[Joe A.]

Hello to all who wish to reply - I normally reload with what I "consider" as good once fired brass ( Lake City - Remington or Winchester ) and have in the past avoided FC cases dew to problems I have heard of (not experienced) with re priming the case and Primer pockets being loose . Well more to the point a friend asked me to reload a bunch of FC cases he got from a police range . All were FC cases . After a light tumbling I started checking some of the cases for length to see what they averaged out to be . Out of the close to fifty I checked, none of them were what any reloading manual states as proper case length ( trim case to 1.750) should be. They started at 1.748 and went down to 1.732 . If a case stretches when fired ? what the heck were they when loaded ? . I would like to do reload some round for my friend but where would I say that this piece of brass is OK after trimming to remove the bullet crimp and this one is to short to mess with / I mean what is the minimum length of a .223 case , that is safe to reload?. Would a case trimmed to 1.740 or shorter 1.735 with a 55Gr FMJ. sitting on top of 27.0 Grs of C(2) ball powder develope some ungodly presure due to the shorter case? .I would think so but never considered such a creature before . . And have anyone experienced primer pocket problems with FC cases ?. Thanks for advise , I look forward to your replies... Joe Andrews <aircavvietnam@yahoo.com>

[George Post]

Joe,

Welcome to forum!

Did you check the case length before or after resizeing them?

George

[uscbigdawg]

First step is to just box it up and send it to me.

Seriously though, if it's long, trim it and it should be good for another 3-5 firings.

Rich

[Joe A.]

Sorry I must have not made it clear the cases are -what I CONSIDER TO BE SHORT FROM THE START - NO TRIMMING DONE YET - they are at 1.748 down to 1.738 now. And I have always thought (because of loading manual states) case length should be 1.750 .

[Viggen]

Federal 223?
Toss/sell or be ready to extract from the die the hard way, with a chisel or a driil or club. Maybe have a spare resizing die on hand.
The brass seems to be on the soft side and it's not unusual for cases to tear out, which is a real pain.

This post has been edited by Viggen: 11 February 2009 - 09:40 PM

[Big Bore]

I use a lot of fed brass I get from a law enforcement source. It works fine. You will have to trim it and then it good for 2-3 firings.
As far the inconsistentcy in OAL. I have seen a wide range of OAL's even from once fired Remington and LC cases.
If they are to short I still use them for hoser loads. As far as loose primer pockets I don't keep them that long, 2 or 3 firings and they get left at a match or out in the desert.

[uscbigdawg]

Joe - Being that it's short, but not that short, really, it should be okay IMHO. However if really does want to get rid of it, how many pieces are we talking? USPS boxes are great!

Rich

[RiggerJJ]

I've had FC blow primers on the 2nd firing with WSRs, so I won't use FC unless its brand new...

jj

[00bullitt]

Resize the brass and then measure. As long as it is under 1.75 it is good to go. Trim when it exceeds 1.750 after sizing.
Some FC brass has thin webs and creates loose primer pockets. I relegate most of my FC to test loads and practice. But if you're good on the 650 you can feel what primer pockets are loose and have area for concern and expect blown primers from those rounds.

[norbs007]

A little off topic. I have FC (America Eagle) brass that seems to have smaller primer pockets and cannot seat WSR primers. Do I have to do anything different with these brass? Thanks

[Intel6]

norbs007, on Feb 12 2009, 09:59 AM, said:

A little off topic. I have FC (America Eagle) brass that seems to have smaller primer pockets and cannot seat WSR primers. Do I have to do anything different with these brass? Thanks

Most of the recent FC/Speer marked brass I have been getting has had been crimped primers even though they are "commercial" cases. I use the dillon swager to remove it and load away.

There are lots of people who say the FC stuff is junk. It might have a thinner web and be softer but I still load it. I think a lot of the problems is with people trying to load that brass to heavy. I know it may be thinner and softer so I use it specifically to load 55 gr. plinking loads. I am not going to take that brass and try and load my 62/69/77 loads, that is what I use the once fired LC brass for.

Neal in AZ

[BPiatt]

I've been using Federal .223 brass for years. I get if from my PD work, (American Eagle 50 JHP loads), reload and use it once. I let it fly when I'm traveling to matches. The stuff I shoot at home during practice can see 2 or 3 loadings but then it's shot on a rainy or snowy day and I let it lie.

I have noticed different lots did have different OAL's when it came time to size/trim. Being too short by a few thousanths isn't a problem. Varying OAL will have it's biggest impact on any crimp you put on them. If you don't crimp, then OAL (up to max) won't affect your loads at all. You can trim shorter than the book says.

I did have a batch that I ran thru my dillon electric sizer/trimmer. It was set for proper sizing and trim to 1.750. The entire batch didn't even touch the trimmer. So I readusted and trimmed to 1.744, then adjusted my taper crimp die specifically for that OAL. I couldn't tell any difference in accuracy.

[twodownzero]

BPiatt, on Jun 21 2009, 03:26 AM, said:

I did have a batch that I ran thru my dillon electric sizer/trimmer. It was set for proper sizing and trim to 1.750. The entire batch didn't even touch the trimmer. So I readusted and trimmed to 1.744, then adjusted my taper crimp die specifically for that OAL. I couldn't tell any difference in accuracy.

Use a Lee factory crimp die and you won't even care what length the cases are unless they're too long.

[Canuck223]

I had a supply of 1f mixed police range brass. I seperated it my headstamp and processed a vast amount of Winchester brass. I had my Dillon Carbide dies and RT1200B adjusted using the Dillon case guage. I checked on average once every 1050 Akrobin full, and the adjustments held true for 50+K

And then I started to process the Federal brass. The headspace all of a sudden went out the window. Winchester brass that guaged perfectly between the check marks on the guage, suddenly hit the bottom of the guage when Federal brass was used.