bad brass???

[jraney]

hello folks, i was wondering if you all could help me, i have some federal american eagle brass in .223
the headstamp has an F.C. on it I do not know if this makes a difference but thought it may help.
the brass i bought already primed and ready to go so i shot them and they shot great, well i tried to reload some and i noticed that they have a wierd ring around the edge of the primer pocket on the face of the brass, i figured it was no big deal so i sized and when i tried to prime that is when i started having trouble. i only tried 5 or so and only 1 ended up going in correctly the rest all went in lopsided with only 1 side going all the way in. the reason i think it is the brass and not me is becuase this is the only stuff where i have this problem. i tried to take a pic but that did not work out very well. anyhow, could someone tell me how i might i fix the problem? if i need to just get rid of the brass that is not that big of a deal. also i have some remington, winchester, P.M.C,fiochi, and some PPU, which of these do you all think will last the longest with normal loads and no annealing. thanks

j

 

[Keith Glasscock]

Some commercial brass has crimped primer pockets just like military brass. You will either have to use a cutting tool or a swaging tool to round the edge of the primer pocket so they will more easily accept primers.

 

[H2OBUG]

I have some of the same brass for my .223 some was crimped some was not-- I did not even fool with the crimped brass-- to much work-- now the uncripmed brass has worked out great.

If you want to do the work it will be pretty good brass in the long run

 

[thefitter]

If you are going to be using surplus I would get one of these. Your grand kids will be using it after you are gone.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/content/p/9/pid/25263/catid/8/Super_Swage_600

Lake City brass is good stuff!

 

[artbosco]

i noticed that they have a weird ring around the edge of the primer pocket on the face of the brass.

Do you have a ring of brass that's accumulated, about the same size, on the face of your bolt?

 

[jraney]

well these were shot from a break over single shot but i did not notice any brass on it around where the firing pin extrudes. but it was awhile back when i shot them.

 

[Mudcat]

dont scrap your crimped brass, sell it to someone that owns a Dillon 1050 (has a built in swager, so you dont even realize you are decrimping!) or someone with a kid that will decrimp them on a dillon swager. dont scrap it when its perfectly good brass....well, other than being federal.

 

[spclark]

Federal is mostly viewed as being fairly soft brass so if you stay away from hot loads it'll last longer. What others have said about the primer pocket crimp is not worth repeating. It's easy to remove with a twist or two using a "rocket ship" style chamfering tool (various suppliers - I use one from RCBS) & only needs to be done once.

 

[jraney]

a rocket ship, i think i know what you are talking about. the cutter i have is nearly flat, but i think i will hold on to the brass just in case i ever need it. I was also wondering about the other brass i have, rem,win,fiochi,ppu,&pmc, what do you all think is the best out of these. let me also say that i am no competitive shooter i don't weigh the brass i just trim when needed size and shoot, but i would like to know what not to get anymore. any thoughts would be great.

 

[Taildrag15X]

I've ran the same Federal brass you are talking about, it is also used to make the Gold Medal Match .223 ammo in 69, 77 and 80 grain, you only need to take care of the primer pockets once.

My next choice would be the Winchester, for me I use it for 75gr. A-Max load, never worked it up with anything else.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

I've used a lot of once-fired military brass from which I removed the primer crimp with this tool 25 years ago:

And I hated it. It takes more than a few turns and it's inconsistent. The tool is not really made for decrimping.

Several years ago, I got an RCBS Trim Mate for case prep and I also got the military crimp remover heads for it.

I had not decrimped any brass in several years but a few months ago, I ran into soem 45ACP brass that had a crimp and the Trim Mate made short work of that.

 

[Shynloco]

Like others have said, throw that brass in the trash. Way too much of a hassle for what it's worth. .223 Ammo is relatively cheap so go buy some Lapua that you can reload easily and will last a very long time. Been there, done that!

 

[MGYSGT]

Get 1 of the many tools available. Cut out he ring or swag it out. I use the dillion. LC brass is good. You will loose enough .223 brass while shooting, that LC brass is the way to go. I enjoy the work of processing my ammo and producing a product that puts them on target.

Tom

 

[jonbearman]

Go to sinclairs and buy their drill adaptor to hold an rcbs deburr tool and use the tapered end of course and put it on your favorite drill and cut alittle out of the crimped area and you are done.Cut one and try seating a primer,if it doesnt go fairly easy then cut a bit more.You will get the hang of it and will be able to save everyone elses throw aways and save a bit of money as well.I have a dillon swager and I still cut a minute amount of brass out of the crimped area to relieve it.It works perfect.Incidently,I have reloaded alot of federal brass with no problems whatsoever.I have even reloaded norinco .223 brass from the 80's and some have over 30 reloadings on them and shoot my best groups.I have lapua,but I dont waste them in a gas gun.

 

[markm87]

Throwing out the brass would be idiotic.... especiall at $1.85 per lb scrap value. If you load any kind of volume, it pays to keep a scrap bucket for brass you can't use. I took a couple of buckets to metal management a month back and walked out with over $200 cash.

The FC brass with a crimp is good stuff and worth the one time hastle of crimp removal.

Older FC brass was soft with a thin web. Current stuff is nice... I reload it all the time.

 

[jraney]

i think i will just sit it aside and next time i can i will get the cutting tool in the pic above and fix it. thanks for the info. i don't think i would have ever figured it out.

 

[Outrider27]

RCBS makes a primer pocket swaging die set (comes with inserts for both large and small primer pockets) specifically for removing the crimp on Mil Spec brass. Used it on my military .38 special, .45 ACP and .223/5.56 mm Nato brass for years. Easy and quick on a single stage press. For a look, go to Midway's web site and enter 447-022 for a part number in the search box.