LC .223 brass

[doninva]

Lake city .223 brass that the police use. Is this a military brass, does it have crimped primer and is the case volume the same as commercial brass. I just heard of this brass last week and am looking at trading for some to reload. Thanks, Don

[Graybeard]

Yes it's military and yes the primers are crimped in. Now on the question of is the case volume same as commercial shows a great misunderstanding of the reality of life. A very common misunderstanding by the way.

Case volume varies from one commercial brand to another as it does at times from lot to lot within brand. Same applies to various lots of LC brass. I have a large quantity of LC92 and it has proven to be some of the best .223 brass I've ever used. It has given me lots of grounds in the .2s and .3s from bone stock Remington varmint rifles.

With it I have generally found it likes about a grain or at least a half grain less powder than most WW and RP lots of brass I have. There are no hard and fast rules however on case volume brand to brand or lot to lot. If you doubt it start weighing cases as I did long ago. it won't take you long to understand.

[doninva]

Thanks Graybeard, How hard is it to get the primer and crimp out. Do you need a special deburring tool? Thanks, Don

[Buckskin]

It doesn't take much to get the crimps out. I modified a screw driver to do it.  But saying that, when you buy a 1000+ at a time it gets a little tiring.  Now I buy them crimp removed, polishes and sized.  Most places as least polish and remove crimp. And by the way LC's are the way to go in my opinion.

[necchi]

The primers come out during re-size like normal cases.

When it comes to the crimp they either "swag" or ream them out,
To Swag means to push a pin in the hole too press the crimp brass out of the way. Some guy's like to do that as it doesn't remove any metal,,tools cost $60 and up.
Reamers are hand held (or chucked in a drill) little cutters that are the right size to cut the crimp out, several outfit's make them,
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=176759
I got a Lyman one local for $14 and put it in my drill.

And as Bill said, I'll be seperating the brass by the year on the headstamp,,and use like brass together with each developed load

[doninva]

Thanks for the info. I have access to a mill so I can set up and do a large amount at one time. Don

[woodchuckssuck]

just lightly touch the primer pocket/crimp with a chamfer tool, that will get rid of the crimp and chamfer the primer pocket a little to make priming go beter I have some .45acp WCC cases I have to go through and do this too, last time reloading them was a nightmare on my progressive press...though only with CCI primers, winchester primers never had the problem with.