Loading .223 in military brass?

[doninva]

Going to load some different loads in military brass tomorrow. How far should I back off to start with the military brass. Never used it before.Thanks, Don

[Dee]

One full grain below maximum should be plenty. Case thicknesses vary on even military brass. Load about 5, shoot'em and check the primers to see if their cratering due to excess pressure. If not move up about 3 tenths of a grain at a time, until you get to maximum, PROVIDED you want to load maximum.
I have loaded many thousands over the years and never had a problem with this method.

[stimpylu32]

I tend to start a bit lower than Dee , alot depends on the powder / bullet combo that I am working with as some bullets have a longer Ogive than others and will need to be seated deeper , while others have more bearing surface that will need to be taken into account .

Also the chamber cut will have an effect on what is TRUE max for your rifle , some hit their max before book levels are reached .

stimpy

[shot1]

I have never seen any difference in most commercial 223 cases and military 5.56. I load them all the same. Now with 7.62 and 30-06 the military cases are a lot thicker and you do need to back off at least 1 gr.

Take ten of your 5.56 cases and fill them up with water and  pour the water in your scale pan and weigh each.. Then take ten commercial case and do the same. I would bet you won't see much if any difference. And the difference will be only slight and not enough to have to drop way back on the powder charge.

[hillbill]

ive had sum mil brass with the crimped  primer pockets, those are a pain.i guess yu know what to do about them?

[necchi]

There is .2 grns differance tween 06 and 04 Lake City mil brass, and larger differances in other makes, scroll down this page a bit to see the work all ready done.

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

I easily measure my powder in these small cases to 1 tenth of a grain.. I want to use the same capacity cases in any given loading. Starting back and working up is easy and cheap to do with the 223. So I'll side with saftey first.

I loaded some mil brass just the other day for the first time,,it's a new load for a new bullet, I just got a bunch of mil brass so I'm going to try it too, I started 1 full grain back from listed minimum for that bullet.

[doninva]

I got about 430 pieces of LC .223 brass today. I punched the primers out. I took my deburing tool and got the crimp off. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I will back off about a grain and work up. Thanks, Don

[necchi]

Well I shot a ladder test with LC 06 mil in the 223 using Barnes TSX. H4895 book stats 23.5-min/25.5-max. Book coal.

It was a 20 round group starting 1 grn lower @ 22.5 working up in .1 grn increments,,,shots #6-7-8  came inside 1",,
 13-14-15 really started to climb and spread (3" apart) no pressure signs but accuracy was obviously lost so I stopped and just pulled the bullets too save the componants.
I'll go back now and work the 23.0-23.1-23.2 loads to verify accuracy then start messin with seating depth for precision.

I don't know if the smaller capacity mil brass is the cause/effect for sure, but my best grouping is found just under the minimum listed. I also tested some Sierra 50 spitzers in win brass, fine tunning a previous load, I guess I could try that load -1.0 grain in the mil brass just to see if I get the same kind of results,,hmmm ,,or try the TSX in win brass to see if theres a diff,,but those things are spendy,,,

just rambling I guess, but it helps the info sink in,,wonder what I should load next,,