223/5.56 weight different

[9mmAnimal]

I'm loading a bunch of 223s for my AR, I check weight on my powder every 7 bullets or so,I also weight the complete bullet after it's done just making sure no mistakes, normally it's
175. To 177 I'm checking I get a weight 189.5 I pull the bullet apart perfect powder weight bullet 55grain but I find out the brass is a 5.56 the brass for a 223 is 95. The 556 is 108.5 I load 223 specks I realized the 556 has more pressure didn't realize the brass was alot heavier. Shouldn't be any problems shooting right. I'll take any replies

 

[JB10]

You will be fine as long as you are not maxing out powder charge without testing ur rifle first. You are using mix headstamped brass. I do this also for plinking rounds i just dont go high on powder charge with out teating to make sure its safe.

 

[9mmAnimal]

You will be fine as long as you are not maxing out powder charge without testing ur rifle first. You are using mix headstamped brass. I do this also for plinking rounds i just dont go high on powder charge with out teating to make sure its safe.

Thanks I load midrange, just getting my 3000 fps I do alot of testing new powder get my fps I'll stop there been shooting this brass for a while never any problems thanks I'll go out tomorrow and check the loads loaded about 50 rounds check out about 30 to 40 chronograph will tell me what I need

 

[Doom]

That case is likely German and it is unusually heavy. Most 223 and Lake City 556 brass is between about 93 and 98 grains (weight of brass). I have personally never encountered anything near 108gr.

MEN Metallwerk Elisenhütte Nassau G.m.b.H. (1957–present) – Nassau, Lahn, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Made part of the CBC Group in 2007.

When using range brass it's good to separate into separate batches by Headstamp and further by weight or year for Lake City.

This case is interesting in that 5.56x45 is a NATO military cartridge this case does not carry the + sign which means it is interchangeable with other NATO 5.56 rounds.

Note the weight of the round in the Video.

German Military Surplus MEN 5.56x45mm M193 55Grain FMJ 50 Rounds $27.95

TrueShotGunClub with some actual surplus ammo a decent price. German Military Surplus MEN 5.56x45mm M193 55 Grain FMJ ammunition 50 Rounds for $27.95. That is $0.559 each

www.ammoland.com

 

[Laurie]

Years ago, I bought a couple of hundred new MEN 5.56 cases for use in a UK-legal straight-pull (manual / side-handle) AR-15 and loaded some with my usual load for Winchester 223 brass. (Probably 69 SMKs with Viht N135.) If there was one thing a straight-pull AR teaches you, it's about pressure as there's no primary extraction and no gas doing the work, so I always loaded conservatively, not to say downright mild for sweet extraction and easy rifle operation.

These MENs were something else - I had to fight to pull the handle back and start the bolt moving. No blown primers or anything serious, but bolt opening was harder work than with the high pressure UK Radway Green arsenal L2A2 SS109 ammunition. After a couple of fights with the rifle, the remaining unfired rounds went home with me and were pulled.

If a nearly over-pressure, or even just moderately hot load worked up in a turnbolt rifle or gas-gun load in LC 5.56 or the lighter makes of commercial 223 brass is used in these cases, I'd reckon on a high chance of blown primers or worse.

 

[3Ackleys]

If you are seeking accuracy, it is not accurate to say "I also weight the complete bullet". When you are most likely weighing the complete cartridge.

 

[9mmAnimal]

If you are seeking accuracy, it is not accurate to say "I also weight the complete bullet". When you are most likely weighing the complete cartridge.

I understand I've been checking everything I do I'll get there always learning

 

[bobcat93]

