5.56 Brass First Time Buyer

[treillw]

Been reloading for decades, but never 5.56 or bullets for a semi auto rifle. Have a couple of questions on the best way to go.

Looking to get some 5.56 brass. I'll probably start with 500 and see how it goes and then get a couple more thousand.

Want the loads for 10.5" and 14.5" barrels. Defense, training, range, practice, coyotes. I'd like to try to tune them for some pretty good accuracy. What can I expect from these CHF noveske barrels?

What's the best way to go about buying brass? New brass seems to be expensive to load and maybe never shoot.

If you buy once fired brass, do you have to trim it all to length prior to loading? I heard 5.56 needs to be trimmed every shot, but don't know if it's true/typical. 3000 rounds shot out of 30 guns could produce quite a bit of variation and could make crimping challenging! Is it enough to effect anything?

I have RCBS small base dies.

What is a good way to trim all that brass? Probably have to remove primer crimps as well on the majority of it I'd guess.

Thanks!

 

[powderbrake]

If you buy bulk once fired brass, you will likely get military brass, which will require you to take out the primer crimp. The Dillon tool works very well for that.
If you can stick to commercial brass, you will not have to do that.
No, you don't have to trim after every firing, but you will have to trim the bulk brass before loading.

 

[treillw]

If you buy bulk once fired brass, you will likely get military brass, which will require you to take out the primer crimp. The Dillon tool works very well for that.
If you can stick to commercial brass, you will not have to do that.
No, you don't have to trim after every firing, but you will have to trim the bulk brass before loading.

Just for consistency in crimping?

Good case trimmer for doing thousands of rounds?

Thanks!

 

[jlorenzo]

the necks will have ridges from the cannelure on the factory round, the primer pockets will also need to be swaged or cut out as the factory military primers are crimped in. You wont be able to seat primers until you go through the primer pockets. I prefer swaging but thats just me.

 

[mac86951]

Just for consistency in crimping?

Good case trimmer for doing thousands of rounds?

Thanks!

I like my Gracey, though loading for gas guns; I'd give a hard look at the lee fixed length trimmer and a drill; or world's finest trimmer / equiv. designs which would do the same at reduced setup costs. A Dillon power trimmer on a progressive would be another thought if you're going thru a lot of ammo.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

You will need an ammo checker, especially loading to run in multiple rifles. So all your chambers are 556? Accuracy, you should be able to at least equal factory groups. I can trim 100+ hr with the Lyman ezee trim. I don't trim every firing and I don't crimp AR ammo. But I don't have sbr or pistol AR. I only have one 556 chamber, I use a FL 223 sizing die for everything, including range brass. I haven't purchased 223/556 brass for years, pick it up for free. If it fits my Lyman ammo checker, it will work in all 3 AR and 2 bolt guns.

 

[Bill K]

Buy the once fired LC brass that many outfits, i.e. Sleeping Giant brass, High Plains brass and other sell.
It is fine brass and some is already prepped, crimp removed, etc. So your double checking of the sizing is correct run it through your small base FL die and then do the normal prepping, trim, de-prime and remove crimp if necessary, camfer case mouth, prime and load and finish the fire forming in your chamber.
You should set to go then. Check around your local area, other shooters, range and you might even locate some LC/military brass there even.

 

[AzMandella]

Another way to get good brass is to buy Norma 5.56 ammo . Shoot them and you will have great brass . They are usually $ 26.00 for 50 .

 

[jpx2rk]

Look in the FS section here, some members have 1x 223/556 brass in various stages of processing, from ready to load, down to dirty (just picked up at the range) and you start from square one. Go ahead and buy 1K, and take your time on the processing, it's something to do instead of sitting in front of the boob tube (March madness). If the batch is mix headstamp, sort it out by headstamp, and go from there. I've purchased LC, FC, PMC, etc., from various individuals, and not been disappointed yet on what I've received. I aim for at least dry tumbled so it's not filthy dirty, and easier to de-prime. You can tell which ones need the primer crimp removed and which ones don't on the spot as a general rule, then move forward with cleaning, etc.

