Bought a bag of 250 pcs of new Federal American Eagle 223 brass.. ??

John Gault · Jan 6, 2016

So I bought a bag of this brass at Cabela's last month on sale and finally opened it up. The brass looks like new and goes into my case gauge nicely sized but it measures 1.740. I measured half a dozen and they are all very close tolerance but I thought that 1.750 was the short end and I always trim to 1.755 and if I go over a bit I can still hit 1.750 on a separate pile.

I put 1 thru my RCBS sizer die just to see what happens and I can get 1.742..

Any thoughts? Still fairly new to reloading and so I like to stick to the cook book as much as possible..

rick benjamin · Jan 7, 2016

I think those cases will shoot fine.
Minimum oal for .223-5.56 is 1.740.
Maximum oal for .223-5.56 is 1.760.

Member 5605 · Jan 7, 2016

1.750

+/- .01"

+ is max
- is min

fxdc · Jan 8, 2016

1.750 is Nominal
+/- .010
But .010 is a lot in relation to your taper crimp.

.010 is a football field in my trade as I split tenths (that's 50 mill) .

fxdc · Jan 8, 2016

Dyjital said:
1.750

+/- .01"

+ is max
- is min

rick benjamin said:
I think those cases will shoot fine.
Minimum oal for .223-5.56 is 1.740.
Maximum oal for .223-5.56 is 1.760.

I agree with Rick !

Scott F · Jan 8, 2016

Max is 1.760 so it is a little short but that is not unusual.

BTW, I texted you. I am home and ready to get together. Text me your schedule.

ageingstudent · Jan 8, 2016

It's fine unless you are seating a short bullet way long, or it might not reach a cannelure the way you'd like it to. You just have a little less brass gripping your projectile. Just means you won't have to trim as soon. Measure some factory loads sometime. Depending on the company it's eye opening to see how some brands vary in brass length and oal. A good general rule of thumb for a .224 projectile is to have at least .224 of the length of the projectile seated inside the case neck.