Best .223 Brass for reloads?

Mauser GDog said:
I'd only have to de-crimp the brass once correct? Not the end of the world if so. Anyone have opinions on the PMC brass? Some decent prices on 55gr and 62gr.
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The older PMC brass is great - have not had a chance to reload any of the newer stuff (which does look good).

Federal is likely the bottom of the choices, but the most easy to obtain. It also seems to have a small primer crimp that needs to be removed (only once). Just come to understand that you'll reload it 3-4 times and it's junk (or, if you're reloading for a Mini-14 Ranch Rifle, you'll never find your spent casings anyways - relax). Better quality brass will give you more reloads. Choice depend a lot on what you want to do with it.
 
I use whatever brass came with the factory ammo or whatever wholesale sports has/had. Mostly rem, winchester. There is some hornady and federal in there. I dont sort it just size, trim, prime, and load. Groups are 1" or less at 100 yards. Thats good enough for the gophers and coyotes. I have loaded most of my brass 5-6 times and still going well.
 
I use Federal and Winchester brass in both of my .223s that I bought as factory loaded ammo.
Some of the Federal brass had crimped primers. I put a countersink in my lathes chuck and run
it at around 1000 RPM and carefully touch each primer pocket against it to chamfer the crimp.
It takes about 2 minutes to do 100 cases. The same could be done with an electric drill.

I use a Lee collet die to neck size them and very seldom have to trim any cases.
I have loaded some of these cases up to 20 times and their still going strong.

Terry
 
Longshot said:
How much of a pain in the ass is IVI brass to reload?
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FL resize

Clean

Trim

Swage the primer pocket

Reload


I have some 5x reloaded cases thru my Stevens that so far haven't required anything but a good cleaning and neck sizeing...

The nice part about IVI besides the quality is with its headstamp you may as well have your name engraved on it... No more guessing if that piece of win/FC brass on the ground came from your gun or the guy next to you...
 
I reload anything I pick up off the floor but if I were to buy it, it would be IVI or Lake City. Same quality as Lapua at a fraction of the price.
 
Longshot said:
How much of a pain in the ass is IVI brass to reload?
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It's not.

I honestly don't see how it's so awful to reload crimped brass. It's honestly nothing more than a quick turn with a chamfer/deburring tool to remove the primer pocket crimp. It's a mindless job you can do while you sit infront of the TV. Not to mention, once you remove the crimp, it's gone forever. If I could get a tonne of IVI 5.56 I'd be happy. For now, I'll have to settle for the couple thousand I have on hand.
 
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Mystic Precision said:
For the 223 bolt action, NORMA is the new top dog

Win I use most of all

Lapua, tried it and it was horrid in this chambering.

Jerry
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Jerry having tried both myself i have to say that lapua requires less prep than win brass. Even FL sizing the win brass I'm finding some concentricity/runout issues. I put the neck thickness gauge on the win brass it is less consistent ths lapua and thinner. IMO the necks need to be touched up. Hopefully the concentricity/runout issues will go away after the first firing.
 
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