69 grain Seirra MK bullet. After loading, I measure the total overall length and sort in different bags. So far I have only had the opportunity to shoot out to 100 yards with my Savage Model 12FV, but have encolsed two pictures to show the results. The 3-shot target is from my first outing and measures just three-eights of an inch. The 4-shot target is from my second outing and also measures just three-eights of an inch. Within a couple of months a new 400 yard range will be opening up and I will be able to really see what my Savage can do. In my estimation, it's not the brass that makes the difference - it's the attention you are willing to give it before loading.
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Old May 29, 2007, 11:21 PM   #19
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The best is match grade or premium brass. For me--- it would be Nosler, Norma, Lapua in that order.
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Old May 31, 2007, 04:28 PM   #20
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LC or WCC MilSurp.
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Old May 31, 2007, 05:35 PM   #21
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Most match shooters run Winchester for long range because it is lighter and has a little more powder capacity. It also seems to have some of the worst wall and neck thickness consistency, so, for long range you are advised to invest in a gauge to look at web and neck wall variance. I run it for long range in .308 and .30-06 for the same reason, but the last purchase of 500 .308's had some necks 0.003" thicker on one side than the other (0.006" TIR), and just one that was 0.010" thick on one side and 0.018" on the other. I wound up rejecting all but about 20% for long range (800-1000 yards) match shooting. The weight was likewize scattered, ranging from 153.5 grains to 159.5 grains. Weight sorting identified three distinct peak values, so it was apparent at least three different sets of dies had contributed to the lot.

About the same time, I got in some Norma 6.5-284 cases. Couldn't find a one with over 0.001" neck thickness runout. Weight was +/- about 0.7 grains. I've never measured any of the Nosler custom brass, but aside from them, Lapua seems to get the highest marks from other shooters. Norma comes in a close second on gauged axial symmetry and lack of flashhole burrs or other irregularities.

I use military brass for the rapid fire phases of a match, because it is harder and less likely to cause a malfunction in the middle of a string.
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Old May 31, 2007, 11:43 PM   #22
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I like Lake City the best, so far.
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Old June 1, 2007, 02:58 PM   #23
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You might look here –

http://www.6mmbr.com/223rem.html
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