Making 221 Rem Brass From .223

[ken1989]

I made a handful of 221 Rem Fireball brass from 223 Winchester brass - they look okay. Does anybody do this? Is there a preference for 223 brass to use (Win, Rem, Federal, …)? I thought neck brass thickness would be an issue but does not appear to be a problem. Any great ideas for trimming the excess brass on the neck?

 

[Snider shooter]

Making 221 out of 223 is the way to go due to it being hard to find and very cheap. Winchester brass I find is the thinnest. I still neck turn my brass to 11 thou thickness. My preference for brass is R-P. I always anneal my brass before case forming. The 223 case is formed full length then cut with a pipe cutter close to length then final trim on my Lyman power trimmer. Currently trying some federal cases which are on second reload. I have a contender pistol with a 10 inch barrel. It works very well. After final trimming I resize my cases again due to finding some would not chamber. I shot both cast and jacketed bullets. I would like to find a rifle in 221 Fireball, a Kimber would be nice. A very accurate round.

 

[mbogo3]

A .222 short if you will.

 

[gobigorgohome]

I guess but for the high-volume shooter, forming .221 from .223 is probably the cheapest way to get brass. I have a buddy that got a set of CH4D form dies, which form .223 to 17/19/20/221 fireball. It's a number of steps, then it needs to be neck turned down. Doing all that on a single stage press is very labour intensive.... on a multi stage press I'm sure it's would make it a lot easier. All this being said, for the "average shooter" Lapua .221 fireball brass can be had pretty easily. Expensive, yes, but a couple boxes of that and you'll be set for a lifetime of shooting! The other options is to call High Plains Brass in SD and see if they'll ship you some .221. They used to and it was decent quality for the price.