.222 brass from my .223 hoard

[Oso]

I had a similar project forming 17-222 cases from .223/5.56 cases. I tested both Imperial Sizing Wax and Hornady OneShot... either one works. I prefer Imperial Sizing Wax for forming steps that are high pressure (compressing cases to form small diameter necks), but you are just bumping back a shoulder so either should work.

When using Range Brass, be selective and do QC on the front-end to ensure a good end-product. To reduce amount of rejects don't use any cases that have deep nicks at neck/shoulder area (common case damage from lugs on AR15). These become splits/crevices in the newly-formed shoulder/neck.
1) Shoulder on .223 donor case becomes the newly-formed neck on .222 case.
2 Upper 1/8" of body on .223 donor case becomes the newly-formed shoulder on the 222 case.

You want the brass really clean (steel pin wet tumbling). Before starting the case forming, I resizing the .223/5.56 cases through .223 Full Length Sizing Die and then annealing the cases. Annealing makes a huge difference in the ease and consistency out final formed case. You want to anneal at least 1/4" down case body so that you capture the case wall that will become the shoulder on the formed .222 case. After annealing it helps to polish the outside of the case to remove metal scale/oxidation that results from the heat. Use a 3M pad (red or grey colored). This will protect your dies from getting scratched up and also reduce friction during the forming process.

I initially started my .222 case forming process using a set of 221 Forming Dies (221 FB Form and 221 Trim Die). These dies reduce the diameter of the case body in 2 steps to the desired neck diameter. No splits or any issues....really easy. Then I tried just using a Redding 222 Bushing FL Die (removed the internal parts). With consistent pressure on the ram it worked in one pass, clean and easy.

I didn't experience any wrinkling as long as I didn't use excess amount of lubricant. Also, just before the ram stroke has bottoms out, back off the ram just a fraction to let any trapped/pressurized air to escape, and then finish the last portion of the case's resizing stroke.

Good Luck

 

[chop house]

well, i tried the trim first and there is something to that. briefly

trimmed .223 brass to 1.692 (0.008 under max for 222)
annealed the shoulder
redding body die to chamber datum plus about 0.010
fl die to chamber datum minus -0.002
brass came out right at 1.700 perfect for fire form

done.

i think my cutter worked better with the brass unannealed and a little slop on the pilot (fired brass)

going slow with body die i only got one defect in 10 pcs

thanks for the tips guys

 

[chop house]

You want to anneal at least 1/4" down case body so that you capture the case wall that will become the shoulder on the formed .222 case.

I didn't experience any wrinkling as long as I didn't use excess amount of lubricant. Also, just before the ram stroke has bottoms out, back off the ram just a fraction to let any trapped/pressurized air to escape, and then finish the last portion of the case's resizing stroke.

+1

 

[bobm]

I got bored one winter a few years ago, too cold to shoot. I made 150 .222's from range pickup Norma .223. The shoulder wrinkles were hard to eliminate, some worse than others. They all ironed out on the first firing. Have three firings on them now with none lost. Outside neck turning was a must. Won't ever repeat this, stocked up on PPU loaded .222. Good brass for reloading.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

It's an easy conversion. Finished case will need trimming. I have 35 Lapua 223 brass that I sized in my 222 Rem die. Not on purpose.. Ended up tossin it. It was a no saving it situation.

 

[Oso]

I got bored one winter a few years ago. I made 150 .222's from range pickup Norma .223. The shoulder wrinkles were hard to eliminate, some worse than others. They all ironed out on the first firing. Have three firings on them now with none lost. Outside neck turning was a must. Won't ever repeat this, stocked up on PPU loaded .222. Good brass for reloading.

Whenever doing case forming that involves reduction/shrinking then minor blemishes on donor brass will look completely different on final formed case. My observation is any imperfection is amplified the more that area of the donor case is reduced/shrunk. What may look iffy on the shoulder of a newly-formed case will look horrible when further reduced to form the neck on newly-formed case.

If you have wrinkles, also referred to as "curtains", that circumnavigate the case shoulder then this is either one of two things:
1) Trapped/pressurized air - back of the ram to let it escape
2) If parallel and in sets or evenly spaced then may be result of nicks caused by lugs on AR15 bolt

The nick at shoulder/body junction of .223 donor case ends up as a linear indention in shoulder of newly-formed .222 Rem case. The case on the left side in middle photo is exactly what this looks like.

At my range the firing line is a concrete slab. It is common for cases to have dents at shoulder from the impact, which also include clusters of small micro-indentions from the irregular concrete surface, and circular swirling scratches resulting from cases skidding along concrete. Each of there imperfections result in a different pattern when relocated to the shoulder or to the neck. If in doubt intentionally select some range brass with minor issues and observe how each imperfection changes during the forming process. Kill a dozen or two cases experimenting.

If still not sure whether it is your case forming technique or the result of imperfect donor brass then do some case forming using both range brass and new brass side-by-side and see if there is any noticeable difference in the outcome.

I kept getting this crazy lighting/gator skin pattern on my shoulders. This turned out to be the random scratches and micro-indentations from the concrete on my range brass. None of these issue showed when I used new virgin .223 cases for forming. That's all I got... Happy Forming.