ToddKS Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 There is a similar conversation going that seems to have focused on 9mm so I though I would put one out there for .223 as well. Which 223 brass do you like/hate and why? Obviously crimped primers are an issue for some people but what other characteristics of the brass cause you issues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Lake City is at the top of my list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrswanson1 Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 PMC brass is nice but they seal the powder in the brass with tar, so if I forget to dig that out it makes powder overflow when I fill the case up. Lake City and Federal are nice, but swaging primer pockets isn't fun. Some Winchester brass has crimped primer pockets, too. Remington brass is great, no crimp, nice primer pockets, decent brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaldor Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Id have to look thru my 223 brass, but LC is at the top. Any brass I buy is LC. Anything I pick up off the ground could be anything but I tend to avoid TulAmmo as it has alot of really off center primer holes. I inspect range pickups pretty thoroughly to ensure that I discard anything with off center primer holes, or any other reason I see fit. Otherwise I just shoot the stuff. I dont bother sorting by headstamp unless Im trying to build an accuracy load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Lake City ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustybayonet Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 So far, all I have loaded is lake city, remington military issue, and American eagle and they all work great. I will have to watch out for that pmc stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acoop101 Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 I like remington brass due to the lack of case prep needed to load, I have a couple of thousand rounds of norma cases that I keep for my bolt gun which is top shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtielke Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 I toss all the FC, loose primer pockets. I had more than a few fall out when I first started loading .223 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anachronism Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Federal rifle brass has ongoing issues with primer pockets. I noticed they even crimp the primers in their match brass. I just tossed about 500 once-fired Federal 223 (civilian) cases in the scrap bucket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze1a Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Best; LC Worst; FC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowdy1111 Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Best Remington and LC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biglou13 Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 once i went lake city ill never go back.... but if you're shooting bolt action and trying for those tiny groups then lapua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer1 Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. Luckily I have a ton of LC that I need to process so I wont have to buy any once fired for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthefish Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). That's a relatively recent development. ATK spun off Vista last year - until then they were all part of ATK. That said, the product lines have some overlap but aren't identical. Vista makes CCI and Federal primers - very different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). That's a relatively recent development. ATK spun off Vista last year - until then they were all part of ATK. That said, the product lines have some overlap but aren't identical. Vista makes CCI and Federal primers - very different. Agreed, and common ownership means very little, particularly products that aren't built in the same plant and even if the same company that built Federal's cartridges also ran the Lake City plant, it doesn't mean that their cartridges would be made to the same standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). There's always some confusion on this relationship. We use Federal LC ammo at work. All the cases have FEDERAL printed all over them and the small individual boxes are all marked federal, but every bit of brass in them is stamped LC with the NATO logo and other symbols as well as date stamp. It is excellent brass for reloading once the primer crimp is removed and all I load these days. FEDERAL commercial brass with the FC head stamp is not the same and is the brass many complain about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). There's always some confusion on this relationship. We use Federal LC ammo at work. All the cases have FEDERAL printed all over them and the small individual boxes are all marked federal, but every bit of brass in them is stamped LC with the NATO logo and other symbols as well as date stamp. It is excellent brass for reloading once the primer crimp is removed and all I load these days. FEDERAL commercial brass with the FC head stamp is not the same and is the brass many complain about. Any company can use another company's brass to make their ammo, there are various companies that make ammo using Lake City or Starline brass for example. Regardless, Federal brass and Lake City brass are not the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). There's always some confusion on this relationship. We use Federal LC ammo at work. All the cases have FEDERAL printed all over them and the small individual boxes are all marked federal, but every bit of brass in them is stamped LC with the NATO logo and other symbols as well as date stamp. It is excellent brass for reloading once the primer crimp is removed and all I load these days. FEDERAL commercial brass with the FC head stamp is not the same and is the brass many complain about. Any company can use another company's brass to make their ammo, there are various companies that make ammo using Lake City or Starline brass for example. Regardless, Federal brass and Lake City brass are not the same. were sorta saying the same thing, except To clarify, theres more of a relationship between Orbital (ATK) who does run operations at Lake City, and FEDERAL (Vista) than merely purchasing LC brass. Until last year, I think, they were one and the same, and still are except on paper. Vista is a spin off company from ATK and the relationship of the two companies has the LC cartridges making their way into FEDERAL marked packaging. This, as I was perhaps inadequately explaining in my previous post, is why theres confusion about federals cartridge cases. Not all of Federals .223/5.56 cases are the same, as you stated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 This surprises me on the FC I would expect the same as LC since the same company owns them. I don't think so, Federal Cartridge is owned by Vista Outdoor, Lake City is owned by the federal government and the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri is operated by Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences (ATK). There's always some confusion on this relationship. We use Federal LC ammo at work. All the cases have FEDERAL printed all over them and the small individual boxes are all marked federal, but every bit of brass in them is stamped LC with the NATO logo and other symbols as well as date stamp. It is excellent brass for reloading once the primer crimp is removed and all I load these days. FEDERAL commercial brass with the FC head stamp is not the same and is the brass many complain about. Any company can use another company's brass to make their ammo, there are various companies that make ammo using Lake City or Starline brass for example. Regardless, Federal brass and Lake City brass are not the same. were sorta saying the same thing, except To clarify, theres more of a relationship between Orbital (ATK) who does run operations at Lake City, and FEDERAL (Vista) than merely purchasing LC brass. Until last year, I think, they were one and the same, and still are except on paper. Vista is a spin off company from ATK and the relationship of the two companies has the LC cartridges making their way into FEDERAL marked packaging. This, as I was perhaps inadequately explaining in my previous post, is why theres confusion about federals cartridge cases. Not all of Federals .223/5.56 cases are the same, as you stated. Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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