Quag Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I am new to reloading .223. I have Wylde chamber so I can shoot 5.56 just fine. So accumulate pratice brass I bought a case of American Eagle 5.56 NATO 55 grn FMJ ammo. I am recovering all the brass and removing military crimps and trimming it before I reload it. There is some .223 Remington mixed in. I've noticed the 5.56 cases have thicker walls. Are they likley to stand up to more reloads than the .223 brass. If I want brass is there an adavantage to 5.56 brass? BTW the 5.56 AE NATO chronos abt 3300 fps and the box says 3150. Thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I like the military brass - Lake City. Either will work but I would suggest separating 5.56 from .223 as the case capacities will vary due to the Mil cases being thicker - less capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgrs Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I like the military brass - Lake City. Either will work but I would suggest separating 5.56 from .223 as the case capacities will vary due to the Mil cases being thicker - less capacity. I do the same. If I am at, or exceeding, book max loads, I will sort by lot to avoid too much variance. Lighter hoser loads, I use mixed brass (trimmed with an RT1200) and keep re using it until splits appear in the shoulder or primer pockets loosen. This always seems to happen before other failures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I like to keep my brass sorted by head stamp. It will produce a more consistent result in general. My experience with Federal brass is that the thicker 5.56 seems to be less likely to split at the case neck but the primer pocket loosens up at generally the same rate as the 223. My experience with Lake City brass is very similar. In all cases the primer pocket seems to be what gets the brass retired most of the time. I hand prime. If I have a primer go in that feels like it is getting lose I put it in a separate bin. I load those for situations where I am not able to recover my brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigedp51 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Lake City brass has more case capacity than any other .223/5.56 case, therefore the cases are not thicker "BUT" they are made harder than their civilian SAAMI .223 counterparts. This is because they are designed to be fired in larger diameter chambers and this prevents the base of the case from over expanding and jamming the military firearm. Below is the milspec requirements for 5.56 cases, they are thicker at the flash hole web, and the cases that are thinner in this area will fail much sooner with loose primer pockets. Below are the Rockwell hardness readings for .223/5.56 cases.LC 2008 = 96Lapua 223 Match = 86Winchester 223 = 69Remington "R-P" = 49 Replying to .223 vs 5.56 cartridges how many times to reload?Bottom line, you will be limited by how "HOT" you load your cases, the hardness of the brass and the amount of shoulder bump when resizing the case. In my AR15 rifles I load 25 grains of H335 and try to keep the chamber pressure at or below 50,000 psi for practice at 100 yards or less for long case life. Lake City and any civilian military contract ammunition will be harder and last longer than the softest commercial .223 brass meaning Federal and Remington at the bottom of the scale. Meaning Lake City cases are built Ford Truck Tough and the rest are built like Chevy's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quag Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 (edited) Thx big ed I've got to get to my computer and print this out I know mil brass is a pain to decrimp but it looks like it's worth it to get a good batch going PS. I don't like chevie either Edited July 24, 2014 by Quag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauntedfuture Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 just don't reload federal brass, it is very soft. You can reload it 1x or so, but the primers will open up quick. Not sure what brass the AE is loaded in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quag Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 just don't reload federal brass, it is very soft. You can reload it 1x or so, but the primers will open up quick. Not sure what brass the AE is loaded in. Thanks, I may start segregating .223/5.56. Does the Federal have a FC on it? The AE is mostly military LC stamps plus some .223 Remington thrown in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauntedfuture Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 It will say FC or FEDERAL on the bigger stuff. There is nothing dangerous about it, the primers might fall out though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Lake City brass has more case capacity than any other .223/5.56 case, therefore the cases are not thicker "BUT" they are made harder than their civilian SAAMI .223 counterparts. This is because they are designed to be fired in larger diameter chambers and this prevents the base of the case from over expanding and jamming the military firearm. Below are the Rockwell hardness readings for .223/5.56 cases. LC 2008 = 96 Lapua 223 Match = 86 Winchester 223 = 69 Remington "R-P" = 49 interesting side note is the difference in case capacity for the LC brass for '04 and '06. I've always wondered if there was a difference year to year, lot to lot and have separated by year. I thought maybe it was overkill, but did it anyway since all the once fired LC will be used for my long range load. Has anyone tested different year's of LC for consistency? I know most people just group it by make. Also, what a big difference in hardness between LC and RP. I knew RP was known to be soft. I wonder where FC comes in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Also, for the same load, I noticed that the loads in the FC brass was hotter than the same load in WCC brass. I've since backed off a tad. I use the FC for lost brass matches and don't care to try to load it again. Which is a shame, since it was crimped and a bit of work to get it to be ready to load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quag Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) this might explain my mixed results, I chronoed 12 rds of mixed brass at 25 grns H335 yesterday and it was not much different than my chrono loads of 24 grns H335 but I noticed the 25 grns seemed much louder. I've got to get new ear protection for my .223 anyway. Both had 55grn Hornady 55 FMJ and CCI SR primers I think I might work up my chrono loads based on segregated brass Edited July 31, 2014 by Quag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 reload the brass until it splits or the primers don't stay in the pockets.Its not rocket science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauntedfuture Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 FC brass has less internal capacity then LC does so its "hotter" with the same powder charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now