Once fired .223/5.56 Brass?....Hmmmmm??

[BubbaB]

Once fired Brass?....Hmmmmm??

 

I was introduced to military brass with crimped primers in the early 70's when I first started reloading 30-06, .308, and 9mm.  But this is my first reloading .223/5.56.

 

I ordered a batch of "once fired" .223/5.56 brass to start reloading this "new to me" caliber.  It was nice and clean but not processed (not deprimed or sized).  I started by sorting the mil brass from the commercial brass.  Then ran the military brass thru my 650 with only the deprime/sizing die.  As with all range brass there were some that were a little harder than others when sizing.  

 

Now....I started swaging the primer pockets with the Dillon super swager and noticed that some of the primer pockets took no effort...I mean none...when going through the swager.   I checked the headstamp thinking I got a commercial brass mixed in...but it was mil... Hmmmmmmm...

 

So I grabbed the almost full 2 lb Folgers coffee container and started going thru the military brass with my go/no go small primer pocket gauge.  More than half of the military brass (assorted headstamps) the primer pocket gauge slid right in...no swaging needed.

 

As stated earlier this is my first encounter with .223/5.56, but my thoughts are...the best way to tell if military brass is once fired is that it would need to be swaged.  You could see the crimp marks on some and the stake marks on others...and the primer pocket gauge would slip in on some and not on others...

 

The commercial .223 brass would really be hard to tell if it was really once fired except if you knew the primer was the wrong color or something....but to me, I don't think this was once fired brass...or at least the ones that the pocket primer gauge slid in easily.

 

Now I could be wrong and that is my reason for the post...educate me, please.

 

Your thoughts.

 

Thanks!

 

(This brass will be used in AR15s and a Mini 14 so it's not super critical for long range, just plinking.  I was just trying verify my thoughts that this should not have been sold as "once fired".  Plus, as I work up loads I want to have as close to the same brass as I can.)

 

NOTE:  I'm not looking to call anyone out that sells brass.  If my thought process is pretty much right, I may not purchase from that vendor again or just let him know that his quality control may need to be checked.  He may just be getting brass from someone else and parsing it out and may not know.  I would never call a vendor out on this board...that is not me.  Yep, I'm a first time poster and you have no idea who...or what I am...

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by BubbaB