Loading .223 brass to 556 pressure?

[Mikej]

Threads more about the brass rather than the chamber.
I hope people would know what they are doing and not shooting 556 pressures out of 223 chambers.

Not that I know all that much.....but I was kind of thinking pretty much all AR 15s all say "multi" on them these days? Yes/no?

Mine says multi and I got a Curt's build off the shelf 2015 ish.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Not that I know all that much.....but I was kind of thinking pretty much all AR 15s all say "multi" on them these days? Yes/no?

So thats on the lower usually next to the serial # and mfgr.
The lower has nothing to do with the upper *UNLESS* they were bought together as a complete rifle.
I've only ever done that once with my first ever AR. I view that as kinda the old school way of buying AR's most people these days will buy them separately and peice them together.

BUT.. even if you buy them as a complete rifle setup. You should still verify the roll mark or engraved info right on the barrel for the chamber and twist rate.

My one AR says multi but its a 545 russian chamber. So you never know. Best not to assume.

 

[Mikej]

So thats on the lower usually next to the serial # and mfgr.
The lower has nothing to do with the upper *UNLESS* they were bought together as a complete rifle.
I've only ever done that once with my first ever AR. I view that as kinda the old school way of buying AR's most people these days will buy them separately and peice them together.

BUT.. even if you buy them as a complete rifle setup. You should still verify the roll mark or engraved info right on the barrel for the chamber and twist rate.

My one AR says multi but its a 545 russian chamber. So you never know. Best not to assume.

Wifey's AR lower was a raffle win here and I bought a complete upper to put it together. I believe it says multi on it. But that's good info. I should pull the handguard off mine and check it, to be sure. Not that I plan on ever shooting .5.56 in it though.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Wifey's AR lower was a raffle win here and I bought a complete upper to put it together. I believe it says multi on it. But that's good info. I should pull the handguard off mine and check it, to be sure. Not that I plan on ever shooting .5.56 in it though.

nice! the only thing i seem to win are speeding tickets! and i haven't "won" one of those in years now (thank goodness!)
i pretty much build all mine to one higher standard. i basically prepp for just in case. i want to be able to shoot whatever i find and not worry about it. its best to know though.
i kinda won my rifle i think. i bought a nice old Rem wing master, for $100 then traded that up for this nice piston rifle. i did buy a nice laminate boyds stock for that Remi though. its was very nice setup.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Well this is CRAP to hear! I'm sizing and running primer pockets through a swager, and there's a LOT of FC brass in the mix!

so getting kinda back on track..
i just jumped the gun a little bit and went ahead and tested 3 of my twice shot FC brass two were from my large lot# i bought at least one was a separate FC brass case that was older. ALL of them had tight primer pockets. it COULD just be that those happen to be on the lower end of the adder loads. ill try and hurry and get those cases all prepped and 100% ready to go and re-prime them all to test them out. i know i had to stop testing on some because of pressure signs. so if they ALL pass i would say they are good for at least a couple loads YMMV.

but cross your fingers Mike.. like i said theres only one true way to tell and that to actually test them.

 

[Mikej]

but cross your fingers Mike.. like i said theres only one true way to tell and that to actually test them.

Seems odd to me the ONE brass manufacturer makes brass that not up to standard with other manufacturers? Differing in other areas? Yes. You can tell that by the feel of the ram stroke when sizing. But then, the majority of my loading experience is with handgun.

edit: Ha, funky lady shrugging! colon shrug colon.......and that's what you get!

 

[Dr Prepper]

Seems odd to me the ONE brass manufacturer makes brass that not up to standard with other manufacturers? Differing in other areas? Yes. You can tell that by the feel of the ram stroke when sizing. But then, the majority of my loading experience is with handgun.

edit: Ha, funky lady shrugging! colon shrug colon.......and that's what you get!

Every now and then you always get. oddballs when processing. I deprime specifically before tumbling before sizing. You always get some that are super stiff primers that feel like they will almost bend the pin.
And in sizing theres some that can be super stiff. And just recently annealed for the first time and you WILL notice various alloys if brass when the flame turns green etc. Some just dont seem to turn red hot at all. Its kinda interesting to see how much variation there is between brass.
One of the reasons for this thread.

 

[eb in oregon]

Every now and then you always get. oddballs when processing. I deprime specifically before tumbling before sizing. You always get some that are super stiff primers that feel like they will almost bend the pin.
And in sizing theres some that can be super stiff. And just recently annealed for the first time and you WILL notice various alloys if brass when the flame turns green etc. Some just dont seem to turn red hot at all. Its kinda interesting to see how much variation there is between brass.
One of the reasons for this thread.

