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Author Topic: military 223 brass...how do you tell  (Read 491 times)

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Offline tipiguy

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military 223 brass...how do you tell
« on: February 01, 2006, 01:33:34 PM »
I have some used 223 brass.  How do I tell if it is military surplus?  A lot of it is stamped R P which I assume is Remington.  But I guess Remington could have made it for the military...

I also have a lot of F C...same thing...how do you tell?

Tipiguy
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Offline Steve P

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military 223 brass...how do you tell
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2006, 03:32:58 PM »
Read the headstamp.  RP is Remington.  FC is Federal.  With those stamps, they are commercial brass.  Win or Winchester is commercial.

There are LOTS of different military brass makers.  One of the harder to confirm is PMC.  They have the same headstamp on military and commercial. Difference is military has the primer crimped in.

Some of the more common military headstamps that come to mind:  WCC (Winchester) LC (Lake City Arsenal) IMI (Israeli Military somethingorother).   TW (Twin Cities Arsenal)

But there are lots more.

Steve   :D
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Offline jimann

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223 military
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2006, 03:43:31 PM »
Hi
If it is once fired, the primers should be crimped in, and hard to remove from the brass. They sell special punches to deprime them, I changed out the pin in the sizing die to a number drill, so I could just size and deprime. You need to remove that crimped material to get a primer in, they sell a primer pocket swagger to do that. Also most military will have a year date on the back along with the head stamp. They are heavier, the brass is thicker and Sierra suggests, 1 grain less starting load. If they have been reloaded some one will have had to "fix" the crimped part of the case.
Hope this helps
jim
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Offline John Traveler1

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military brass
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2006, 09:50:41 PM »
In addition to the several previous good tips for identifying once-fired military .223 (5.56x45 NATO) brass, the case mecks and shoulds will have the discolouration from annealing.  Commercial brass has this polished off prior to loading, but the military specifications (MIL-SPEC) requires that it be left on to prove the case necks were annealed.
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Offline Don Fischer

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military 223 brass...how do you tell
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2006, 02:23:36 AM »
All the military cases I use also have the date stamped on the headstamp. Everything mentioned should be on the case.
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Offline tipiguy

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Thanks.
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2006, 06:45:36 AM »
That is what I needed to know.  Looks like I have all commercial brass.


Thanks again.
tipiguy
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Offline Forest T

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decrimping tool
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2006, 09:51:12 AM »
tipiguy there is a hand tool for decrimping mil. brass I think lee makes it I got one at my local gun shop some years ago I take the handle off it and put it in my electric drill if I have alot of mil. brass to do only takes a second to take the crimp off I think they come in 2 sizes large and small hope this helps  :D Forest T
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