I pick up range brass at my range, I look for the cross cut on the neck as that is a pretty good indicator it is 1x, but not a guarantee. when I de-prime it, I can tell if 1x by the amount of force it takes to pop the spent primer.

 

[OMW57]

YEP, LAKE CITY HERE AS WELL!

 

[jelenko]

Starline is pretty good brass. Their 223 or 556 brass has been less than $250/K.

 

[Larryh128]

As long as you have normal neck tension there is no need to crimp. I've fired 10's of thousands of AR x 223 rds and never had 1 issue. Now if I were in combat my opinion would change. I normally trim at every firing, seeing you have small base dies you should be fine. If you didn't I would invest in a body die. Anneal every 2-3 firings.

 

[Link]

Buy once fired that hasn't been crimped, you will be further ahead. How much will you have to spend on a good swager? Then time and agrivation. my 2 cents.

 

[hogpatrol]

Saves a lot of labor on mil-spec brass:

.223 Rem Unprimed Reconditioned Brass 250pcs | Top Brass, Inc.

250 once-fired, 100% reconditioned & fully processed .223 Remington brass shell casings, mixed military head stamps 90% lake city produced from 5.56 NATO brass, ready for reloading

www.topbrass-inc.com

 

[AccelR8]

I bought a bunch of LC 5.56 brass from one of the usual suspects (I don't want to mention names but it's a supplier of reloading components including fired and once-fired brass). In fairness, this particular brass was not stated as once fired, only 100% LC with some extra over-count just in case. I got very nice brass, clean, no big dents or anything, but the majority of it it was definitely not once fired. A significant number of primer pockets were already getting loose, good for another loading but not much more. Buyer be ware. Make sure it's once-fired.

I assumed. At least it was cheap

 

[jelenko]

I have found the same - 'once fired' can mean it been fired at least once.

 

[Tesoro]

Crimped brass is guaranteed 1x! I bought bags and bags of LC military crimped some years back. Need to make sure you order non-machine gun brass. If you wind up getting a dillon de-crimper you can rig it up with two springs on a board and put up a carboard box as a catcher to catch the casings when they get flung off the mandril. Hard to explain but you can figure it out. Speeds up the process 5x.
I had good luck with the brassman brass in Grants Pass, Oregon. He gets exclusively from police and prisons and other govt agencies as sweeped up range brass. He has been in biz for decades and not a shister. I am sure that with the Ukraine situation 556 casings are going to be even more scarce! I gave up reloading 223 for AR. Alot of prep work for how fast you shoot em! Now I load precise 223 for my bolt and spray steel barnhaul out of my AR at 40c a pop. It's Russian so I guess that wont be happening any more!

 

[PracticalTactical]

YEP, LAKE CITY HERE AS WELL!

Agreed... get Lake City

But when sizing... do it twice... once with a regular sizing die, then again in a small base die.

Often times that brass has been fired in such large chambers that just sizing in a regular die wont get it small enough to chamber in your rifle, so running it again in a small base die will resolve that.

It's too far to go to just do it once in the small base die, you'll get the case stuck, so that's why its best to do it in stages.

 

[Tesoro]

Agreed... get Lake City

But when sizing... do it twice... once with a regular sizing die, then again in a small base die.

Often times that brass has been fired in such large chambers that just sizing in a regular die wont get it small enough to chamber in your rifle, so running it again in a small base die will resolve that.

It's too far to go to just do it once in the small base die, you'll get the case stuck, so that's why its best to do it in stages.

or buy non-machine gun brass and size normally!

 

[divingin]

Just for consistency in crimping?

Good case trimmer for doing thousands of rounds?

Thanks!

Personally, I never crimped my 223. Never had the bullet move using standard RCBS or Hornady die sets. I don't shoot it much anymore, though.

I used a WFT for trimming, but large batches will wear on your fingers.