Just saying, but your brass is not supposed to turn "red hot" as that will most likely give you dead soft brass. It's only supposed to turn lite blue.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Just saying, but your brass is not supposed to turn "red hot" as that will most likely give you dead soft brass. It's only supposed to turn lite blue.

I went by what Erik Cortana demonstrates in his video. I turn the lights out when im working so i can see the flame better and basically just hit it long enough till the flame JUST starts to turn color and then its done. Some times JUST the case mouth turns orange just for a split second, but when finished they dont look any more discolored than factory annealed brass. Some you can hardly tell where annealed at all.

Before and after pics.

Thanks though fir the concern.
Id rather have them under cooked than over cooked!

 

[Mikej]

I went by what Erik Cortana demonstrates in his video. I turn the lights out when im working so i can see the flame better and basically just hit it long enough till the flame JUST starts to turn color and then its done. Some times JUST the case mouth turns orange just for a split second, but when finished they dont look any more discolored than factory annealed brass. Some you can hardly tell where annealed at all.

Before and after pics.

Thanks though fir the concern.
Id rather have them under cooked than over cooked!

View attachment 894885 View attachment 894886

I'm not at the annealing point yet. I've already witnessed first hand with hand gun cases the slight difference in feel between different head stamps.

Are you annealing with one of those fancy machines? Or just spinning them I a flame with the drill and reading color? Probably the latter seeing as you turn the light low to get a good read in the color of the heated brass.

 

[Dr Prepper]

I'm not at the annealing point yet. I've already witnessed first hand with hand gun cases the slight difference in feel between different head stamps.

Are you annealing with one of those fancy machines? Or just spinning them I a flame with the drill and reading color? Probably the latter seeing as you turn the light low to get a good read in the color of the heated brass.

You are correct. Good old (ye old) "yellowsmithing" with the lights out you can also see the metal color better. But the flame changes color before the metal does. Im cheap (and currently pretty broke) i annealed around 4k cases and it cost me like $6 in propane. I bought the nice remote torch brand new for $30 and could clamp the head in a vice nice and securely. So i don't have to worry about bumping the torch head. Took about 8-10 hours though at about 3.5 seconds each.

I ONLY annealed these because most of them are new to me basically range brass and theres some good stuff in there like black hills match brass and others. And with the future looking sorts unstable i want to treat these like gold. And make them last as long as possible. (I have for more brass than i need though.)

If it shoots under .25" i might have to make it a habit though.

 

[micdude]

I've been reloading commercial and NATO .223/5.56 for over 40 years mixing the two and there have been zero issues. I keep the charge and velocities around 3,200 fps with a 55 grain bullet, which is the original loading for 5.56 NATO. I've also weighed both on a scale and found no discernible difference in weight between the two with most manufacturers. Once I weighed a few Federal cases and they were slightly heavier than a couple NATO cases. While there are those that claim the differences are significant the differences are a few thousandths at best and well within SAAMI dimensions for the two IMO. I think any problems experienced by anyone were a result of something like a very tight chamber on one end and a cartridge on the big end using a heavy bullet driven too fast. During those years I've used a set of RCBS .223 dies and shot my ammunition through numerous AR15's, a Robinson Arms M96 Expeditionary rifle, a Sterling AR180, a HK33 clone, Mini 14, a Cooper bolt rifle and a few I've probably forgotten. The only issue I've had is some split necks and that was (in my opinion) because some cases were reloaded several times and I just got into annealing the other year.

I've been doing the same I load @3000fps using both military brass and commercial brass and haven't noticed any difference but I'm loading to .223 specifications.

 

[Dr Prepper]

I've been doing the same I load @3000fps using both military brass and commercial brass and haven't noticed any difference but I'm loading to .223 specifications.

55gn?

I basically load as fast as they will go without major pressure signs. Minor cratering and minor ejector marks are acceptable.
I know i loaded these FC 223 rem brass with 75gn till they had some swipes and moderate cratering and they seem fine afterwards. Still have to 100% test the rest of them.
Was using 2520 and H322 (332?)
At least 2720fps. Was hoping for a bit more.

I just never realized till afterward what i was doing with 223 brass. Figured it was worth asking.

 

[micdude]

55gn?

I basically load as fast as they will go without major pressure signs. Minor cratering and minor ejector marks are acceptable.
I know i loaded these FC 223 rem brass with 75gn till they had some swipes and moderate cratering and they seem fine afterwards. Still have to 100% test the rest of them.

I just never realized till afterward what i was doing with 223 brass. Figured it was worth asking.

Yes 55gr stuff using cfe223 mostly it's different obviously if it's a heavier projectile
If I'm loading to 5.56 specifications then I use military brass but .223 Specifications I use any brass