.556 - .223 Brass

[Onepocket]

When reloading can anyone tell a difference in accuracy between the two? I use a Guaird trimmer, Winchester primers, mixed brass, JP rifle and load on a dillion 550. I am not unhappy with the accuracy just curious if people think the get better accuracy with Lakecity/.556 brass.

[Steve RA]

I use only Lake City, however, I only use one brand of brass for 9mm or .45 also. I don't know if LC is better than some other brand but I've always felt you get the best results using one brand of brass vs "mixed" as it will keep one part of the reloading equation more uniform.

[dauntedfuture]

There is not a difference. Stop worrying, sort cases if you want and go shoot.

[MustangGreg66]

So far as I can tell, there is a difference in internal case dimension difference between most brass labeled ".223 Remington" and brass labeled "5.56", "LC", or with the Nato cross. I sort accordingly, but I'm a little OCD about it.

I noticed a difference when using a pretty stiff load of H335 in WCC marked cases (mixed year, but mostly newer) and 55gr bullets. The load was fine in the WCC brass, but through "FC .223 Rem" brass, I got much higher pressures and flattened some primers. These were both shot in the same gun with 5.56 chamber.

For hoser ammo, so long as you're running a conservative load, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're running hot loads, I'd work it up using .223 Rem marked cases. If you're wanting more accuracy, then I'd sort out a lot of the same headstamp to use.

I'm a little OCD about rifle brass, so I sort everything. Then have batches for hoser ammo with mixed headstamps, and LC brass for my "long range" accuracy ammo, that I use anywhere over 200 yards.

One thing I've noticed was a huge improvement in accuracy, was simply chamfering the inside of the necks of my cases on hoser ammo after they're trimmed by the dillon. I now have confidence in my hoser ammo out to 200 yards whereas before I'd keep it inside 100... now the time VS reward for that may not be there, but I did enjoy the extra confidence boost that ammo gave at the Surefire World Multigun match this year. I shot all the 100-250 yard targets with my 55gr hoser ammo.

Edited December 28, 2014 by MustangGreg66

[louu]

Could be the bow and not the arrows. What grain bullet are you using and what twist is your barrel?

[MustangGreg66]

Everything was the same but the brass. 55gr Hornady FMJ-BT bullets, Winchester small rifle primers, 25.0gr H335 and an OAL of 2.250" (long I know). The batches were loaded at different times but I checked the press before each loading session. I don't recall if the powder was possibly different lots, but I haven't heard of H335 being lot sensitive.

I was going to do a test, have the press setup the same, load some ammo and sort headstamp after. I have some set aside, but I wanted to Chrono/accuracy test at the same time and see if I could tell a POI shift at 200 yards... still waiting on the time for that experiment.

[Solidgun]

I was curious about the same thing and did some testing. Shooting 77gr Sierra HPBT through 18" JP CTR-02 I have consistently made sub .3" 5 shot groups. Some 5 shot groups were with all different brand brass.

23.0 gr W748 with 77gr bullet federal small primer OAL 2.260

[RDA]

I was curious about the same thing and did some testing. Shooting 77gr Sierra HPBT through 18" JP CTR-02 I have consistently made sub .3" 5 shot groups. Some 5 shot groups were with all different brand brass.

23.0 gr W748 with 77gr bullet federal small primer OAL 2.260

Wow, that JP CTR-02 must be a real tack driver.

[rtp]

So far as I can tell, there is a difference in internal case dimension difference between most brass labeled ".223 Remington" and brass labeled "5.56", "LC", or with the Nato cross. I sort accordingly, but I'm a little OCD about it.

The only one with significant difference I've come across so far is PMP, which is pretty thick walled/reduced capacity. There's a volume chart out there or two if you search for it, but not sure it includes PMP or not. There are minor differences across the rest, but most are pretty close to each other, e.g. weighs 90.1gr water vs 89.9, 30.1gr capacity vs 29.9gr, etc.

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

Federal more or less seems to be 'special' in that they've had some issues in the past with their brass. Then, separate from their commercial marked brass, they also have their NATO brass, FC NN marked vs FC .223 Rem commercial, which may or may not be the same as LC, but is likely 'higher quality' in general. I'm now sorting out FC commercial and FC NATO separately...

[Onepocket]

Solidgun that is the same mix I use for my JP. You are right it is accurate. Way more accurate than me

[Kaskillo]

.556 brass is thicker and can load hotter

.223 brass is thinner

Same head stamp should make more consistent ammo.

[dauntedfuture]

.556 brass is thicker and can load hotter

.223 brass is thinner

Same head stamp should make more consistent ammo.

Not always true. LC 5.56 brass has more case capacity then several other brands of .223 brass. Lapua makes great brass but weighs more then LC and has less case capacity. Some cases are made from a lighter weight brass alloy then others. Neck thickness also varies. Lapua brass usually has a little thicker necks then most .223/5.56 brass. Once you shoot .223 or 5.56 in your rifle, the outside diameter of all that fired brass is the same, the ID will very a little based on capacity.

the rule of "reduce charges for military brass" is still a good rule to follow, if you are running a hot load and you change brass you can have pressure issues but this applies to 7.62 and .30-06 brass much more then .223/5.56 brass as LC 7.62 or .30-06 brass is heavier and has less case capacity the almost all commercial .308 or .30-06 brass out there. LC 7.62 vs. WIN .308, its about 1-1.5g less of powder required to get the same velocity.