Durability of Current Federal American Eagle 223 FC brass

IanC

IanC

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Hi All,

Last year in the spring I purchased a case of 1,000 American Eagle .223 rounds in the brown cardboard box with poly bag inside. The case was new production ammo at the time with FC on the head stamp
I read some posts way back from the early 2000's about the FC stamped brass not being very durable. Does anyone else use the current FC stamped brass and what are your thoughts? I only own one .223 rifle and it is a Savage 110 bolt action.

Had I known where we would be this year I would have bought 3 cases of the stuff. I still have a lot left but have picked up equipment to reload if primers ever come back so I have some time.

Thanks in advance for the input.

I should add since it was asked below. This is unfired, a lot of the heads are awfully scratched up. They came that way.

https://imgur.com/gallery/JH5HqaY

rQv3FjP.jpg
 
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Is your brass SCAMP marked? It will have little dots on the headstamp. That stuff is made by the Lake City plant and the brass will be excellent. If it's not, it's probably standard FC brass which some people hate for being soft. I have not had any issues I couldn't handle myself but the stuff really does get a lot of flak.
 
The Federal 223 brass I have has their primers crimped tight into the primer pocket. I use an RCBS swaging die on all once fired Federal brass because of that. It allows new primers to seat more easily. My only complaint is that extra step when reloading that brass.
 
I have 4f and 5f federal AE brass that still has tight primer pockets. It's decent brass. You will need a primer pocket swager to remove crimp before you can reload it.
 
That's the brass after 1 firing?
I can see the ejector mark at just past 12 o'clock.
I would load them until they don't hold primers anymore, get a few firings out it anyway.
 
Hitzy. This is unfired a lot of the brass appears to be rather scratched up like it was hit with a file. Unless they pile it on the floor and then shovel it into the bulk boxes.
 
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