Man ive learned the hard way..load up a 100rd head off to the range and the first 3 shots give me flat or blown primers..well that rifle is done for the day..
Do a little searching around on google images
Some one here or some place cuts some 5.56 & 223 rem cases in half. You can see alot of the differences between cases. Every one looks the same on the outside but all crazy on the inside..kind of like all of us..haha.
If i were concerned with case consistency to the point of weight sorting
Were talking (in my opinion) primer pocket depth cutting, neck turning, size, trim, annealing, tumbling* then clean all the goo off inside case necks , get a Q-tip and wipe off the inside shoulder blow all cases and primer pockets out with a blow gun and air compressor. Get those cases spotless..a few grains of tumbling media stuck in sizing wax under the neck shoulder juncture will throw your scale off
Then your ready to weight sort.
See what i mean
If you study the cut brass you will learn how brass flows with each firing..like the bullet is sucking the brass out of the case web and it pulls and thickens all over
As a reloader you have the ability to remove some of the brass inconsistency during neck turning and primer pocket uniforming ..(a little of it) nothing you can do about the rest.
So i do everything the same..every case gets the same loving care to make them as constant as possible so that the scale doesn't play tricks in my head leaving me in endless loops .
You have to remove every variable you can by hand..hahaha..then use the scale
Enjoy.
Oh..this all leads back to case capacity..heavy cases may have less case capacity so the same load in a rem case, a lapua case, and a winchester case all have different characteristics...then you toss some thick & heavy Lake city brass in the mix your gonna be lost with that scale.
100% Consistency is the name of the game.
No more range brass..thow that out..no more questionable lose primer pockets throw those out..necks with starting of cracks and cases with strees marks or bolt gouging..those those out
Its all a process after some time you will figure it all out and develop your own voodoo..always remain teachable.
never stop learning ..some times that requires over looking a personality in order to receive the information..thats ok also..
Keep listening and reading take what you can use..leave the rest behind..
Thats my thoughts on the subject..its a deep rabbit hole but man does this stuff get me excited..im pathetic..sitting in a quite corner all by myself rolling in brass like Ebenezer Scrooge...mine!..all..mine..boohahaha

 

[M-61]

The headstamp "MEN 21" refers to Metallwerk Elisenhütte G.m.b.H., a metalworking company in Nassau, Lahn, Germany

 

[William Vogel]

I’m cheap but I can’t be inconsistent. Mixed brass must be sorted and grouped. Accuracy and POI shift will follow the brass. Charge weights have to be adjusted for different brass. All this work creates so much loss of time and components that it’s more affordable to use single branded brass. Even if this is just for shooting cans at 100 yards, you’ll shoot more dirt than cans at this distance and you’ll question your ability. You said something about a 24 inch AR. I’ve got two. Proper load work up can get you 1 MOA accuracy at 700 yards with Sierra 77 Matchking bullets. If you don’t concern yourself with 1 MOA accuracy I understand but the fun had with very accurate rifles is the payback for reloading. I have a load work up for shooting hogs at night with thermal optics and it’s mixed brass. It’s not extremely accurate. Hogs run after the first shot and they become hard to hit. With this in mind I don’t spend much time loading for this situation because it’s hit and miss. We go in groups of 5 or more and once the chaos starts no one knows what animal is being aimed at or who shoots what. It’s probably the closest thing to battle except the hogs don’t shoot back. I can’t see any reason to mix up anything for target rounds because this is my practice for consistent shooting technique that will get me more accurate in any situation.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I always sort out the odd IMI brass from range brass, much heavier than most brass.

 

[Laurie]

I always sort out the odd IMI brass from range brass, much heavier than most brass.

Years back, Speer always used IMI brass in its 223 and 308 loads data, as they were the heaviest/lowest capacity cases generally available in the US, so no need for adjustment with most other makes.

At one time reloading manuals and other loads data providers used to include a warning on the lines of: 'data are only valid if the the listed components in the cartridge description are used, and not otherwise.' This has largely died out as I suspect the powder/bullet companies realised that the warning was ignored by most handloaders, if they even read it that is. Today, I imagine some sources reduce their maximum charges in case of 'worst case components mix' scenarios; others tell you the pressures obtained in the SAAMI spec pressure barrel / chamber and let the user decide. (Nine times out of ten, factory rifles have such large chambers and freebores in excess of SAAMI/CIP specs, there is no issue anyway other than a failure to obtain the listed pressures and MVs shown in the manual.)

Given the commercial need for highest possible MVs being listed, companies are IMO pushing up their maxima as can be seen where the table includes PMax values. In a correctly bored custom-maker barrel and gunsmith-cut tight chamber with short or SAAMI freebore, change of case alone from the R-Ps and Winchesters used in most manuals' data can make a significant change to pressure and max charges when RWS, Lapua, Peterson brass is used. I reckon about 0.6gn reduction is needed on a 308 Win capacity charge for powders in the VarGet, N140/150, StaBALL Match category.